Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Rich Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies (Low Sugar!)

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These Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies are low in sugar. Can you believe it?

Low Sugar Fudge Brownie

Sugar became my enemy about the time I turned 39. I feel absolutely awful – for hours or even days – if I eat sugary treats. Therefore I haven’t been able to eat a regular brownie for about three years.

Avoiding desserts hasn’t been hard for me because a cookie is not even worth a migraine. Sometimes just the smell of sweets turns my stomach, thinking of how terrible I’ll feel if I eat them. So will power? That has nothing to do with my “I’ll pass on the dessert, thanks.” Sweets literally make me sick. I really do not want them.

You know this is saying something since I’m the one who used to eat sugar with my sugar and wash it down with a fizzy glass full of sugar (and then have seconds).

Perhaps I consumed a lifetime quota of sugar by the time I was 39. More likely I think this is a result of some major cleansing and heavy metal detox I’ve been doing with my natural doctor during the past few years. My body is at a point of only wanting the good stuff. Okay then. This is probably the best side effect ever.

Having said all that, I do really appreciate a treat that is lightly sweetened. My body can handle these in moderation, and experimenting with recipes to drastically cut the sugar has been really fun. As you know from reading any of my recent low-sugar recipes – I’m learning that treats and dessert really do taste wonderful even when the sugar content has been cut in a huge way.

This, of course, has been greatly beneficial for our entire family (and now for yours!). I’ve wanted for so long to cut down on our sugar intake. It’s just hard since sugar tastes so doggone good.

Thorough research has taught me that high quality fats like coconut oil, butter, and palm oil are not our enemy when it comes to good health. SUGAR IS THE ENEMY. I should probably write an entire post about this. (Oh wait. I just did.) But go read it later because, my friends, I have a Low Sugar Brownie Recipe and I’m not afraid to eat it. This is my most exciting discovery in all my low-sugar recipe experimentation. We can cut the sugar in brownies!!!!

Someone hold me back. Not from eating too many. Just from SCREAMING TOO LOUDLY. This is just exciting. You’ll be screaming too. I support your decision to scream. (Outside. While we’re inside we use our inside voices.)

Rich Dark Chocolate Fudge BrowniesYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Rich Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies (Low Sugar!)
 
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Serves: 12-15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar (I use just under ½ cup, actually)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
Instructions
  1. Mix together melted butter, cocoa, and sugar.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring well.
  3. Mix in flour until well combined.
  4. Spread into a 9x9 inch baking dish or a 9 inch pie dish.
  5. Bake in a 350° oven for 20 minutes.
  6. Allow brownies to cool before cutting them (good luck).

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies {Low Sugar}

These bake up a little different from “full sugar” brownies. You may notice that the butter sizzles on the top of these while they’re baking. Don’t worry a bit. Take them out of the oven after 20 minutes of baking and let them sit for a few minutes. The butter settles in and turns your brownies fudgy and moist.

Because the sugar is cut down in this recipe, you’ll find that these taste more like dark chocolate. All of my kids ate them without complaint because these are still plenty sweet. (But not so sweet that I can’t have a small piece, so yay!)

Onward we go, testing out more low sugar recipes! How fun is this?!

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Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce (3 Ingredients!)

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Dairy free chocolate sauce….the new way to top a waffle.

Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

We sure do eat a lot of cream cheese around our house.

This has nothing to do with the recipe I’m about to share with you – except that it is my way of saying, “We definitely aren’t a dairy-free family.”

Why a Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce then?

  • Because coconut milk is nourishing and I like to use it in addition to cow milk as a way to give my family a variety of nutrients.
  • Because I love having recipes on hand that I can use to bless our friends who can’t eat dairy.
  • Because this Chocolate Sauce is rockin’ and I can actually eat it because it is low in sugar.

You pretty much can’t mess up this recipe. Go ahead. Try. Not that you would. (I mean, I can sometimes mess up a recipe without even trying, say…when I’m trying to talk and cook at the same time??)

But this recipe is really fool-proof and adaptable. You can make it a little sweeter if you like. You can keep the sugar low and enjoy this as a “dark chocolate” sauce. You can add a splash of vanilla extract or mint extract.

