Healthy cookies are the best of both worlds – a snack the whole family will love and a healthy treat you can feel good about serving. Tame your sweet tooth with over 30 healthy cookie recipes. From adding more whole grains or sneaking in veggies to reducing the sugar and increasing the healthy fats, these homemade healthy cookies are sure to please. Healthy cookies for kids are the easiest compromise to get kiddos a sweet treat without sacrificing their health.
Confession: I love cookies. I will choose cookies over cake almost every single time. When I was in college living in a dorm, we bought each other cookie cakes instead of “traditional” cakes. It was partially because it was way simpler and partially because who doesn’t want a huge cookie with your name on it?
Confession number two: my kids love cookies. Like love cookies. Like, will ask for cookies upon waking and again at night when I’m tucking them in. We don’t over serve cookies by any means – I think they both just inherited some kind of cookie loving gene.
The thing is, how can you not adore cookies? Typically small enough to be just a few bites of perfect sweetness, it’s the best option for taming a sweet tooth without having to bake an entire cake or buy a gallon of ice cream. Add to the fact that most freeze well so I can enjoy 2 or 3 rather than an entire batch and you’ve got a major win in my opinion.
Healthy cookie recipes are an easy way to share cookies with your family without stressing about giving them junk!
Because I’ve got major cookie lovers in my house, I’ve forced myself to find simple ways to enjoy more and more cookies without having to load up on sugar and candy and butter – aka the main reason I don’t eat cookies every day or agree to give the boys cookies every single day.
Which is how I found myself making more and more healthy cookies – cookies with less sugar, more healthy fats and whole grains. From fruit based to dairy free to gluten free, we live in a fabulous time where healthy cookies are more and more common. Just as delicious as their decadent counterparts, these good for you cookies are here to help you indulge guilt free.
30 + Healthy Cookie Recipes to Treat Yourself With
Try subbing out the sugar in your favorite cookie recipes with a natural alternative like coconut sugar, maple, or honey to make healthy cookie recipes.
Healthy Banana Cookies – All the taste of banana bread with whole grains and packed with healthy banana.
4-Ingredient Chocolate Chia Cookies Delicious and only 4 ingredients? Yes please!
Orange Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies I love the combination of orange and chocolate – I would have never thought to add it to a cookie!
Matcha Green Tea Almond Shortbread Cookies These are such a pretty color – I love that these shortbread cookies are while also being healthy!
Double Chocolate Banana Cookies Double chocolate? Can you go wrong with healthy double chocolate cookies?!
Healthy Cut Out Sugar Cookie These would be so fun for a healthier holiday baking tray!
Zucchini Bread Quinoa Breakfast Cookies I love grating zucchini and adding to baked goods – it makes things so moist and decadent while adding a veggie twist!
Lemon Honey Oatmeal Cookies I’m a huge lemon lover and I love that this one uses the addition of honey to sweeten.
What to look for in healthy cookies
What makes a healthy cookie a healthy cookie, you ask? While it can obviously be super subjective – your idea of healthy is probably at least a little bit different than mine! – here are somethings you might want to look for when you’re looking for healthy homemade cookies.
- Whole grains – simply subbing AP flour for whole wheat can make a cookie healthier. I like cookies that use whole wheat flour, oat flour, or whole oats.
- Less sugar – There’s nothing wrong with a little sugar in a cookie, but when looking for a healthy cookie recipe, I like to look for low sugar cookies.
- Natural sugars – even better than low sugar cookies are cookies with no refined sugar. Find a recipe that uses primarily, if not all, natural sugars from fruits, or sweeteners like maple syrup or honey.
- Healthy fats – Healthy fats like nut butters or coconut oil are the perfect addition to make a healthier cookie!
- Super food add ins – just like with my hidden veggie smoothies, adding super foods like chia seeds or hemp hearts to healthy cookie recipes is a great way to boost the nutrition.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Why does pumpkin need to stay in the fall? Add it to these snickerdoodles all year long!
Zucchini Breakfast Cookies A favorite in my house, the mini chips add sweetness while the oats and zucchini make it something you can feel good about!
Almond Joy Oatmeal Cookies My dad is a huge Almond Joy fan – I’m totally making him these healthy cookies for his birthday next year!
Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies these are packed with seeds, vegetables, and craisins – a serious winner in my house!
Cookie Dough Stuffed Whoopie Pies You guys. if I told you COOKIE DOUGH STUFFED whoopie pies were a healthy cookie, would you think I’m insane? No, really, it’s true, and these look AMAZING.
Skinny Lemon-doodles Lemon cookies are one of my favorites, so these health lemon-doodles look absolutely delicous.
Double Chocolate Cookies Healthy cookie and chocolate should always be in the same sentence.
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies What a fun recipe to make after a long day of apple picking!
How can I make my cookies healthier?
Simple substitutions in traditional cookies can give you come awesome healthy cookie recipes. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Try using a more natural sweetener – even if you don’t want to go as far as using all honey or maple, try unrefined sugar or a coconut sugar.
- Use more grains. I love switching out 1/4 of the flour in a recipe for oat flour – learn how to make oat flour in this post.
- Use dark chocolate. If you’re adding chips or drizzling chocolate, use a dark chocolate for the lower sugar content and more antioxidants.
- Sub fruit. Subbing some oil for mashed banana can add fruit and reduce the fat and calories!
Try using dark chocolate in your healthy cookie recipes for a simple way to reduce sugar.
Breakfast Whoopie Pies my boys love these breakfast whoopie pies – you can sub any kind of protein or nutrient powder you’d like.
Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies These don’t even look like a healthy cookie!! Just more proof that you can’t judge a cookie by it’s look!
Strawberry Oatmeal Cookies As a kid, I loved those packets of strawberry oatmeal – these sound like those in a healthy cookie form!
Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Cookies Peanut butter butter banana is a match made in heaven – these sound so, so good.
Healthy Samoa Cookies Every Girl Scout Cookie lover will adore this healthy cookie recipe!
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies These look like a delicious, crisp snickerdoodle. Yum!
Coconut Almond Cookies I love these these are dipped in chocolate for a sweet bite to a healthy cookie.
Healthy Avocado Chocolate Cookies I would have never thought to add avocado to a cookie, but the healthy fats are so smart!
Adding grated or pureed vegetables can add another benefit to healthy cookie recipes!
Healthy Thumbprint Cookies with Chia Seed Jam Have your kids help with these and push their little fingers to make the thumbprint in the cookies.
Paleo Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies How are these paleo! THey look like decadent reverse peanut butter cups.
Healthy Monster Cookies These monster cookies look absolutely irresistable – Use dark chocolate chips to reduce the sugar.
Maple Almond Butter Cookies I love maple syrup, and these sound like a fun way to get that fix.
Gluten Free Oil Free Oreos If you’re like me, you can go through a sleeve of Oreos in no time flat. You can do it with a little less guilt with this healthy cookie recipe.
Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies Carrot cake cookies add grated carrot to a cookie to make – you guessed it- cookies for breakfast!
Sweet Beet Chocolate Crinkle Cookies We all know I love me a good hidden veggie recipe – the beet in these is a fun addition!
Okay so tell me – cookies or cake? What are some ways that you encourage healthier eating in your house? Let me now in the comments!
Got a picky eater?
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My kids eat their veggies every day without complaining. Want my secret?
Grab the Outsmart your Picky Eater cheat sheets to get the inside scoop on how to add veggies to food your kids already love.