I’m searching for recipes this holiday season that I can indulge in guilt-free. A quick search of the internet for healthy holiday cookies led to a lot of recipes that I would not consider healthy in the slightest. Simply switching to whole grain flour and cutting the sugar by a ¼ cup are no longer the signs of what makes my belly happy.

My ideal healthy holiday cookie would be:

• Gluten free
• Sugar-free – with natural sweeteners such as maple syrup or honey
• Contain stuff that’s good for me… fruit, dates, nuts…
• Simple to make
• Easy to transport and give-away as gifts
• Pass the family test for tasting good

This weekend I made three recipes from the new Oh She Glows Cookbook – a favourite in our house for vegan and gluten-free breakfasts, dinners and smoothies. Given the track record for how good Angela’s recipes are I decided to test out the treats department to see if they were equally as good as the rest of the cookbook.

The first recipe, Nut Free Dream Bars tasted great but was really hard to cut into squares. I made a double recipe and only ended up with a dozen squares that I would serve to guests. Much to my family’s delight as they get to eat the broken ones. Plus these little nut squares don’t last long out of the freezer so giving them away as gifts would be problematic. Tasty but don’t make the list for Holiday Favourites.

The second recipe, Black and White Freezer Fudge tasted good – especially the chocolate layer. It lasts ok out of the freezer. The family was split on whether it was too sweet or just right. Basically, if you have sweet tooth and love fudge you’ll likely enjoy this one too. It held together well for cutting and will likely make the cut to make again – although I may just try the chocolate layer next time…

The last recipe is a keeper. The dough was a little bit fussy to work with but only because my food processor was not large enough and I went with the make it all from scratch method and make almond butter and my version was not as creamy as store-bought, I need to work on that technique a bit…

The winning recipe so far is for Almond Thumbprint Cookies, here’s the link to the original recipe from Angela Liddon and here’s my changed version for the next batch which will be a double batch because they are so good…

Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 ⅔ cups raw almonds – ground into a course meal
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• 4 tbsp ground flax – grind this in your coffee grinder for small batches
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 cup smooth almond butter
• ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure almond extract – or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• ½ cup shredded coconut, for rolling – optional
• ½ jam of your choice – I like the Raspberry Chia Seed Jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix and combine the first four ingredients (almond meal, brown rice flour, ground flax and sea salt) in a large food processor, mixing bowl or stand mixer.
3. Add the almond butter, maple syrup and almond flavouring to the mix and process just until a loose dough forms – do not overmix or the cookies will be hard.
4. Wet your fingers slightly and roll the dough into 1 to 1 ½ inch round balls.
5. Roll the balls in the shredded coconut, slightly flatten the ball and make an indentation in the center to hold the jam.
6. Scoop a ¼ to ½ tsp of jam into each center.
7. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. The cookies will expand slightly and may crack in some places which is all good. The cookies should be lightly golden on the bottom.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for another 10 minutes.

Enjoy these guilt-free healthy holiday cookies knowing you can indulge your sweet tooth and fuel your body with goodness at the same time!

Looking for More Recipes Like This?

• This one works all year round but is festive and yummy enough to serve for Holiday Treats: Coconut Cacao Ball Recipe
• Love these little energy balls for quick healthy treats? Try these too – 6 Simple Ayurvedic Energy Bars to Fuel Your Family.