Healthy & Tasty Cookies – We Have the 5 Best Recipes

We love the holiday season – and especially all the cookies we get to eat during these weeks. And because we also want to take care of our health during this time, we have put together 5 special recipes for you: you will find directions for 5 tasty vegan, lactose-free, sugar-free or gluten-free cookies.

Vegan: Healthy no-bake date balls

Ingredients:

• 150 g cashews
• 100 g dates (pitted)
• 4 tsp cherry or plum wine
• 1 tsp low-fat cocoa
• dark chocolate (melted)
• pistachios for decoration

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until they form a dough. Put the dough in the refrigerator for ½ – 1 hour.
Form small balls, dip them in the melted chocolate and decorate each date ball with a pistachio. You can also sprinkle them with cocoa. Enjoy!

Makes about 1 baking sheet

1 ball contains 120 calories

Lactose-free: Delicious oatmeal cookies with dark chocolate and cranberries

Ingredients:

• 50 g wheat flour
• 50 g wholemeal wheat, spelt or rye flour
• 125 g oat flakes
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 100 g brown sugar
• 70 g soft butter
• 1 egg
• 100 g dark chocolate (chopped)
• 100 g cranberries (dried and chopped)

Directions:

Preheat the oven in convection mode to 180°C. Combine the flour with the oat flakes, the baking powder, the salt and the vanilla extract in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and combine everything into a dough. Then add the egg. Finally, stir in the chocolate pieces and the cranberries.
Place spoonfuls of the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake the cookies for about 15 minutes. Let them cool before eating.

Makes about 1 baking sheet

1 cookie contains 100 calories

Gluten-free: Sweet no-bake peanut butter balls

Ingredients:

• 250 g peanut butter (salted or unsalted)
• 4 Tbsp maple syrup (or honey or agave nectar, if you prefer)
• 3 Tbsp coconut flour (or other flour, if you prefer)
• a pinch of salt
• 6 Tbsp Rice Krispies
• 80 – 100 g dark chocolate
• ½ Tbsp coconut oil (or other vegetable oil, if you prefer)

Directions:

Mix the peanut butter with the maple syrup for about 1 minute until the mixture is thick. Then stir in the coconut flour. The consistency should be neither sticky nor dry. Add a pinch of salt and the Rice Krispies. Form small balls from the mixture, about 15 pieces.
Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil over low heat. Using a fork, dip the balls in the chocolate and place them on parchment paper (on a baking sheet or in a Tupperware). Whichever container you use, there should be enough room in the freezer, because the balls need to be frozen for about 15 minutes so the chocolate can harden. The peanut butter balls are perfect as a small gift for family and friends.

Makes about 1 baking sheet

1 ball contains 140 calories

Vegan: Crisp peppermint patties

Ingredients:

• 70 g cashews
• 100 g melted coconut oil (or other vegetable oil, if you prefer)
• 4 Tbsp agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup, if you prefer)
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk (or other plant/ordinary milk, if you prefer)
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 100 g dark chocolate (chopped)

Directions:

In a bowl, cover the cashews with water and let them soak for about 3 hours (depending on how good your food processor is). Afterwards, drain them.
Put the nuts, the melted coconut oil, the agave nectar, the almond milk and the peppermint extract in a food processor. Blend everything together to form a smooth dough. This can take several minutes.
The best way to shape the patties is to fill about 20 cups of a mini cupcake pan with a ½ tablespoon of filling. Then freeze them for about a half hour.
In the meantime, melt the chocolate with some coconut oil over low heat and then let the mixture cool. Take the peppermint patties from the freezer and dip them in the chocolate using a fork. Place them on parchment paper. The main thing is that you complete this process as quickly as possible, so the patties don’t melt. Afterwards, put them back in the freezer, so the chocolate can harden. After 15 minutes, they are ready to eat.

Makes about 1 baking sheet

1 patty contains 75 calories

Vegan: Traditional nutcracker cookies

Ingredients:

• 150 g nuts of your choice (for instance, hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds)
• 50 g melted coconut oil (or other vegetable oil, if you prefer)
• 100 g brown sugar
• 2 tsp unsweetened almond milk (or other plant/ordinary milk, if you prefer)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 50 g dates (chopped and pitted)
• 100 g wholemeal wheat, spelt or rye flour
• 25 g flax seeds (ground)

Directions:

Preheat the oven in convection mode to 160°C. Chop the nuts and roast them in the oven for about 10 minutes. But be careful because they burn easily, so keep an eye on them.
In the meantime, melt the coconut oil and mix in the brown sugar, the vanilla extract and the almond milk until a homogeneous mixture is formed. Then, add the salt, the cinnamon, the baking powder, the chopped dates and the roasted nuts.
Finally, add the flour and the flax seeds. The dough will be kind of sticky, so make sure to wet your hands when forming the balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the nutcracker cookies for 15-20 minutes and let them cool before tasting.

Makes about 1 baking sheet

1 cookie contains 160 calories

Have fun trying out our recipes!

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