The one part that I love about the holiday season is baking cookies. I know that my family loves to eat all the cookies that I make for Christmas. I too enjoy eating my holiday cookies, even if it means that I have to spend a couple extra minutes at the gym. I also love baking cookies for Christmas cookie exchanges. So that usually means that I am baking several different varieties of cookies. I have some cookie recipes that my family requests every year and then I also like to try new cookie recipes. Since I am making so many cookies, I try to switch out ingredients in the recipes so the cookies are a bit healthier. I also switch out ingredients in my cookie recipes so they are allergy-friendly for both my daughter and I. I have a dairy allergy and my daughter has a nut allergy. At times this can complicate my cooking so when I know that my daughter will be eating the cookies that I make, I always make sure to use coconut or oat plant-based milk.
Dairy-free baking is not that difficult for me as it just requires switching out the dairy ingredients for ones that are non-dairy. I always have vegan butter and plant-based milk in my fridge as well as dark chocolate chips that are dairy-free. Trader Joes sells dairy-free vegan chocolate chips that taste so good and are cheaper than other vegan brands. So when I shop at Trader Joes, I stock up on their plant-based chocolate chips as they freeze so well.
The Best Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe
Baking with less sugar is easy and delicious
Since my family enjoys eating sweets like cookies, I have been experimenting with different low calorie and zero-calorie sweeteners in my baking. The sweeteners that I have been using have been natural sweeteners and I have eliminated toxic chemicals from life. To think that I used to use those sweeteners in the pink, blue and yellow packets makes me cringe. I am glad that my body had no lasting effects from those chemicals. So now the only sweeteners that I use to lower my sugar intake are stevia and monk fruit. I really like using monk fruit when baking as my family can't tell the difference. The monk fruit that I started using and love the taste in my baking is Lakanto.sugar. I like this brand as they have a powder sugar substitute and a brown sugar substitute as well as a maple syrup. This sweetener is similar to sugar when you use the right measurements. The package may say that it measures 1 cup to one cup but I get the best taste when I use 3/4 cup to one cup. I find that when I use monk fruit in the full measurement it is way too sweet. So if a recipe calls for one cup sugar, I will use 3/4 cup monk fruit. This sweetener is also keto-approved making it a keto-friendly sweetener for keto recipes.
There are also ways to make desserts sugar-free without the use of sweetener by using sweet fruits like dates. Dates are naturally sweet so they add that sweet taste to desserts like my Vegan Chocolate Dipped Salted Caramels That Are Dairy Free. These caramels taste so similar to real caramels and if you have to avoid dairy like me, you will love them. This vegan recipe is so easy to make and it uses some healthy ingredients so you can indulge. These tasty vegan caramels are my healthy treat that satisfies my chocolate craving.
The best freeze-dried apples
My family loves apples and we always have plenty in the fridge but I tend to not use them for baking. Baking with fresh apples is time-consuming as you have to peel the apples and then the apples tend to brown quickly. So I like to make my apple desserts with these amazing freeze-dried apples. Crunchies makes a cinnamon-flavored freeze-dried apple snack that my boys love. This delicious snack is a great way to add the flavor and texture of apples to my baking without all the work. Since the apples are freeze-dried, they are less wet so it does not make my cookies soggy. Crunchies sent me some of their freeze-dried apples and this Apple Pie cookie recipe. I made some modifications to their recipe so it would be dairy-free and lower in sugar but you can see their original recipe on the Crunchies website.
A cookie that tastes like apple pie
My family loves apple pie but I don't like all the work that is involved in making pies. Making an apple pie can be an all-day project. Sure, I could buy a premade apple pie but they never taste as good as homemade apple pie. I prefer homemade baked goods over store-bought desserts. When I make my pies, I also make a homemade crust. So to make an apple pie, that means making a pie crust, peeling apples, slicing apples, and rolling pie dough. So I would much rather make a delicious cookie that tastes like a homemade apple pie. This apple pie cookie recipe is much healthier too when you use a natural sweetener like monk fruit. You can even make these cookies vegan with a vegan egg substitute so the cookies can be plant-based cookies. I am always substituting eggs in my baking with a vegan egg substitute as I never seem to have eggs in the fridge. I have used egg substitutes in many recipes like my Gluten-Free Chocolate Mocha Protein Brownies and my Peanut Butter Cup Protein Pancakes as well as my Healthy Lemon Zucchini Protein Bread.
These delicious homemade cookies are super moist and are the perfect cookie for holiday cookie exchanges. You can even eat them for breakfast as they have oatmeal and fruit in them. I like to pack a couple of these cookies in my kid's lunches for a special treat. If you can't wait until Christmas to make these apple pie cookies, then make them for your Thanksgiving menu dessert. Make sure to check out these other holiday favorite cookie recipes that my family enjoys.
Make the cookies healthy and low in sugar
When I made these cookies, I used wheat flour as I ran out of white flour and they still tasted awesome. Since this recipe has oatmeal in it, that helps with the wheat flour. I don't recommend using wheat flour by itself in most cookie recipes as it tends to make them dry. If you want to use wheat flour for added nutrition then swap out half the white flour with wheat. I also used the above-mentioned monk fruit sweetener when I made these cookies. I used 1/4 cup of the Lakanto Classic and 3/4 cup of the Laknato Golden. My family did not even notice the difference in taste.
If you liked this recipe, be sure to Pin It on Pinterest!
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Simple Dairy-Free Apple Pie Cookies
Yield: 36
A delicious cookie that tastes like homemade apple pie
ingredients:
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 2 bags Crunchies Freeze-dried apples (crushed)
instructions:
How to cook Simple Dairy-Free Apple Pie Cookies
- Preheat oven 350°
- Cream vegan butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
- Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl ( flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder)
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients stir until combined.
- Fold in Crunchies freeze-dried apples. You may need to use your hands to work the apples in.
- Place 1 tbsp. sized dough balls on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment-lined or a silicone sheet and flatten them lightly with your palm.
- Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Let the cookies cool before removing from the cookie sheet.
Calories
120.53
120.53
Fat (grams)
5.80
5.80
Sat. Fat (grams)
3.40
3.40
Carbs (grams)
15.78
15.78
Fiber (grams)
0.76
0.76
Net carbs
15.01
15.01
Sugar (grams)
7.89
7.89
Protein (grams)
1.69
1.69
Sodium (milligrams)
103.10
103.10
Cholesterol (grams)
23.89
23.89
