Baking Christmas cookies is a tradition many of us cherish. Although you can never go wrong with Rice Krispie treats, mudballs, chocolate chip cookies, and lemon bars (to name a few of my favorites), this year I decided to put a healthy, wholesome twist on my favorite Christmas treats.
Since I am no baker extraordinaire, I turned to Pinterest for my healthy Christmas cookie recipes. Some are paleo, some are gluten free, and they are all vegan, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free.
I’ve tried the whole Pinterest healthy recipe thing before, and it’s not always a huge success. So to save you the hassle, we’ve tested out some recipes for you to let you know how they turn out for ordinary joes like us. (Note: this is not a critique of the original recipes. Any failures are likely a result of my lack of baking skills!)
These are the only no-bake option we tried. Overall, these snowballs turned out exactly how they were supposed to and are absolutely delicious. Not only are they a healthy twist on a classic Christmas cookie, they are packed with protein and would make an energizing breakfast.
Hot Cocoa Cookies by Fit Foodie Finds
These cookies won the day. They are rich, soft, and chocolatey. You would never know that they are paleo. The only difference from the original recipe is that we used cacao instead of cocoa. These cookies are literally heaven for chocolate lovers.
Almond and Cinnamon “Sugar” Cookies by Heavenlynn Healthy
Okay. I’ll start by saying that these cookies are absolutely scrumptious- they certainly satisfy the sugar cookie craving. Making these treats, however, was a real pain. The dough was SO sticky, it was impossible to cut out the stars. We ended up having to bake the cookies and then cut out the shapes, but the dough was still too tough to cut out stars, so we simply sliced the giant cookie into little triangles and made Christmas trees! Not exactly what we had originally intended, but delicious nonetheless.
Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies by Amy’s Healthy Baking
I messed up this recipe a little, not going to lie. You’re supposed to combine the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then mix together, then slowly add the flour. I was a little too eager and mixed together all of the ingredients in one go. That could be the reason why these ended up too dry, and more like a pastry than a cookie. They are also a little bland for my taste. Overall, still edible and probably lovely with a mug of sweet tea. Hopefully our readers have better luck!
Cranberry Pecan Cookies by EatFit.Cooking
Although these cookies taste really good, they didn’t hold their shape at all. When we took them off the pan, they kind of just…crumbled. My plan to salvage this recipe: use it as a topping on my smoothie bowls! Yum!
Gingerbread Men by EatFit.Cooking
The preparation of these cookies was a slight failure, but the final product was a definite win! The recipe calls for 3 cups of almond flour, and even after sitting for an hour and a half in the fridge, the dough was still super runny. To get a gingerbread consistency, we had to add 3 MORE CUPS of whole wheat all-purpose flour! The almond flour just didn’t cut it. But in the end, they ended up being absolutely scrumptious. And even better since my sister went a little crazy with the decorating!!
We hope you have fun with your Christmas baking (and we’re sorry this post is a little last-minute!!). We love hearing from our readers, so we would love if you tagged us in your snaps of your Christmas cookies, whether they are from this article or not!
Have an absolutely fantastic holiday,
char&linds
Let us know what you think!