Healthy Sugar Cookie Recipes

There is no need to wait for December to enjoy crisp sugar cookies in fanciful shapes. Capture the spirit of fall by baking maple leaf- or pumpkin-shaped cookies. And when the festive season arrives, have fun with holiday shapes like stars and wreaths. Use the Cinnamon-Sugar Topping for crisp cookies that make perfect teatime treats or finish with Decorator Icing for more elaborate cookies (see Cookie-Decorating Tips, below).

This healthy sugar cookie recipe makes delicate, thin cookies by using the bottom of a glass to press the dough into cute wafers. To give the cookies a festive look, top them with naturally dyed red and green decorating sugar and flakes of unsweetened coconut before baking.

This healthy sugar cookie recipe makes delicate, thin cookies that are a great accompaniment to coffee or tea. You press the dough into cute wafers using the bottom of a glass and can sprinkle the cookie thins with dried cranberries and pistachios, as in this recipe, or use your favorite dried fruit and nut combination as decoration.

These make great holiday cookies when cut into shapes and decorated, but they're also a fine addition to your everyday cookie jar. We've cut the butter from an entire stick to just 2 tablespoons, cooking it until it turns a nutty brown to maximize the rich flavor.

These festive sugar cookies are proof that you can add whole-wheat flour to a baked good without anyone ever knowing it. We've replaced some of the butter with healthier canola oil, cutting the saturated fat by about 75%. They freeze well so you may want to consider making extras to have on hand for a sweet treat.

These vanilla ice cream sandwiches are a great dessert option - vanilla cookies sandwiched around vanilla ice cream. Sometimes simple is actually best!

Here's a great, all-purpose recipe for sugar cookies, but the real gem is the method for making a beautiful set of royal icings to decorate them. We've used a trio of berry powders to make the colors here, but you can make other colors with almost any freeze-dried fruit (or vegetable).