Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

From: Rochelle


A week or so ago I taught a "Healthy Holiday Cooking" class for my club fundraiser. I did lots of research and found lots of excellent recipes and tips to help cut calories during the holiday season. One of the recipes I found was for these whole wheat sugar cookies. I thought this might be a good one to share since people usually decorate sugar cookies over the holidays. I will tell you, you can taste the whole-wheat in these cookies, but I actually like it and plus with frosting on it, you can't tell anyways.


P.S. Austin gobbled these up in a day!


Healthy Frosting Tips: 
Pillsbury has just come out with sugar-free frosting. This might be a good option to decorate your cookies with.
Also, another good tip is to take all of the frosting out of the tub, and put it in a bowl. Then, using electric beaters, beat the frosting to incorporate more air into the frosting. I add just about 2-3 teaspoons of water as well.  Not only does this make your frosting last longer, but you are using & eating a little bit less frosting. They use this trick with ice cream. They incorporate more air into your ice cream to make it softer and fluffier.

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
2 C   Whole Wheat Flour
2 t      Baking Powder
1/2 t   Salt
1 C    Sugar
1/2 C  Unsalted Butter (I used 1/4 C Butter and 1/4 C White Bean Puree)
1        Egg (or 1/4 C Egg Substitute
1 t     Vanilla Extract
2 T    Milk


Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour with the baking powder and salt. 
2. In another bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until a light lemon-yellow, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and milk, then add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time and mix until blended. 
3. Form dough into disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until firm. 
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out until thin, about 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes, sprinkle with sugar and place on the prepared sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool. 

Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cookies.