The holiday season is officially upon us and although I have been keeping up with my fitness routine, I’ve been pretty lax with my eating – which I will tighten up on next week because of an exciting macro plan I am getting … details to follow, so stay tuned.
I’ve been enjoying a whole range of cookies, from chocolate chip cookies to cinnamon snickerdoodles as part of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! This happens everywhere and basically involves sending and receiving cookies to food bloggers across the nation, all for a great cause. To participate, you donate a few dollars which go towards the charity Cookies for Cancer. I thought that this was such a fun initiative and a wonderful way to meet new bloggers, eat yummy cookies and help a good cause. The cookie swap is sponsored by OXO, Dixie Crystals and Land O Lakes Butter – OXO and Dixie Crystals were kind enough to send over some measuring cups and a silicon mat!
All photos by Charles Uibel
As I am a health and fitness blogger, I decided to make a lightened up version of my favorite lemon butter cookies. I was really tempted to make a full fat, full sugar cookie, but I wanted to push myself and see what I could make – without sacrificing texture and taste (not about that ‘healthy’ cookie life with the ingredients made up of oatmeal and bananas lol).
I spent quite a bit of time doing research on what I could do to lighten up lemon butter cookies which typically involve a ridiculous amount of butter and sugar. Interestingly, the majority of calories in lemon butter cookies actually come from the butter (I would’ve thought it was the sugar), so I decided to find a substitute for the butter. I decided on Greek yogurt, which is a great high protein source and creates a great texture, and coconut oil which, while not low-calorie, has a variety of health benefits and creates a really lovely taste. This cookie recipe is by no means a free for all, but it won’t make you feel as bad about destroying a whole batch of store bought cookies 😉
Lightened Lemon Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 Egg Yolk
- 150 g Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Optional: 1tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
- Start mixing the coconut oil, greek yogurt, brown sugar and egg yolks together on medium speed until creamy.
- Sift the whole wheat flour and mix in the salt. Slowly add the flour into the wet mixture and continue mixing on medium speed. Add in the lemon extract and make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Roll the dough into one inch balls - this should make about 12-15 small cookies. Flatten them slightly and then put in the oven for 14 minutes,
- Take the cookies out and let them cook for 10 minutes. Now eat them and let me know what you think!
I hope you enjoy this fun, tropical cookie recipe! I want to give a big shoutout to the following bloggers for sending me along their amazing cookies: Bree of Baked Bree, Michelle of The Brooklyn Cook, and Ashton of Something Swanky.
For any food bloggers who want to get involved in the cookie swap next year, just sign up here to keep updated on next year’s swap!
Honestly yours,
Alice
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