Out of all the cookies on my site, I noticed that there wasn’t a single homemade sugar cookie! HOW DARE I.
Admittedly, I’m a little ashamed. Especially as a self-proclaimed cookie radical. No political talk here, we believe in cookies for the greater good of America (and the world).
I’m here to give the people what they need!
In all seriousness, I’ve been playing around with this recipe for a few weeks now. First goal was to make a whole grain sugar cookie. Whole wheat pastry flour was the answer and has been one of my favorite flours to work with over the past few years. While sometimes tricky to find, I promise it’s worth the search. WW pastry flour keeps the cookies light and soft, but still provides a nutritional boost of fiber and protein (versus regular all purpose flour).
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My second goal was to eliminate the dairy. Now I’m not a butter hater at all (remember my brown butter phase?), however the thought of a sugar cookie with a hint of coconut oil flavor was screaming MAKE ME NOW.
You guys get me, right?
Moving on…
The third goal was to eliminate the refined sugar in the cookies. Coconut sugar worked like a charm to create a wonderful flavor. If you haven’t had coconut sugar before, you may think that it would taste like coconut. Surprise: It doesn’t at all! It almost has a toffee, buttery flavor to it.
Final goal?
Make natural icing! Major success thanks to these freeze dried strawberries I’m in love with. All I did was mix organic powdered sugar with the strawberry powder, almond milk, honey and a little vanilla. Boom! Beautiful strawberry icing, that actually hardens fairly well.
P.S. I also scaled back on the sugar in the cookie tremendously because I feel you get enough sweetness from the icing.
Alright, enough chatting about why these are awesome. Valentine’s day is this weekend and you’ve got a date with these cookies. Hope you love! If you make them, please be sure to leave a comment below or tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram.
Laters, baby.
More healthy cookie recipes to try:
Healthy Carrot Cake Cookies (made with coconut oil + dairy free!)
Dank Coconut Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Almond Flour Chocolate Sugar Cookies with Velvet Chocolate Frosting
Whole Wheat Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Peanut Butter Glaze
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Salted Date Caramel
Whole Wheat Coconut Oil Sugar Cookies with Natural Strawberry Icing
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup melted and cooled coconut oil
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (organic cane sugar also works)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond milk
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the strawberry icing:
- 1 cup freeze-dried strawberries
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons almond milk
Instructions
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In a large bowl of an electric mixer add in coconut oil, coconut sugar, egg, almond and vanilla extract and almond milk. Beat for 2 minutes until well combined, smooth and creamy. Make sure your coconut oil is slightly cool (but still melted) before you add the egg or it will end up cooking the egg.
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In a separate medium bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients, with the mixer on medium low speed. Mix until just combined. If dough is too dry, add in a teaspoon or two of almond milk (or any milk you prefer).
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Divide the dough in half. Place each dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4" or 1/8" thickness to your liking. Place on a baking sheet and put in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
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Once you're ready to bake your cookies (and after the dough has chilled), preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Remove cookies from the fridge and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut your cookies. Place cut cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 6-9 minutes or until edges are just slightly golden brown.
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Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Repeat with remaining dough, rerolling dough as necessary. Makes about 12 medium sized cookies.
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Once cookies are completely cool, make the icing: Place freeze dried strawberries in a blender and blend until they become a powder. Transfer to a medium bowl and whisk in powdered sugar, honey and milk until thick and somewhat smooth. Use about 1 teaspoon of icing per cookie and decorate them however you wish!
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Cookies will keep well at room temperature for 4-5 days.
Recipe Notes
If you don't have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use white whole wheat flour instead, but you may need to add in a teaspoon or two of milk. I would not recommend using regular whole wheat flour for these cookies.
Feel free to use any freeze-dried fruit you'd like for the icing!
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Photography by: Sarah Fennel
22 comments
Okay, these cookies might have to be in my top 3 Valentine’s Day recipes for this year. Freeze-dried strawberries is genius! I can’t wait to make them! 🙂
These are so cute!! And I love how they have that homemade, rustic vibe to them!
Love them! Is there anyway to make without the egg??
Thanks!
Try making a flax egg. 1 tbs ground flax to 3 tbs water = 1 egg
Looks yummy! Do you think I could use a liquid sugar instead? Like honey or agave?
Wow, the color of that icing made me do a double take! I’ve tried to use freeze-dried fruit to color things before, but I’m clearly doing it wrong. I’ll have to try these!
Happy Let’s Make Fun of Single People Day! XD Joking! Anyways, these cookies look superb! Love how you frosted them too!!
These are so cute! Where do you purchase your whole wheat pastry flour?
I am wondering if these can be made without the egg too!!
My guess is that you could try a little applesauce or nut butter. Maybe 2-3 tablespoons. I’m not positive it would work though!
Can you use coconut flour instead of the whole wheat flour? Want to make these ASAP and that’s the only flour in my cupboard!
Seriously impressed by your healthy substitutions!!
I am extremely impressed that you managed to create a healithified sugar cookie! These look amazing!!
These look so amazing! I love the idea of a natural icing using freeze dried strawberries. 🙂
If you wanted to make the cookies without frosting (yes, I know…), would you need to add more coconut sugar to compensate for that, or is it sweet enough on its own?
Omg can I just say that I almost died seeing these! They look heavenly and fit well for my fitness goals..I would shamelessly copy the recipe and make a huge batch soon.
Cheers from London kitchen
I wish I saw these before Valentine’s Day, how absolutely beautiful! I still have to make my nephews and nieces some treats though so they are going to just love these! so pretty.
Flax meal works in place of eggs. Use a tablespoon of ground flax meal and about 21/2 tablespoons of water. Leave it for a few minutes until it thickens and then its good to go. : )
Is there any type of gluten-free flour that would work for this recipe? I really want to try to make these but I can’t eat whole wheat flour. Do you think a mixture of almond flour and coconut flour might work? Thank you in advance! Your recipes are amazing and delicious!
Try them with gluten free flour. I think they would be great!
Could you substitute a different oil?
You could try butter or vegan butter!