Lightened-Up Cut Out Cookies

These Lightened-Up Cut Out Cookies are a healthier take on the holiday classic. You can enjoy decorating cookies with your family without the added guilt or temptation!

Cookies are a total weakness of mine. I have no idea how anyone eats just one, so I tend to avoid them. We all know, though, that it’s pretty much impossible to avoid cookies during the holidays. They are EVERYWHERE.

I have no problem with indulging now and then, but the points on some of them are absolutely ridiculous. I just can’t justify spending 7-10 points on ONE piece of shortbread. Not worth it!

But it’s a bummer to skip out on traditions like cookie decorating just because I want to stay on track. So I came up with these Lightened-Up Cut Out Cookies that are much more reasonable points-wise.

HOW TO LIGHTEN UP CUT OUT COOKIES

It probably comes as no surprise that the two biggest culprits in those high-point cookies are butter and sugar. The only real way to decrease the points is to drastically reduce these ingredients.

I cut the butter back to just 1/2 a stick for the entire recipe and replaced some of it with reduced-fat cream cheese. The result is a cookie that is still tender and flaky with much less fat.

As for the sugar, the only real way for these to work for me is to create a cookie that is less sweet. Powdered sugar helps spread the sweetness more evenly throughout the dough. To compensate for the decreased sugar, I bumped up the flavor with lemon zest and vanilla extract. I mean, there is still quite a bit of sugar in this recipe, but it is much less than the 2-3 cups that most recipes call for. You could definitely use sugar substitute if you want more sweetness. I’m sensitive to artificial sweeteners, so I don’t use them.

The result is a cookie that is kind of a cross between shortbread and a sugar cookie. They were a total hit with my family!

How to make the cookies

Start by beating together the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Pro tip for softening your butter and cream cheese if they’re not at room temp: microwave on defrost for about 20-30 seconds. If you’re impatient like me, this is a game-changer!

Next, add in your egg, lemon zest, and salt. Beat until incorporated, then slowly add in your flour. Beat until it forms a crumbly dough.

At this point, knead with your hands until it comes together in a ball, like this:

Form into a disk, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Chilling the dough will make it easier to roll out.

When it’s time to roll out the cookies, I like to work with half of the dough at a time. Flour your surface lightly, then roll the dough so it’s about 1/4 thick. For half of the dough, mine came out to a roughly 11 inch by 7 inch oval.

Now, start cutting out your shapes! The amount of cookies you’ll get depends on how big your cookie cutters are, and which shapes you want to make. My trees are 2×3 inches, for reference. I was able to get 14-15 cookies per half dough by cutting out, then reshaping, re-rolling, and cutting out the scraps. After all of the dough is used, you should have 28-30 cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, then let cool. Super easy!

At this point, you should just dust generously with the remaining powdered sugar.

They look pretty just like this, but I find that making the icing really puts these on a different level.

for the icing

Take 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, add in 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and mix in milk one teaspoon at a time until you get a thick but spreadable paste.

Divide your icing between different bowls if you want different colors. I like to use gel food coloring for this. If you use liquid food coloring, you might want to cut back on the milk by just a teaspoon.

I use toothpicks to swirl them through, then continue mixing with a spatula. Add the icing to your cookies however you like, about 1/2-1 tsp per cookie. Now you have Lightened-Up Cut Out Cookies! I plan on making these year-round. Stars for New Years, hearts for Valentine’s Day, flowers for Mother’s Day, pumpkins for the fall… so many options!

I’d love to hear from you if you make this recipe! It makes my day when you share your pics on Instagram and tag me (@litecravings). Don’t forget to use #litecravingsrecipes to make sure I see it. If I don’t get a chance to scroll through my tags quickly enough, I won’t see your post. I always make a point to look through the hashtags, though, so I’ll see it there!