Oh my goodness, you could stir in some peanut butter! I just thought of that, will try it, and get back to you. You’ve gotta love it when a delicious brainstorm comes in the middle of writing a sentence.

How to use your Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

  • We love it on fresh strawberries, bananas, blueberries, or raspberries.
  • Often we use it as an apple dip.
  • Try stirring it into a cup of hot coffee. Yup.
  • Instead of maple syrup, spread this sauce over your pancakes or waffles.
  • Hello. Just eat it on a spoon.
  • You can drizzle this on ice cream, but if you do have to eat dairy free, you’d also have to make or find dairy free ice cream (this was obvious but still worth mentioning)

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate SauceYum

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce
 
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Ingredients
  • 13.5 ounce can of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ - ½ cup sweetener (honey, sucanat, or brown sugar)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a small saucepan, cooking and stirring on medium heat until well combined.
  2. Serve warm or cold.
  3. Store this sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator, rewarming on the stove-top as needed. It will keep for up to a month in the fridge.

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

This sauce just takes a few minutes to whip up and it seriously tastes like a gourmet treat.

Need Coconut Milk?

I typically purchase cans of coconut milk in bulk online. Some of my favorite resources are:

Want the Dairy-Full version? You’ll find one here. Be warned: it’s super full of sugar. I should play with that and see how we can reduce it!

Can you think of other great ways to eat this sauce? 

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Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Parfaits

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chocolate cheesecake parfait

There is a really weird thing about my dad.

No, no – hear me out. I don’t mean weird like weird. Actually though, if you think about it we all have our own variety of weirdness, do we not? Oh, we do. We are who we are and we think that anyone who isn’t like us is weird. News flash: We are all weird. Weirdo.

So about my dad. He’s super picky about all things fruits and vegetables. He only likes canned green beans, canned peaches in corn syrup, and iceberg lettuce. When he comes to visit and I offer beautiful trays of fresh fruit and steaming bowls of vegetables and he’s like, “What is this broccoli stuff? Hmm, peaches with fuzz. You mean people actually eat asparagus?”

And when it comes to strawberries? I can’t even believe I’m related to him because he will not touch a strawberry. He says it’s the seeds. Oh but he is missing out on one of the finest pleasures of this life on earth.

None of this in and of itself is weird. The weird part is that somehow in a conversation about what we do and not not like, when the subject of beets came up, my dad said, “Beets? Oh, I like beets.”

What?!? He won’t eat a fresh strawberry, a peach off a tree, or about fifty other fruit and vegetable options – but he’ll eat a beet? So weird.

I don’t even like beets. I think they taste like dirt. (Not that I’ve actually eaten dirt.) I’ve tried but I just can’t like them. See, and this makes me weird to those of you who do like beets. I told you we are all weird.

Since my dad won’t eat strawberries, I will continue to eat his share and my share plus all the other strawberries I can get my hands on. They are my favorite.

Our family recently combined two of our favorite recipe ideas: Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits with Chocolate Whipped Cream. The result is a delicious Chocolate Cheesecake Parfait. Of course, I used strawberries with the chocolate cheesecake to make these. But you could use blueberries, bananas, and whatever other fruit you might like.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberry ParfaitsYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberry Parfaits
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
  • Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 20 drops) (Use a few Tablespoons of sugar if you prefer.)
  • 1 -2 pounds fresh, sliced strawberries
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients (minus the strawberries) into a blender.
  2. Whip until smooth and creamy.
  3. Spoon mixture into bowls or cups – layering them with sliced strawberries.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Parfait

If you have a tried and true you will like beets if you eat them this way recipe, please do let me know. Otherwise, I’ll stick with the other dozens of fruit and vegetable options I do like and I’ll eat strawberries like there’s no tomorrow. Never forget that you’re weird and I’m weird and everyone is weird.

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Easy Low Sugar Key Lime Melt-Away Cookies

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I actually have no idea what makes something key lime rather than simply lime. I’d look it up, but there are fresh lime cookies to eat and also there is a lot of laundry to do since we have been gone all weekend. I would have just called these lime cookies, but key lime sounds more exciting.

Key Lime Cookies

Oh wait. I just looked it up. Did you know there are actually Key Limes? You probably did, so before you tease you have to remember that I am from Nebraska where there are no lime trees. Nebraska limes grow on trucks and in grocery stores.

