Soft Island Bliss Cookies (and a giveaway)
It’s the third week of New Year, New You, the month-long pure living event I’m co-hosting with Lexie’s Kitchen. This week, we’re celebrating with wholesome, refined sugar-free treats! Glad you stopped by, aren’t you?
So far in this event, we’ve shared our favorite ways to eat more produce and learned how to make smart snack choices. If you missed any of the posts from the last two weeks, here’s a recap:
Week One: Eat More Produce
- Tips for Eating More Produce from Celiacs in the House
- Kale with Caramelized Onions from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
- Fennel, Orange, & Sesame Salad from Gluten-Free Cat
- Kale Salad Wraps from Lexie’s Kitchen
- Chopped Chicken & Vegetable Salad from Daily Bites
Week Two: Snack Smart
- Gluten-Free Veggie Burgers from Silvana’s Kitchen
- Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie Dip from Cook IT Allergy Free
- Cinnamon-Fig Cashew Spread from Go Dairy Free
- Sticky Toffee Power Balls from Lexie’s Kitchen
- Healthy Gluten-Free Snack Ideas from Daily Bites
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Swap Your Sweeteners
This week is all about indulging sensibly in treats that are free of refined sugar. Sugar effects our bodies negatively in dozens of ways and contributes to diseases, weakened immune systems, and many chronic illnesses. Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, elevated adrenaline, anxiety, crankiness, and difficulty concentrating. Because sugar decreases our bodies’ sensitivity to insulin, regular sugar consumption can lead to the onset of diabetes. It also has the ability to increase metabolic disorders in healthy people and promote a host of degenerative diseases, many of them life-threatening.
This article by Nancy Appleton, author of Lick the Sugar Habit, lists 76 ways that sugar can negatively influence our health. It’s highly convincing and I would encourage you to read it if you’re on the fence. Another wonderful resource for those looking to eliminate or greatly reduce sugar in their diets is Get the Sugar Out by Ann Louise Gittleman. The book contains over 500 reader-friendly tips that are easy to implement and remember. You might also want to pick up a copy of Amy Green’s book Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, which contains 180 recipes that are entirely free of refined sugar. (You can read my review of Amy’s book here.)
Of course, just because you don’t eat sugar doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a sweet treat once in a while. In all of my cooking and baking, I use only natural sweeteners like fruits and fruit purees, honey, organic maple syrup and agave nectar, coconut sugar, and stevia. I also tend to use much less than typical recipes do because over time, my taste buds have adapted to a less sweet way of eating.
Let me tell you, I don’t miss the sugar one bit. Naturally sweetened treats taste just as good as those made with cane sugar without giving me headaches, puffy eyes, and energy crashes.
Soft Island Bliss Cookies
Take these cookies, for instance. Sweetened entirely with honey, they absolutely hit the spot if you’ve got a pesky sweet tooth. The trio of citrus zest along with the subtly sweet coconut unite to create a soft, chewy cookie that evokes the flavor of the tropics. Close your eyes, munch on a cookie, and you’ll quickly be whisked away to a land of salty breezes, swaying palms, and sun-washed beaches. Ah, bliss!
For more nutritious, refined sugar-free treats, you’ll want to check out this week’s New Year, New You contributors:
- She Let Them Eat Cake sharing a Cookie Dough Milkshake
- Diet, Dessert, and Dogs sharing Low-Fat Cinnamon Walnut Loaf and tips for swapping your sweeteners
- The Daily Dietribe sharing Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free sharing Top Tips for Swapping Your Sweeteners
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The Giveaway
Update 1/25/12 – This giveaway is now CLOSED.
Want to stock up on healthy alternative sweeteners for all of your winter baking projects? We’ve got you covered!
