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These healthy sugar cookies are made with whole wheat flour and are naturally sweetened with maple syrup. They have a delicious, buttery flavor and the perfect texture for making cut-out cookies!
Sugar cookies are so nostalgic to me! Growing up, I had so much fun making and decorating them each Christmas and now I’m keeping the tradition alive in my home. I can’t wait to involve Liv this year – I know she’s going to love helping me decorate!
Start by mixing the whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer and a large bowl, beat butter (that’s softened to room temperature) and maple syrup on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing on medium speed until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Make sure you don’t over-mix or the cookies will be too dense. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If the dough seems too sticky, add a little more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or just place the entire bowl in the fridge and let the dough chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or overnight. This step is super important so the dough is firm enough before making cookies. If you skip this step, the cookies could turn out too flat.
When the dough is chilled and you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to let it soften just slightly. You can roll your dough out on a clean, flat surface or place parchment paper down on your counter for easy clean up. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface and the rolling pin to prevent sticking. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin until it’s about 1/4-1/3 inch thick. The thicker your cookies are, the softer they will be.
Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes to cut the dough out and place them 1 inch apart on your prepared cookie sheet. After cutting out the first round of shapes, gather the dough scraps, and re-roll the dough scraps and cut again. Repeat until all of the dough is used. Add additional flour to the surface and rolling pin as needed to prevent sticking.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges and bottoms are lightly golden. Let the cookies cool a few minutes on the sheet pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once they are cool, you can frost and decorate the cookies!
pro tip! If you like soft cookies, roll the dough a little thicker (about 1/3 inch thick) and bake them closer to 8 minutes. If you like harder, crunchier cookies roll the dough 1/4 inch thick and bake them closer to 10 minutes. The thicker the dough is and less time the cookies bake, the softer they will be.
Vegan – I haven’t tested these with vegan substitutes but you could try swapping the butter for vegan butter and the egg for a flaxseed egg.
Grain-free or gluten-free – looking for a grain-free or gluten-free sugar cookie recipe? Try my coconut flour sugar cookies instead! It’s so delicious but made with coconut flour instead of whole wheat flour.
Sugar – I have tested these cookies with cane sugar and they turned out delicious! I personally liked them better with maple syrup, but if you want to use cane sugar use ½ cup cane sugar and add 2 Tablespoons of milk (I used unsweetened almond milk).
Almond extract – For a flavor twist, you can swap the vanilla extract for almond extract or use 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond.
There are two options when it comes to storing sugar cookies! You can frost and decorate them and then store or you can store unfrosted and frost/decorate when you’re ready to serve. If you choose the first option, I recommend layering the cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper. If you choose the second, still store in an airtight container.
For longer storage, you can refrigerate or freeze these cookies. If you are freezing them, I recommend freezing unfrosted, letting them thaw when you’re ready to enjoy and frosting right before serving.
Be sure to check out my full collection of healthy Christmas cookies as well as all the cookie recipes here on EBF.
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I made these cookies using plain whole-wheat flour rather than whole-wheat pastry flour. I thought these turned out great and still were tender. I ended up having to add more flour than the recipe called for which I am not sure if it was due to a difference in flour or bad measuring on my end. Overall would make again for a healthy version of sugar cookies!
I love your recipes, so was excited to do a healthy Christmas cookie this year. I used coconut oil instead of butter and dark brown sugar with almond milk as I couldn’t get any maple syrup. As the kids and I topped them with rolled icing these cookies were subtle and tasty which worked well with the sweetness of the icing. I will def make these again and will try with the syrup and butter also. Thank you and Merry Christmas !
YAY! I am so glad these cookies are a hit! Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, it means so much to me! Merry Christmas!
Hi! Love this recipe, definitely going to try it out sometime! However, I would just like to point out that white whole wheat flour is NOT a blend of regular whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. So sorry if I seem annoying, but I don’t want anyone to get confused.
Hi Ruby – I am not sure where you are seeing this?
I had to add about a cup extra flour and I used coconut oil and half honey half maple syrup but they came so amazing! my kids love them and loved to roll and cut out.
so excited to feed them healthier cookies!
So glad these cookies were a hit with your family, Yaffa. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
excellent post thank you for sharing