Low Sugar Cookies Recipe | The Bewitchin' Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Can I put less sugar in my cookies? ›

The lower the amount of sugar, the drier and more crumbly the cookie will be. An exception to this is cutout cookies, which exhibit good texture throughout a range of sugar levels. Refrigerating cookie dough for as short a time as 30 minutes before baking will help increase spread and enhance crispiness.

→ Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer. Once the dry ingredients are added, less mixing equals more tender cookies.

Basically, cookies made with butter spread more and are flatter and crisper if baked long enough. However, they are more flavorful than cookies made with shortening. Cookies made with shortening bake up taller and are more tender, but aren't as flavorful.

Simple Mills. While not entirely organic, Simple Mills makes some of the healthiest cookies we found. The ingredients here are very clean, in addition to being grain-free. The flour is a blend of nuts, the fat is coconut oil, and the sweetener is coconut sugar.

For basic baked goods like sugar cookies or pound cake, using maple syrup or honey instead of sugar lends the finished product a little extra flavor. You'll need a little less of these sweeteners for your recipe—just ¾ cup of maple syrup or honey replaces a full cup of granulated sugar.

Cutting back the sugar lessens the ability to get that air and rise, which is sometimes aided by chemical leaveners (baking soda or powder). In addition to a denser result, you may also end up with a greasier mouthfeel. You may be tempted to eliminate or reduce sugar in a bread dough, if it's a small amount.

The #1 Reason Why You Should Chill Your Cookie Dough is simple: it vastly improves your cookies in both taste and texture. If you're like most, you don't want to take the time to chill your cookie dough.

So, roll out the dough while it's still soft (right after mixing it together), and then chill the rolled-out dough.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Cookies Made with Butter vs Shortening

The butter cookie provides better flavor and a crispier exterior with browning around edges and a chewy interior; the shortening cookie spreads less, holding its shape better while baking.

Why are Chips Ahoy bad for you? ›

Original Chips Ahoy!

These cookies aren't stuffed with brownies or topped with additional sugary ingredients, but that doesn't mean they're good for you. The original Chips Ahoy! cookies still contain 11 grams of sugar per serving and include high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.

“There's also very little fiber and low nutritional value.” But it varies, depending on the brand. “This can be used as an example of why it is important to read food labels,” Gans says. But, she adds, “many brands have added sugars and very little fiber that make them on par with having a regular cookie.”

Chocolate chip cookies

What is the most popular type of cookie? It might just be this one.

The chemistry of sugar attracts water molecules, so cutting it out can make your baked goods too tough and dry. If you really want to cut back, sugar can usually be reduced by about a third without seeing a major difference in texture.

Up to 1/3 of the sugar in most recipes can be taken out without a noticeable difference. You should not reduce all the sugar in a recipe, as it is still needed for taste and texture. Note: Do not reduce sugar in yeast breads as the sugar is needed to activate the yeast.

Sugar easily binds with water, which accomplishes two main things. 1) It locks in moisture, keeping your baked goods from drying out; and 2) It inhibits the development of gluten which keeps your cookies, cakes and sweet breads softer.

If you mean less than your recipe calls for, the cookies will probably be better, since most have way too much sugar. But if you don't put in enough to actually make a cookie, you'll have a dry, biscuit-like thing.