These healthy sugar cookies are made without chilling, and are higher in protein and fiber, with a perfectly crisp edge, chewy center and crunchy sugar top thanks to oat flour. Easy to make in 20 minutes.
Chewy healthy sugar cookies have more protein and fiber than my other cookies because of the addition of oat flour. Each cookie carries 2 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
Oat flour, which is basically ground oats, brings fiber and essential nutrients to the cookie. Applesauce or aquafaba is used instead of eggs, making the recipe lighter. And there are only 5 recipe steps and no waiting for the dough to chill, thanks to the stability of the oat flour.
In the end, you have a quick delicious sugar cookie, topped with sugar crystals, in 20 minutes or less. Just like my other cookie recipes, including my chocolate sugar cookies, my M&M sugar cookies, my edible cookie dough bites and my vegan chocolate chip cookies, these cookies are dairy free and naturally gluten free.
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Ingredients
These healthy sugar cookies come together quickly with only 4 main ingredients. See below!
- oat flour (or almond flour)
- butter (stick butter is best, I used Earthbalance)
- brown sugar & cane sugar
- applesauce, unsweetened.
- baking soda, vanilla, salt
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
1. Flour. You can use almond flour instead of oat flour, just reduce the amount by ¼ cup since almond flour is much heavier. And you might have to adjust the batter texture by adding a bit of milk. Or check out my 2 ingredient sugar cookies made with almond flour.
2. Applesauce. Or you can use 3 tablespoon of aquafaba which is the liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas.
Tools Needed
- Mixing bowl, hand mixer or spoon
- quarter-sized cookie sheet, parchment paper
- small cookie scoop
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Steps to Make
For more detail, visit the complete recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
Preparation. Prep by preheating your oven to 350 F and lining your cookie sheet with parchment paper. For this small batch of 12 cookies, I use a quarter-sized cookie sheet.
Step 1. Cream butter with sugars and add in applesauce, and vanilla.
Step 2. Add oat flour, baking soda and salt to creamed mixture and stir or mix. This oat-flour dough does not need to be chilled. Unlike my Milano cookies which do have to be chilled.
Step 3. Use a small cookie scoop to put 12 cookies on pan, and top with mix-ins.
Step 4. Bake for 9-10 minutes, sprinkle top with a few more mix-ins, and cool five minutes in the pan.
Recipe Tips
1. Measure the flour correctly. You can weigh it but I have great success using the spoon and leveling method. Just loosen the flour in the bag with a fork. Use the fork to fill measuring cups and use a knife to level the cups.
2. Make sure your oven is hot enough. I use an oven thermometer to check. The oat flour makes baking these cookies sensitive to temperature. If you don't want to check your temperature, pull cookies out as soon as you see the outer edges begin to brown, and the center un-cooked color disappear.
3. Oat flour. You can make homemade oat flour by blending rolled oats into a powder, but store-bought oat flour will be finer and be easier to get consistent results with this recipe.
FAQS
Yes. Allow the cookies to cool completely then drizzle on my Vegan Royal Icing. Sprinkle sprinkles before the frosting hardens.
Yes, these cookies can be frozen after baking, or the dough frozen before baking. Both last three months in the freezer. If you freeze the dough, let it thaw thirty minutes before baking.
The healthiest cookie to eat is one with a high fiber flour and low sugar levels, just like this oat flour sugar cookie recipe. The cookies are a few inches across and contain 154 calories, 3 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber and a low 8 grams of sugar.
You can store leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature. The cookies will keep fresh for 3-4 days. Try to avoid refrigerating them as the oat flour will dry out quickly.
More Healthy Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Healthy Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup oat flour
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- ¼ cup applesauce or aquafaba
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
Topping
- ¼ cup crystal sugar sprinkles
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Instructions
Prep
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Add parchment paper to a cookie sheet.
- Soften butter in microwave for 10 seconds
Make Cookies
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugars, then add in applesauce and vanilla.½ cup butter, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup cane sugar, ¼ cup applesauce, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add oat flour, baking soda and salt to a sifter and sift the mixture into the creamed butter. Or just stir the dry ingredients in a bowl, and add to the creamed butter1 ¼ cup oat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt
- Stir the mixture until creamy. You can use a mixer. The dough will be sticky. But don't chill this dough because it will dry out your cookie.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop 10 cookies on to the cookie sheet. Press down each with a flat spatula or spoon.
- Sprinkle sugar sprinkles on top.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until brown around the edges.
- Quickly sprinkle more sugar sprinkles on top.¼ cup crystal sugar sprinkles
Storage
- Allow them to cool before putting them in a container. Oat flour will cause the cookies to dry out fast, so keep them contained and at room temperature.
- Both dough and baked cookies freeze beautifully up to 3 months.
Bethany says
Should this recipe call for baking powder instead of baking soda? All I taste is baking soda, and I did make sure it was mixed well.
Dee Dine says
I used baking powder to create a chewy texture, but yes, you can use baking powder if you prefer in the same amount. Baking powder is much more delicate in flavor and affect. Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies.