Healthful Lemon Cookies – TWD #Cookiesandkindness

If you want to do away with gluten (or wheat), animal fat and sugar in baked goods, these might be the cookies for you. It’s hard to believe that these gluten-free cookies are actually delicious with a pleasant texture to them. There is very little compromise in the taste department. Sweet! I know enough friends and family members who are gluten intolerant, have troubles with blood sugar or in some cases, a desire to follow a more restrictive health and fitness style. This may be the approach to bake healthful cookies and to enjoy them too.

I know I was taking a bold step here. I had all the ingredients laid out to bake Dorie’s lemon sugar cookies at Tuesdays with Dorie. What if I take away the all-purpose flour, sugar and butter and substitute them with gluten-free flour, agave and coconut oil?

I can’t let go of the compulsion to take the healthier option. I forged ahead, adapting Dorie’s recipe, but without any all-purpose flour, sugar or butter. Since I had no clue what I was doing, I did a simple one-to-one substitution.

There was no sugar and butter to cream. So I proceeded by putting together the wet ingredients: agave, lemon juice and coconut oil. Whisk together the dry ingredients: gluten-free flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Since this was an experimental project, I halved the recipe. Took half an egg, whipped, and mixed in with all the ingredients until a cohesive dough formed. The dough was soft, but manageable. I separated the dough into two pieces. Shaped and rolled them up in a plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator.

After one hour in the fridge or 20 minutes in the freezer, the dough was ready to cut into rounds and bake.

What came out from the oven were some delicate, lightly sweetened and crispy cookies. I can hardly taste the lemon flavor. More lemon zest or lemon extract would have helped. I consider this gluten-free, no sugar and no butter adaptation to a conventional sugar cookies recipe a success.

For sure, my gluten-intolerant friends will be very happy with these healthful cookies. These are not the type of gifts they get too often. I too have benefited from learning something new: one to one substitutions work. However, you may be able to get away with much less fat, since gluten-free flour does not absorb as much fat as all-purpose. Please see the cheat sheet below for details.

Gluten-free, no sugar, no butter lemon cookies

What cookies will you bake to share? Take part in the #cookiesandkindness movement! Get Dorie’s recipe for lemon sugar cookies here.