Today I’m giving away a gift package of organic sweeteners from Wholesome Sweeteners, a leader in the natural sweetener industry. The package includes:
- 1 (32 fl. ounce) bottle of Organic Unsulphured Molasses
- 1 (16 ounce) jar of Fair Trade Organic Raw Honey
- 1 (11.75 ounce) bottle of Organic Raw Blue Agave
- 1 (11.75 ounce) bottle of Organic Blue Agave
- 1 (11.75 ounce) bottle of Organic Cinnamon Flavored Agave Syrup
- 1 (75-count) box of Organic Stevia (powdered)
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Here’s how to enter:
- Leave a comment on this post with your ideas or tips for reducing refined sugar in your cooking.
- Share about this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest and leave a comment saying you did.
This giveaway is open until 12:00 pm CST on Wednesday, January 25, 2012. One (1) winner will be randomly selected and notified by email that they have won. They will also be announced in next Thursday’s New Year, New You post. Contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada only, age 18 or older.
Congratulations to Erin, the winner of last week’s healthy snack giveaway.
Full disclosure: I was provided with the products from Wholesome Sweeteners for this giveaway at no charge. Opinions expressed about these products and/or the company are strictly my own.
Soft Island Bliss Cookies
Makes about 18Adapted from Healthful Pursuit
To finely grate the citrus zest, I find a Microplane grater to be the most effective tool. Since citrus is a heavily sprayed crop and you are literally using the peels of the fruits, choose organic citrus if possible here.
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup blanched almond or hazelnut flour
Scant 1/2 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zestPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a rubber spatula to thoroughly combine. Form small (1- to 1 1/2-inch) balls of the mixture into small cookie shapes with your hands. Place on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through, or until golden brown and just firm to the touch. Cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
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I’m currently going through a liver detox program and the only sweeteners we are allowed to use are stevia and xylitol. Though in the past I have also used Agave and coconut sugar in some of my recipes. I’ve also used applesauce in baking but as a substitute for oil.
I usually use dates, bananas, applesauce or agave to replace refined sugars.
I’m a big fan of agave nectar. It’s been a blessing to be able to eat “sweets” that don’t affect my hypoglycemia and I have lost weight too.
I’m printing this cookie recipe – looks delicious!
these cookies look fabulous! and the give-away is awesome. thanks so much for all the delicious recipes :) i can’t wait to make these cookies!
I am just now trying to switch from regular sugars (white & brown) to other, more healthy sweeteners, so I really don’t have a good tip. But, to cut out sweets in our diets, we gave them up for a week and are just now adding some back. So, we are looking for healthy, better-for-us sweeteners. This week, mine has been honey, which I have added to plain Greek yogurt. Just a little, but it’s good!
I love a good giveaway and THIS is a good giveaway! I’ve been swapping my sweeteners for a while now. My top tip would be to go for the fruit. I add cherries to my oatmeal, bananas to my smoothies, raspberries or peaches on my pancakes. These are natural sugars that, well, naturally sweeten, no added sugar necessary.
My daughter is the baker in our family, filling our house with wonderful healthy low glycemic, allergen free, baked goods. She loves to sweeten her foods with agave and honey, but her favorite thing to use both in place of eggs and sugar are squeezable organic baby purees. Not only do they add good flavor and texture, but they also add fiber thus increasing the health benefit and reducing blood sugar spikes.
I’m new to the whole gluten-free thing so I’m just learning about all this healthy eating. In the past I’ve used splenda. But I want to get away from that obviously. I do sweeten things for my husband with honey. I have also used applesauce in baking. I plan on trying maple syrup and agave soon. I’m getting all these wonderful ideas from great blogs. Thanks for the giveaway!
I pinned it: http://pinterest.com/pin/114138171775914956/
I shared this on twitter
@dbl_latte
https://twitter.com/#!/dbl_latte/status/160430836401971201
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/#!/cfulcher/status/160431040085770241
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your cookies look delish! I like to use bananas, applesauce or pureed pumpkin/squashes in my sweets and for sweeteners i like unsweetened chocolate, it is melty and so good! then i sprinkle stevia across the top to add a sweetness.
