Cookies Good Enough for Santa Baby
December 12, 2011
Who doesn’t love a good cookie? Come on, fess up. If a big plate of warm chocolate chip cookies, all sweet and innocent, with wafting waves of chocolate bliss, was sitting in front of you, you’d be a stronger woman than I am if you were to decline.
What is it about these circular little lovies? My guess: it’s the salt, fat and sugar that, combined, makes cookies so addicting. Even Santa knows a good cookie when he sees one. After Mrs. Santa Claus called me this week to discuss her husband’s obsession with cookie, peppermint sticks and hot chocolate, I decided to get to work and search for some healthy and low-fat recipes for you to bake, so Santa Baby can fit back up the chimney on Christmas Eve.
Here are my top picks for healthier options, Santa style (or for that upcoming holiday cookie exchange).
No Bake Brownies: Although it’s not a cookie, my personal no-bake brownies, top the list. They’re number one, because in addition to using pitted dates as the sweetener (can you say, fiber?), they also contain walnuts as the base, so your little elves will get a good dose of muscle-building nutrition, even for breakfast. Yes, these chocolate dreams are the perfect complement to a morning cup of tea, or juniors main course.
Frozen Banana-Chia Fun Pops: Clean Cuisine’s Ivy Larson gets healthy but heavenly dessert down pat with these. We’re talking almond butter, agave, cacao and popsicle sticks. Seriously, how can you go wrong with that combo?
Chocolate Coconut Meringues: When you love chocolate as much as I do, you can’t resist these little puffs of air, infused with almond, coconut and vanilla extract, giving you the illusion of full-fat flavor, but nothing could be further from the truth. With no fat and only 36 calories, Santa’s going to go Co-Co-Nuts over this one. Sorry Rudolph, reindeer can’t each chocolate.
Orange Spice Molasses Cookies: Anything with oranges catches my attention, but then when you add spice and molasses, you have a combination that can’t be beat. The healthy secret to these little sparkly babies is the applesauce and rolled oats. With fresh orange zest and the host of seasonal spices, Dasher will be dancing on the rooftops.
Gingerbread Biscotti: Who says Mrs. Claus isn’t savvy? While Chris is off dashing about the globe, she’s hanging with Prancer’s wife, sipping tea and dipping her Gingerbread Biscotti in it for added flavor. This new take on an old time favorite, gives hip, social moms the perfect accompaniment to an in-between shopping, wrapping and decorating, coffee break.
