Healthy Christmas cookies

Posted on blog And tagged test, day

Healthy Christmas cookies

The fact that most people love Christmas so much is also due to the many goodies that go with it at this time. Unfortunately, many things are very sweet and therefore not necessarily healthy. The good news: Even if you like to eat a balanced and low-calorie diet, you don't have to miss out on Christmas cookies. We present some great recipes.

At Holmes Place's premium fitness clubs, you can do more than just improve your fitness. In addition to the well-equipped gym floors and the many group course offerings, you also have the opportunity to get advice from our nutrition coaches. This includes diet plans tailored individually for you, but also tips on eating a diet that is lower in sugar, carbohydrates or fat.

Healthy Christmas cookies — do they even exist?

Yes, they do exist and they can even be really delicious! Instead of sugar, honey is used, for example, and the light one is replaced by whole grain flour. Or flour is completely dispensed with. Nuts also provide valuable nutrients. The healthy pastries are usually a bit less sweet than the ones you know — but many testers no longer miss this sweetness after just the second bite.

gingerbread

Birch sugar (xylitol) brings sweetness here — sugar is not included. For about 40 pieces, you will need:

- 600 g ground hazelnuts

- 200 g chopped almonds

- 500 g xylitol

- six eggs

- a packet of gingerbread spice

- 5 g cinnamon

- half a teaspoon of salt

How to do it: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Then form gingerbread cookies on a tray covered with baking paper and flatten them slightly. Bake them for about 20 minutes and let them cool on the tray. If you want to glaze the gingerbread, melt 300 g dark chocolate with about 80 g butter in a pot and then brush the mixture over the gingerbread cookies.

cinnamon stars

These stars don't need flour and they really taste great. For 50 pieces, you need:

- three egg whites (use M size eggs)

- 250 grams of powdered sugar

- 1 packet of vanilla sugar

- a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

- a pinch of ground coffee beans

- 375 grams of ground almonds and a little powdered sugar to cut

This is how it works: Beat the egg whites until they are very firm. Set three tablespoons aside. Sift the powdered sugar thoroughly and fold in a tablespoon at a time. Then add vanilla sugar, cinnamon and ground coffee. Finally, add so much of the ground almonds that the dough barely sticks anymore.

Now put the dough in a freezer bag (this prevents it from rolling it out by about an inch. Then put everything in the fridge for two hours.

Preheat the oven to 125 degrees. In the meantime, cut out stars (diameter: about four centimeters). To prevent the dough from sticking, you can press the cookie cutters into powdered sugar from time to time. Place the finished stars on a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush them with the remaining beaten egg whites and bake them on the middle rack for about 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 100 degrees and continue baking the cookies for about ten to 15 minutes. Make sure that the beaten egg whites stay light. Let it cool on a wire rack.

Fine almond cookies

Ingredients such as whole spelt flour, maple syrup and chia seeds make these Christmas cookies healthy — and they're really delicious, too. To do this, you need:

- a ripe banana

- 500 ml almond milk

- 4 tbsp. maple syrup

- a tablespoon of coconut oil

- 100 g oatmeal

- 100 g whole spelt flour

- 1 tbsp. chia seeds

- 100 grams of chopped almonds.

How to do it: Crush the peeled banana in a bowl and add almond milk, maple syrup, and coconut oil. A sticky mass should result. Now add oats, whole wheat flour, chia seeds and almonds and let the mixture swell for about ten minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper and grease it with a little coconut oil. Then form small balls with your hands, flatten them a bit and place them on the baking tray. Bake for ten minutes.

hazelnut cookies

Hazelnuts contain a lot of vitamin E, calcium, phosphorus and iron, as well as magnesium. They put them in these cookies. To do this, you need:

- 80 g hazelnut kernels

- 120 g soft butter (alternative: margarine)

- 60 g raw cane sugar

- 140 g spelt flour type 1050

- 50 g dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa content)

- a pinch of salt

- half a teaspoon of cinnamon

How to do it: Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until frothy. Chop the hazelnut kernels and set aside two tablespoons of them. Add the rest to the butter mixture together with the flour, salt and cinnamon and mix well.

Form a roll from the dough. Wrap them in foil and put them in the fridge for half an hour. Then cut the roll into twelve slices about one centimeter wide and place them a little bit apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. Then let it cool down. In the meantime, melt the chocolate in a water bath. Sprinkle chocolate on the cookies and sprinkle with the hazelnut kernels set aside.

Experiment by yourself

In principle, you can vary all the Christmas cookie recipes that you know a bit. Reduce the amount of sugar, use darker flour (note: you may then need more liquid to keep the dough from getting too firm) or use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Ripe bananas, honey, dates or alternative sugars such as xylitol give the pastry the necessary sweetness. You can replace cow's milk with plant-based alternatives, such as oat milk. You can experiment with butter: you can use margarine, even the vegan variety, as well as sunflower oil. Curd or yogurt will also work. To make the dough fluffy, you can add a tablespoon of semolina or, alternatively, starch or baking powder per 100 grams.

Healthy nuts

Nuts provide nutrients and make Christmas cookies not only delicious, but also more wholesome. They are rich in fiber, are considered good sources of protein and contain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Walnuts, for example, contain lots of omega-3 fatty acids, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and vitamin E (tip for those in a hurry: Dip a few walnuts halfway into liquid dark chocolate. It's worth trying it out!). Peanuts are rich in magnesium, iron and zinc, Brazil nuts provide a lot of selenium (a single nut covers the entire daily requirement of the trace element), cashew nuts are rich in B vitamins, vitamin K, iron, potassium, copper, magnesium and phosphorus, as well as the amino acid tryptophan.

Just try out what you like. If you'd like more information about healthy snacks and a whole food diet, simply contact the nutrition experts at Holmes Place. The coaches are also available if you want to achieve specific nutritional goals!

Posted on blog And tagged test, day.