Key limes are apparently great for cooking and baking because they are extra juicy and full of aroma and flavor. I will admit that I don’t know what kind of limes I used in these cookies. Therefore, maybe we should call these Easy Low Sugar On-Sale Lime Melt Away Cookies?

Either way, add these cookies to the collection of Low Sugar Cookies we’ve been enjoying here. These cookies are so much fun since all we have to do is use the base recipe, then add different flavors! Lime is just as amazing as the others.

Want to try the other varieties of these cookies?

Easy Low Sugar Key Lime Melt-Away CookiesYum

4.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Low Sugar Key Lime Melt-Away Cookies
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • The juice of two limes
  • grated lime rind
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla, lime juice, and baking powder.
  3. Grate lime rind into the mix for extra flavor.
  4. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  5. Drop teaspoon-sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, about an inch apart.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Easy Low Sugar Key Lime Melt-Away Cookies

If you’d like to learn a cool trick to make your lime squeezing easier, grab your limes and some tongs and read this handy information.

Do you live in an area where limes grow in your backyard? If so, I’m happy for you and not even jealous. After all, I live in a state where the wind blows so hard we don’t have to bother fixing our hair. Now who’s jealous?

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Easy Low Sugar Orange Melt-Away Cookies

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orange sugar cookies

In case by now you’re wondering if I’m obsessed with creating these Low Sugar Melt-Away Cookie varieties, the answer is obvious that of course I am obsessed. After two attempts at creating this here orange flavored variety, I have definitely decided that of all the flavors – orange is my new favorite.

Why two attempts, you ask? Oh well. I just burned the first batch, that’s all. Guys, it is so weird what happens to cookies when you put them in the oven, walk away, and then forget that there is actual life going on outside your office door. So weird. Someone should have warned me about this. We can’t even leave cookies unattended in a 350° oven for 27 minutes. Did you know that???

Set a timer much, Laura?

You know what? Just…I know, okay? I should have set a timer. I used to have one of those clicky, clicky, clicky timers but it got dropped four too many times so its spinner stopped spinning. Then Matt got me a digital timer that was persnickety and sometimes decided to shut itself off because it was selfish and couldn’t care less about the company coming over to eat in exactly 52 minutes. After a few months of this behavior, I declared it to be faulty and went to the store to purchase another one just like it. It, however, had the same exact issues as its brother and that is what tipped me off that maybe that brand couldn’t be trusted.

After that, I decided I could just use the timer app on my phone. This is a great idea except that it takes so many difficult and tedious steps to get to the point of actually setting the timer (find phone, turn phone on, unlock screen, find timer app, open timer app, think about how much time has elapsed since I started this whole process so I can figure out how long to set the timer at this point, so on and so forth). Also, I really hate to touch my phone when I have egg white on my fingers.

I think you can all see now how challenging it has been to accurately time my baked goods. I have mostly resorted to trusting my nose to be my timer. Typically, cookies and casseroles smell “just right” when they are ready to come out of the oven. What more do I need?

Oh yeah, just someone to remind me that I am actually baking cookies in the first place.

So the first batch burned. They were edible, just really, really crispy and not at all picture worthy. Over the weekend, I tried again. Oh my goodness, I will (go to the trouble to) set a timer from now on. It is worth it to pull the perfect cookies out of the oven when they are perfectly perfect in every way.

Easy Low Sugar Orange Melt-Away Cookies

Easy Low Sugar Orange Melt-Away Cookies
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • The juice of one medium-sized orange
  • grated orange rind
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla, orange juice, and baking powder.
  3. Grate orange rind into the mix for extra flavor.
  4. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  5. Drop teaspoon-sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, about an inch apart.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

grate orange rind

In other scatterbrained related news – the second time I made these cookies, I was talking to a friend and didn’t realize until later (like 9 hours later) that I hadn’t put eggs into the mixing bowl. These still turned out to be my favorite cookies. So eggs in this recipe? Take ’em or leave ’em. These turn out fine either way. This is further proof that I can’t talk and cook at the same time. Like you needed more proof.

Low Sugar Orange Melt-Away Cookies

Want to try the other varieties of these cookies?

