Refined Sugar Free Sugar Cookies Kids Devour

Simple Cut Out Sugar Cookies

I remember many holidays mixing, cutting and decorating cut out sugar cookies with my mom as a kid. But as wonderful as that was, I now get to enjoy a guilt-free version of that with my own kids by making much healthier refined sugar free sugar cookies with them 🙂

Sweetened only with maple syrup, I don’t mind my kids eating a few extra of these healthy cut out cookies. They’re just as tasty, just as fun to make and just as festive for a variety of occasions.

This sugar cookie recipe is similar to another one I originally created as a healthier cut out cookie option – but with a couple of differences. The original recipe used raw honey as the natural sweetener and a little bit of baking powder.

This new recipe is made with maple syrup. My 7-year-old will no longer eat the original recipe because she doesn’t like the taste of honey. And, in an effort to keep the recipe simple, I skipped using any traditional rising agents.

But since butter provides a slight rise, these extra easy cut out cookies still have the slightest lift (which is all you need when it comes to sugar cookies).

So while both recipes are very good (and both are also no chill no spread sugar cookies by the way), the benefit to these maple syrup sugar cookies without baking powder is that you can feed them to kids who don’t like or can’t have honey or baking powder.

I actually made these cut out sugar cookies for my extended family at Christmas time and all of my nieces and nephews loved them – including the honey buttercream frosting I made for them to decorate the cookies.

I also made some gluten free sugar cookies with 1:1 gluten free flour for my mom and some dairy free sugar cookies with margarine for my dad. They turned out great and my parents both loved them 🙂

So there you go! People of all ages and with varying dietary needs can all enjoy these delicious, refined sugar free sugar cookies!

When to Make Healthier Sugar Cookies

If you are reading this recipe post right now, you are probably planning for an upcoming holiday or celebration for which you want to make themed no sugar sugar cookies (now try to say that three times fast).

We all know the best part about cut out sugar cookies is the fact that we can make them fun shapes to match the occasion and then decorate them with colored frosting to further enhance their cuteness. And for kids, these attributes are absolutely essential to enjoying a cookie to the fullest 😀

But hey, if you don’t have any special occasions coming up and you have some basic shaped cookie cutters laying around, your kids certainly won’t mind you making these any time of the year!

As a matter of fact, I sometimes like to make these refined sugar free sugar cookies with number or letter cookie cutters for my toddler. Who am I kidding, even my 7-year-old gets excited about those!

But this recipe is also perfect for making Valentines Day cut out cookies, Christmas cut out cookies, and even Easter and Halloween cut out cookies. The recipe is as versatile as whatever cookie cutters you have 🙂

And something else I have to mention is that this easy cut out cookie recipe is so simple and quick to make that it’s absolutely perfect for busy holiday seasons when you already have a million other things to do and a million other recipes to make in a short time.

There is no chill time required for this easy sugar cookie recipe, which means that if you are free for the next 30 minutes, you can fully mix up, roll out and cut out these cookies! And then you can move on to your other holiday recipes while they bake. How perfect is that?

These are also such a great way to bake with little kids. My toddler loves to help me cut out and taste test these cookies every single time I make them. And I love that I don’t have to stress over her eating too much refined sugar in the process.

Ingredients

• Butter: Butter provides that rich flavor sugar cookies thrive on as well as providing a slight rise. I use Irish grass-fed or organic butter.

• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is the natural sweetener in this sugar cookie recipe that creates just the right intensity of sweetness without being overpowering or bland.

• Egg: An egg acts as a binder makes the cookies slightly chewy. I use farm-fresh or organic cage-free eggs.

• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds a touch of flavor to these cut out sugar cookies. Make sure to get 100% pure vanilla extract.

• Flour: Any all-purpose flour will work for this recipe. I use organic unbleached flour from Costco.

• Salt: If you use salted butter, you may be able to reduce or eliminate the salt. But if your butter is unsalted, you will definitely want a little salt to help bring out the flavor of the cookies. I use pink Himalayan sea salt.

Instructions

Step 1

To a medium-size bowl, add softened butter, maple syrup, egg and vanilla extract. Blend well with an electric hand or stand mixer until everything is fully combined.

Step 2

Add flour and salt. Mix with electric mixer until fully combined and rolling into a ball.

Step 3

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 4

Roll out your dough to 1/2 inch thickness.

Step 5

Cut out your cookies with small-medium size cookie cutters and place on a non-stick baking sheet.

Step 6

Once your baking sheet is full but not overly crowded, bake for 12-14 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden on the edges.

Repeat until all of your dough is used up.

Step 7

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before carefully transferring them with a spatula to a cooling wrack or a plate to finish cooling.

Step 8

Once fully cooled, store cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to one week. Alternatively, these can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable bag for up to two months.

Step 9

If you want to frost your cut out sugar cookies, make sure they have fully cooled before frosting.

Substitutions & Tips

• As I mentioned, I have successfully made these refined sugar free sugar cookies with 1:1 gluten free flour as well as with margarine instead of butter and they turned out well both ways. In fact, my toddler liked the gluten-free dairy-free sugar cookies just as well as the regular.

• If you want to substitute the maple syrup in this recipe for honey, I recommend using my honey-sweetened cut out cookie recipe instead. That recipe already has ingredient measurements that work well with raw honey.

• There is no need to chill this sugar cookie dough before rolling it out or after cutting out the cookies. They will not spread in the oven. And honestly, it would probably just make them harder to roll out if you refrigerated the dough first.

• If you want to make the dough ahead and stick it in the fridge, you can. Just let it sit at room temperature for a half hour before rolling it out.

• I highly recommend using a rolling pin like this one with thickness guide rings to roll out your sugar cookie dough evenly. Rolling them out evenly will not only make them look uniform, it will also allow them to bake evenly.

• If you want to frost these healthy cut out cookies, you can use my honey-sweetened buttercream frosting recipe with dye-free, sugar-free India Tree food coloring.

If you like easy, refined sugar free cookie recipes, be sure to check out my reader favorite: Healthy Homemade Animal Crackers.