Your cookies look fabulous! I generally try to sub in applesauce or stevia for sweetening, or just reduce the overall amount of sugars. We are way too addicted to “sweet” even if it is “alternative” :)
This sounds lovely! I try to eat less sugar every day but it’s nice to have less-harmful alternatives. Thanks :)
Wow, great giveaway!
I’m a stevia fan generally, but I’ve been experimenting lately with xylitol and erythritol. I also like sweetening with fruits, like apples or dried dates.
My best tip is to remove the sugar from your home so it isn’t available. Make sure to have the alternatives around to use. It sounds extreme, but with sugar it was easiest for me to go cold turkey! I don’t use it at all and avoid it at all costs. I don’t miss it at all and find that my homemade latte tastes that much better knowing I am not taking in all the unhealthy sugars. That and I feel so much better without it!
Omg! I wish I had power so I could make these!
I usually use unsweetened applesauce as a substitute for sweeteners in recipes…just bought some coconut sugar to try out…hope to try out that cookie recipe in the near future…sounds delish~!~!
I like sweetening things up with dried fruits, especially berries. I also use alternatives like Stevia.
I like to include fruit in baked products so that less sweetener is needed. Also, having a sufficient amount of spices and vanilla means you can get away with less sweetener.
I never knew there were so many sugars until I had to eliminate refined sugars. I use a lot of Stevia with some occasional agave, honey, maple syrup, and succant.
What a wonderful giveaway! I use coconut sugar/nectar, honey, maple syrup, yacon syrup and stevia in various combinations when I bake. There’s a synergistic effect when you use several in combination and all are much healthier than refined sweeteners.
It’s crazy how much sugar is in flavored yogurt – it is so overly sweet! My tip is to buy plain yogurt and add honey and fruit to it. Tastes so much better and eliminates the sometimes 30+ grams of sugar in a tiny cup of yogurt.
I just tweeted the link :)
I’m going to bake those cookies at work and see how my customers like them!
At home, I reduce refined sugar by frequently subbing honey or maple syrup I buy at a farmers market during the summer and fall. My kids aren’t big fans of fruit juice subs yet, but I keep trying. Reducing refined sugar at home has really helped me to manage my oldest’s ADHD. So thanks for more recipies!
I like to use dates in making desserts.
I tweeted.
I shared on Facebook.
These cookies sound amazing! Can’t wait to bake them. Great give away too, I absolutely love natural sweeteners. Right now I’ve been big on liquid Stevia, french vanilla flavour is my favourite!
After substituting sweetners in my baking, I have also noticed I don’t need as much sugar anymore. Most sweets are too sweet for me! I try to substitute whenever possible. I think its best to start small, half and half or 1:4 of whichever sweetner you’re substituting and slowly go more. That has definitely worked for me!
My pantry – my family! – needs those!
I have found that stevia makes a great sugar substitute in my baking :)
Just pinned on pinterest about your site and the info about sweetners. Thanks for sharing such great information. I am making the change to natural sweeteners. I love agave but notice I don’t need as much as most recipes call for.
I’ve been trying to reduce sugar in my diet for a while now! It’s my one crutch, but I know how detrimental it can be to health.
great topic & giveaway ! trying any and all sweetener substitutions is a great idea. One of my favorites is coconut sugar (learned about it on the Spunky Coconut site)
I tweeted this post
I pinned this recipe on pinterest
I shared on twitter!
I just tried these cookies today with my 3 year-old niece. We loved them! Mine didn’t flatten out at all like the pictures, but they were a great texture and flavor. I would probably add more zest next time because I love citrus. Would coconut palm sugar substitute straight across for the honey, or is the honey needed to make it all stick?
Jen: I’m glad you liked the cookies! They don’t change shape much once they’re baked, so you pretty much need to flatten them into the size you want them to be when they’re done. And you’re right about the honey. It helps bind the cookies together. But you could try scaling back a tad and adding palm sugar to compensate if you wanted. Have fun! :)
I made these yesterday and thought they were delicious! Next time I will omit the citrus and instead dip them halfway in a dark chocolate after they bake. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks again for a great recipe!