Hey, just curious. What kind of timer do you use??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pyrex Storage Set Deal Alert!!

Christine emailed to tell me of this great deal on a 10-Piece Pyrex Storage Set. Get the entire set right now for just $12.63. No guarantees on how long this price will last. I have these, love them, and use them all the time!!

pyrex

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Low Sugar Frosted Christmas Cookies

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Some might say that Christmas desserts are treats that should not be messed with. Perhaps whole wheat flour does not belong in a Christmas cookie. Maybe “low sugar” should not be included in a Christmas cookie title. It’s a treat, right? Can’t we just leave it well enough alone?

Sure.

But the more I experiment with cutting down the sweetener in my baked goods, the more I’m discovering that treats still taste like treats even with the sugar cut in half or more.

Low Sugar Frosted Sugar Cookies

 

Wait. I don’t know how to write that. “…with the sugar cut in half or more.” Or should it be “…with the sugar cut in half or less.” I’m talking about cutting out even more than half of the originally called for sugar. Less sugar. Cut it by more than half, so that it’s even less. That is what I’m trying to say. Sometimes writing good sentences is so hard. Who decided that fractions would be smaller every time their bottom number gets bigger? Do you know how hard it is to explain to a small child that 1/8 is bigger than 1/16?? It’s the fraction inventors that are making my sentence writing so complicated right now.

Just for that, I’m not giving the fraction people any of my cookies. They can figure out their own half or more or less sugar fraction in their own cookie recipes. Merry Christmas, fraction people.

Well, there’s no good way to segue after this slightly embarrassing but mostly justified outburst. All any of us really needs to know is that we can cut the sweetener in most baked good recipes and not taste the difference. Truly this sugar cookie is still so sweet I can barely eat it. My kids – who love sugar-covered-sugar just like all the other kids – cannot tell that these cookies are low in sugar. I daresay that if we left these on a plate for Santa, he’d be like, “Wow, these are the best cookies I’ve had all night, but without the sugar crash. This mother must have used half or more (or less) of the sugar called for in the recipe.”

Good ol’ Santa. He totally gets it.

Low Sugar Christmas Cookies (That Don't Taste Low Sugar)Low Sugar Christmas Cookies

Low Sugar Christmas Sugar Cookies
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3½ cups of whole wheat flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.
  3. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  4. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.
  5. Roll chilled dough on a well-floured surface and thin or thick as you like.
  6. Cut with cookie cutters and place them about a half inch apart on a baking sheet.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for about 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
  8. Makes 20-30 cookies depending on the thickness and size.

If you’d like to frost your cookies but keep them low sugar, I recommend this stevia sweetened frosting.

Stevia Sweetened Cream Cheese FrostingYum

8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use 2 droppers full)

Whip ingredients together until smooth. Frost cookies just before serving.

This frosting is not like regular powdered sugar icing. It’s delicious on these cookies, but does not harden or hold up well for the long term. I recommend only frosting a few cookies at a time, as needed. I use the term “as needed” loosely because we are talking about cookies here. Although these are low in sugar so the half or more or less sugar fraction does the lessen the guilt.

Take that, fraction people.

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Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

In preparation for Thanksgiving Day, I made a big Turkey, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Stuffing Muffins, Green Bean Casseroles, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Pineapple Fluff Salad , Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pie Bites, Whipped Cream, and Apple Pies. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking. There may not be enough food! What will we do if we run out of food?

So I made more food. Just in case, you know?

Actually, I’m not worried about having enough food. But looking over that list, there is a definite shortage of cheesecake. It also occurred to me that I might enjoy a low sugar dessert on Thanksgiving day. That is why I took my Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe and adapted it to make fun these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups.

We can all sleep better now knowing that along with the other 26 dishes on the Thanksgiving buffet, there will also be low sugar cheesecake. I’m not sure the day would have been complete otherwise.

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

Yum

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups
 
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Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • Shortbread Crust:
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat for this)
  • ½ cup sucanat (or brown sugar if you prefer)
  • 1½ cups melted butter
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:
  • 2 8-ounce packages softened cream cheese
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 cups pureed pumpkin
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Real maple syrup or liquid stevia to taste (I used 4 droppers full of stevia)
Instructions
  1. Make crust by stirring flour and sucanat together in a bowl.
  2. Add melted butter, combining well.
  3. Press mixture into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.
  4. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. Allow crust to cool completely.
  6. Blend all pumpkin cheesecake filling ingredients together until smooth.
  7. Scoop into prepared shortbread crust cups.
  8. Spread until smooth.
  9. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.

