If you are looking for a healthy gingerbread recipe, a low-sugar Christmas cookie suitable for the younger member of the family then you are in the right place.
Why This Recipe Works
- Refined sugar-free
- Vegan, Egg and Dairy Free
- Can be gluten-free
- Soft and suitable for the young, toddlers and baby led weaning at Christmas time!
Ingredients you will need
To make my low-sugar Christmas cookies you will need apple sauce and dates (these provide unrefined sweetness. The rest of the ingredients are hopefully pantry basics.
- applesauce or apple purée
- chia seeds
- dates
- boiling
- melted coconut oil or melted butter
- vanilla extract
- plain flour
- ground almonds
- baking powder
- ground ginger
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
Ingredient Notes and Substitutes
- Plain flour: I have tested this recipe with a gluten-free baking mix that contained xanthum gum and it worked well.
- Apple sauce: I use unsweetened apple sauce.
- Ground almond: You can also use almond meal or coconut flour. Coconut flour does change the flavour of the final cookies but works well.
- Dates: I use Deglet Noor dates, from the dried fruit section of the supermarket, You can use Medjool dates, you will not need to soak them if you use Medjool dates.
- Chia seeds: Both black and white chia seeds work, but white gives a better-finished product visually as the seeds disappear completely.
I am an ambassador for Countdown supermarket, they support my blog by providing ingredients for recipe creation and testing. I used plain flour and apple sauce and spices from their range in this recipe.
How to make healthy Christmas cookies for kids
Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make my Healthy Christmas Cookie Recipe, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.
Prep: Add the chia seeds to the applesauce and leave to sit for 20 mins. I just pop them into the food processor and make sure all the chia seeds are covered by the apple.
Place the dates in a small bowl and soak in the boiling water.
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 F)
Step one: After the chia seeds have sat in the apple for approx 20 mins and have begun to gel, drain the date, then add the dates, melted butter and vanilla to the food processor, blitz well until a smooth paste is formed.
Step two: In a bowl place all the remaining dry ingredients, use a fork or whisk to mix them together so everything is well combined and semi-sifted.
Step three: Add the wet ingredients from the food processor to the dry ingredients.
Bring the dough together by mixing with a wooden spoon
Step four: Turn out onto a floured board and knead until the dough becomes smooth.
Step five:
Roll out to 5mm thick and cut into any shapes you want.
Place cookies onto a baking paper lined baking tray.
Step six:
Bake in a Fan Forced Oven at 160 degrees Celsius (320 F) for 15-25 mins. If you are using a non-fan-forced oven, increase the temperature to 180 C or 360 F.
Bake until golden brown. Cooking time will vary a little depending on the size of the cutters used. So be sure to check the cookies often, especially if you have chosen to use very small cutters.
Decorate and Enjoy!
Top Tips
Here is how you can make these healthy Christmas cookies perfectly every time!
- When it comes to decorating you can use your favourite frosting or melted chocolate. Of course, you can always skip the frosting and leave them plain.
- If you want to make Reindeer Cookies, all you need is a gingerbread man cutter, turn the cookies on their head and decorate. I used blueberries for the eyes and raspberries for the red nose!
- These cookies will store in an airtight container for 3 days
- They freeze and defrost well when they are not decorated
- This recipe has been designed for young people, my kids love it, but if you are used to traditional gingerbread it may not quite meet your expectations.
Is this healthy Christmas cookie actually low in Sugar?
Well, it depends on the definition of sugar that you use. This recipe is low in added sugar as defined by the World Health Organisation and it contains no refined sugar but it is not super low in actual sugar.
These cookies are sweetened with fruit (apple and dates, both of which contain sugar so these could not be described as sugar-free cookie) Total sugars works out to approximately 4.1g of total sugar per cookie which is just shy of one teaspoon of sugar. In contrast to many cookies, this is pretty low.
Obviously, a way to lower sugar intake is to make smaller cookies. My family don't lead a no-sugar life just a lower sugar life so I am comfortable with the sugar content of this low sugar Christmas cookie recipe for my kids, but everyone will have a different comfort level.
In saying that when it comes to special occasions I have no issues with sugar, my kids no doubt will be on huge sugar highs on Christmas Day and I'm totally fine with that.
Do these healthy Christmas cookies taste good? Obviously, if I served them on a platter next to fancy chocolate biscuits then these ones probably wouldn't get a look in until all the choccie biscuits were gone, but my kids have been happily snacking on these (and sneakily stealing them from the container when they think I'm not looking).
They also probably think they are extra delicious as they helped make them! The recipe uses Chia Seed as an egg replacer so it is a raw cookie dough your kids can munch away on while they are baking.
These cookies are not super crunchy, so they are a good texture for baby-led weaning as well.
Other Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Traditional gingerbread cookies
- Soft m&ms Christmas cookies for Santa
- Easy sugar cookie recipe, you can cut this cookie into any shape and decorate
- Christmas pudding cupcakes
Low Sugar Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 265 grams applesauce or apple purée 265g 1 cup
- 15 grams chia seeds 1 Tablespoon
- 40 grams dates 6 dates
- ¼ cup boiling water
- 60 g melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 250 grams plain flour 2 cups. Can use gluten-free
- 100 grams ground almonds 1 cup
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
Prep
- Add the chia seeds to the applesauce and leave to sit for 20 mins. I just pop them into the food processor and make sure all the chia seeds are covered by the apple .
- Place the dates in a small bowl and soak in boiling water.
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 F)
- After the chia seeds have sat in the apple for approx 20 mins and have begun to gel, drain the date, then add the dates, melted butter and vanilla to the food processor, blitz well until a smooth paste is formed.
- In a bowl place all the remaining dry ingredients, use a fork or whisk to mix them together so everything is well combined and semi-sifted.
- Add the wet ingredients from the food processor to the dry ingredients.
- Bring the dough together by mixing with a wooden spoon
- Turn out onto a floured board and knead until the dough becomes smooth.
- Roll out to 5mm thick and cut into any shapes you want.
- Place cookies on to a baking paper lined baking tray.
- Bake in a Fan Forced Oven at 160 degrees Celsius (320 F) for 15-25 mins. If you are using a non-fan-forced oven, increase the temperature to 180 C or 360 F.
- Bake until golden brown. Cooking time will vary a little depending on the size of the cutters used. So be sure to check the cookies often, especially if you have chosen to use very small cutters.
Notes
- Plain flour: I have tested this recipe with a gluten-free baking mix that contained xanthum gum and it worked well.
- Apple sauce: I use unsweetened apple sauce.
- Ground almond: You can also use almond meal or coconut flour. Coconut flour does change the flavour of the final cookies but works well.
- Dates: I use Deglet Noor dates, from the dried fruit section of the supermarket, You can use Medjool dates, you will not need to soak them if you use Medjool dates.
- Chia seeds: Both black and white chia seeds work, but white gives a better-finished product visually as the seeds disappear completely.
Jessica says
Easy to make, even for a beginning baker like myself. I was worried they wouldn’t be sweet enough, but my three year olds love them! I will say the slightly thicker ones came out better, the thin ones cooked a bit too much and we all liked the chewiness of the thicker cookies.
I was wondering: what can I replace the almond with for my friends with nut allergies? Unsure if they are allergic to coconut as well.