10 Best Healthy Christmas Cookies

First up in our best healthy Christmas cookies : these soft gingerbread cookies! In this healthier version of gingerbread, we’ve used almond butter to stand in for much of the butter, and thrown in some wheat flour a few extra nutrients. A bit of applesauce helps keep them soft. And this gingerbread cookie recipe is finished with turbinado sugar instead of icing, which is a more natural sugar (plus, it’s much easier than icing!).

Another version of this cookie? Try our Narwhal Gingerbread Cutout Cookies, a playful tribute to the season's best Christmas movie.

Here's a healthy spin on the classic that’s so good, we’ve called it “the best”. And we think you’ll agree! These almond thumbprint cookies are made with almond flour, homemade berry jam, and sweetened with maple syrup. If you’d like, add our easy powdered sugar glaze, which takes them from good to amazing! With just the right chewy texture from the almond flour, these cookies are one of our top healthy Christmas cookies.

Hello and welcome to our new favorite cookie recipe…spiced Applesauce Cookies! These are so moist and irresistible, you’ll forget about everything else and you savory each chewy bite. The applesauce makes them ultra moist, and they’ve got a little oatmeal to balance the sweet. But make no mistake: these aren’t a health food. They’re more like a lighter version of an oatmeal cream pie: which is AOK in our book.

What’s your ultimate cookie? These vegan peanut butter cookies are where it’s at for us! They’re soft but perfectly crumbly, and salty sweet. Decorated with the classic criss-cross pattern, they’ve got a sparkle of sugar. And a chocolate icing drizzle makes them look even more fun. How are they a healthy Christmas cookie? They're made with just enough coconut oil and sugar so they're just rich enough.

Also try: 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten-free)

These almond snowball cookies are spiced Christmas cookies with a twist: they’re naturally gluten free, made with almond flour and cozy chai spices! The cardamom is the star of the show here; it’s what gives chai spice its familiar zing. Even though they’re made entirely of almonds, these cookies are light and crumbly: undoubtedly one of our best healthy Christmas cookies!

This healthy peanut butter buckeye balls recipe takes the classic chocolate peanut butter buckeyes and adds a healthy twist! Essentially peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, they’re little bites of heaven. Instead of the traditional butter and sugar, this recipe uses Medjool dates: large, sweet dates that are used to make natural sweets like Larabars and raw brownies. Add a little peanut butter, and voila — instant buckeye filling!

These peanut butter cups are seriously delicious, perfect on a cookie tray or as handmade Christmas treats. How to make perfect homemade peanut butter cups? Basically, take tempered chocolate and let it harden around a peanut butter filling in a mini muffin tin. The filling has maple syrup and a hint of powdered sugar. Then to bring in a complexity, we added some allspice and vanilla extract. They taste better than any peanut butter cups you'll find.

These pecan butter millionaire bars have 3 layers: shortbread, caramelized maple pecans, and chocolate! This easy vegan dessert recipe couldn’t be tastier. Here, the shortbread layer is simply flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup. And instead of a caramel layer, it’s got caramelized pecans! Nutrient rich pecans are caramelized with a bit of maple syrup, then blended into a pecan butter. And then of course, top with chocolate! It’s a crowd pleasing dessert that's one of our best healthy Christmas cookies.

This one is as natural as they come: dark chocolate, dried tart cherries, quinoa, and pepitas. We love how adding quinoa gives this chocolate bark a little crunch. With the red and green of the cherries and the pepitas, it’s perfect for the holidays: and so simple to put together.

We talk about these a lot around here, but they’re our most popular recipe on the website. Essentially the baby of a peanut butter cup and a no-bake cookie, they’re also gluten-free, vegan, and naturally sweet. We love seeing people all over the world share photos of the bliss bites they’ve made with us on Instagram! The ingredient list is short and simple: cocoa powder, peanut butter, oats, coconut oil, and maple syrup. (And yes, you can substitute other nut butters to compensate for allergies!)

These stunning meringues are healthy Christmas cookies to the max: they’re filled almost entirely with air! This makes the calorie count extremely low (head to the recipe to see!). Basically sugar, egg whites, and air, they’re a great treat when you’re looking for a little sweet. When adding the red stripe, look for natural food coloring if you can find it.