I found it fun to use fall-colored muffin cup liners for the occasion. Come Christmastime, I’ll use red and green. :)

Low Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

I made the filling with stevia and was concerned that others might not like them as a result. But since the shortbread crust has a little sucanat and is so buttery and yummy, that balances the taste out for others. As for me, I think they are perfectly sweetened. In fact, I’m having to hold back to save the majority of these for Thanksgiving day. After all, there would be a definite void on the table if there were only 26 food choices and no cheesecake whatsoever.

Here’s to a wonderful holiday weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!

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{Low Sugar} Lemon Melt-Away Cookies

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I’m almost embarrassed to admit to you how many batches of Easy {Low Sugar} Cookies our family has eaten since I posted the recipe in September. We all declare these to be the best “why would we ever need more sugar in these cookies” cookies. They are incredibly delicious just as they are. I make them often. You should too.

Easy {Low Sugar} Cookies

Low Sugar Lemon Melt-away Cookies

Yum

I’ve long since stopped rolling and cutting when I make those cookies. After all – if life is too short to knead bread dough, it’s certainly too short to get out a rolling pin and cookie cutters. (Although I will be rolling and cutting for the holidays because there are laws enforcing the making of cookies into the shape of trees and stars and candy canes at Christmastime.) Instead of rolling and cutting in the non-holiday season though, I’ve been either freezing and slicing or simply dropping and squooshing (as detailed below).

Every time during the past few weeks I’ve made the drop and squoosh sugar cookies, Malachi walks by and says, “Man, I always think these are some kind of lemon cookies. Mom, you should make these into lemon cookies.”

Either my kids are related to me, or they just naturally get inspired with, “great recipe. now let’s tweak it.” Some of my best recipe ideas come from the brains of my boys. Need I remind you of the Pineapple Fluff Salad? Or the 5-Minute Stove-Top Granola? Now, allow me to introduce you to {Low Sugar} Lemon Melt-Away Cookies.

Lemon Melt-Away Cookies

I simply added 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to my Easy {Low Sugar} Cookies recipe and voila: {Low Sugar} Lemon Melt-Away Cookies. If we loved the regular version, we love the lemon version even more. I used the drop and squoosh technique, which is the method all the professionals use. To squoosh is a real thing. I definitely did not make up the term five minutes ago. All the famous chefs squoosh. Squooshing is a well-known culinary term just like saute, dredge, and braise. (Though it might be used more often by cooks who say “slap it down into a pan,” “toss in a little of that,” and “throw it down on the table.” Still. Professional.)

Simply put, to squoosh is to press down lightly on a ball of cookie dough with the bottom of a drinking glass. Dip the glass into a small amount of sugar if necessary to keep it from sticking. Drop a scoopful of dough, squoosh it down with the bottom of a glass. Drop, squoosh, drop, squoosh. Or, to be more efficient: drop, drop, drop, drop, drop (x24) – squoosh, squoosh, squoosh, squoosh (and so on).

It looks something like this:

squoosh

It must please you so much to be taught these professional terms so that you can impress everyone around you as you cook and bake. “What are you doing?” a friend will ask. “Oh, I’m just squooshing my cookies,” you’ll reply. Then your friend will nod in quiet appreciation at both your skill and your knowledge. They will also enjoy eating your cookies.

Now I shall give you the Low Sugar Lemon Melt-Away Cookie recipe that will have you squooshing in no time.

{Low Sugar} Lemon Melt-Away Cookies
 
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Author:
Serves: 24-30
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and sugar.
  2. Add lemon juice, eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.
  3. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  4. Drop teaspoon-sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, about an inch apart.
  5. Squoosh the dough down gently with the bottom of a glass.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Low Sugar Lemon Melt-Away Cookies ~ Easy!

It’s time to start squooshing, friends. Is this a skill you’ve already mastered, or is this one a new one for you? Let the squooshing begin.

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Sugar Cookies ~ the Whole Wheat, Low Sugar, Super Delicious Way

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Easy (Low) Sugar Cookies

I tinkered with my old sugar cookie recipe and cut the sugar from 1 1/2 cups down to just 1/2 cup. I personally think it could be cut even more, but that’s because I am weird about sweetness levels now. I’m the one who thinks coffee is sweet when it has only cream stirred into it. It looks so creamy delicious, and I say things like “mmm it is so sweet and good” while I’m sipping it, so my people keep trying it thinking that maybe this time I really mean it. I mean, I do mean it – why would I lie? It’s sweet. But then they take a sip and they make faces and say, “Eww that is so not sweet, what are you even talking about?” This is how I never have to share my coffee.

Now sharing these cookies is a different story. Everyone loves these lightly sweetened jewels. The butter makes them flaky good. This will be my new go-to sugar cookie recipe at all holidays, special events, and uneventful Wednesdays when the mood strikes.

Note about the sugar: Most of the time I use sucanat because it is sugar with some nutrients left behind. For occasional recipes when I’d like to avoid the product turning out too dark brown, I pull out some organic raw sugar. It’s only barely better than white sugar, but we’re going light on the sugar here so I don’t throw a fit about this.

 

Sugar Cookies the Healthier WayYum

4.0 from 1 reviews
Sugar Cookies ~ the Whole Wheat, Low Sugar, Super Delicious Way
 
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Author:
Serves: 20-30
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup sucanat or raw sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3½ cups of whole wheat flour (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Stir together melted butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.
  3. Stir in flour until a solid ball of dough forms.
  4. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.
  5. Roll chilled dough on a well-floured surface and thin or thick as you like.
  6. Cut with cookie cutters and place them about a half inch apart on a baking sheet.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for about 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
  8. Makes 20-30 cookies depending on the thickness and size.

 

sugar cookies 4

Notice the little round piece of squished circle dough, ready to be baked along with the pumpkin-shaped cookies. It is a part of the “No Cookie Left Behind” program. It’s what you do when your remaining dough isn’t big enough to shape.

Frost these cookies if you like, but then they fall out of the Low Sugar category. We find these to be perfect as they are, and some of us love to eat them with our coffee that is sweetened only with cream.

It’s almost cookie rolling, cutting, and baking season – so I can’t wait to hear what you think about these! (We’re on our third batch already. I may have failed to mention to my kids that I cut down the sugar in this recipe. Do not tell.)

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites

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Cookie bites? Eh. We like ’em okay. ;)

Because we all like healthy snacks and we absolutely love easy recipes – let us take a moment to review the previous no-bake cookie bite recipes shared here:

One idea turned into another, and now we have No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites to add to the list!

No-Bake Cookie Bites - Easy Recipes!

With a few ingredient tweaks, a Peanut Butter Cookie Bite came about. Of course, a peanut butter cookie bite must be gently pressed with a fork like the real deal, don’t you think? These taste so much like Peanut Butter Cookies, we couldn’t believe it. But instead of being an actual cookie full of sugar – they are a high protein, high fiber, low sugar snack. But hey, call it a cookie since it still tastes like one. Healthy treats are so exciting!

Peanut Butter Cookie Bites - No Bake!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites Yum

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup coconut flour
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
  2. Roll the mixture into teaspoon-sized (or whatever sized) balls.
  3. Press down gently, criss-cross, with a fork.
  4. Refrigerate before serving.

It really is that easy.

(Here are my homemade peanut butter instructions.)

 No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bites

Where to get Coconut Flour:

Many have asked about Coconut Flour. I order it from Tropical Traditions or Amazon. A little bit goes a long way, so don’t let the price-tag scare you. Coconut flour is naturally gluten free, high in fiber, and high in protein. I love it for its nutritional value!

Ways to enjoy these No-Bake Cookie Bites:

  • Packed in a lunch
  • As a snack/pick-me-up
  • Before or after a work-out
  • On the road during a trip
  • In a box, on a train, with a fox, in a tree (thank you, Sam I Am) – Do you really need any more reasons to love these? Eat them any where for any reason!

Lovin’ these No-Bake Cookie Bites!

Give me more cookie flavor ideas to play with!! What would you like to see here?

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