Skinny Holiday Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies are the ultimate in sweet tooth satisfaction. Such a versatile cookie too. If it’s crispy you’re looking for, just bake them longer. If you love a softer cookie, bake for a shorter time. This recipe has a light and buttery flavor that you’ll love. No wonder they’ve been popular for years. What makes these cookies skinny is using a combination of reduced-fat butter and canola oil instead of full fat butter and using egg whites and eggs. Each mini cookie has 37 calories, under a gram of fat. and 1 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS. They create a wonderful cookie jar of goodness, will keep in an airtight container for at least a month and they freeze great too!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour before baking
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients for Cookies:
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup reduced-fat butter
1 cup extra fine sugar, such as C&H Bakers Sugar or regular sugar, see shopping tip
1 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 egg, I like Egg-Land’s Best eggs, see shopping tip
2 teaspoons vanilla
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tarter, make sure it’s fresh
1¾ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Ingredients for Rolling:
⅓ cup white sugar or colored sugar of your choice such as blue and white for Hanukkah or red and green for Christmas
Instructions
1. In an electric mixer or large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together the oil, butter and sugar. Whip until smooth about 1 minute.
2. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add flour, cream of tarter, baking soda and salt. Mix until well blended.
3. Place the batter in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to firm up.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking pans (cooking sheets) with parchment paper, see shopping tip
5. In a small bowl, add the ⅓ cup sugar for rolling.
6. Scoop the batter into rounded 1-inch pieces and roll in sugar. Place each on prepared baking pans.
7. Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, then rotate pans and bake for about 12 more minutes. This will create a crispy cookie when cooled. If you desire softer cookies, bake for the 7-8 minutes, rotate pans and bake for another 7-8 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter.
8. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container. Crispy cookies will last for several weeks. Soft ones will last a few days, if they last that long!
Makes about 105 cookies
Prep Tip
Lining cookie sheets with parchment paper is a fabulous way to create perfectly baked cookies. It insures that the cookies don’t burn on the bottom before they’re baked through.
Shopping Tips
C&H Bakers Sugar (extra fine sugar) is a much finer grain of sugar. Using it in cookies creates a much crispier, lighter dough. Most supermarkets carry it in the baking section where all the sugars are sold. It comes in a carton. If you choose not to use it, substitute with regular sugar.
Egg-Lands Best eggs are better for you than regular eggs. This brand contains more vitamin E, 100 mg of Omega 3 and 25% less saturated fat than regular eggs. These can be found in most supermarkets. There are other brands with these added benefits.
Parchment paper is available in most supermarkets in the plastic wrap and foil aisle. It’s packaged the same. Smart and Final also sells it in packaged in flat sheets. If you bake cookies often, it’s worth buying.
Weight Watchers (old points) 1
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 1
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1 mini cookie 37 calories, .8g fat, 1g protein, 7g carbs, 0g fiber, 32mg sodium, 5g sugar |
| FAT FACTS: for 1 mini cookie made with regular butter 48 calories, 2g fat, .5g protein, 7g carbs, 0g fiber, 32mg sodium, 5g sugar |






























July 9th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Skinny cookies look delicious! You’re going to tell us we can’t eat the whole batch ourselves though, right?
July 10th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Yes Maureen…Sad but true! Hope you like them!
July 13th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Is it 2 cups of sugar??? That seems like alot.
July 13th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Charlotte it is 2 cups total. I like to use a combo of 1 cup regular granulated sugar and 1 cup extra fine. This cookie will still taste good if you want to cut down the sugar. First try 1 1/2 cups and see how you like it. If it’s sweet enough, try less sugar if you decide to make them again. Good luck!
July 15th, 2011 at 6:20 am
Nancy, I love a good sugar cookie but had no idea I was missing National Sugar Cookie Day! I always cut back on the sugar when I make any type of dessert. These look yummy!
December 21st, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Thanks for this recipe! I altered it a bit by using whole wheat flour and baking splenda. You basically get double to cookie for the same amount of points by doing so! They aren’t the prettiest white sugar cookie, but honestly I could care a hoot what it looks like. Yum!
December 21st, 2011 at 3:06 pm
Thanks so much for the feedback Beth. I’ve never tried these with whole wheat flour before but sounds like they still taste yummy! Thanks for sharing…
November 28th, 2012 at 8:29 am
which reduced fat butter did you use? thanks I have been hungering for a sugar cookie since the “Jingles” brand cookies arrived in the stores mw
November 28th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Mary, I like many of the reduced-fat butters. They are all available in small tubes not in stick form. Sometimes I used the one sold at Trader Joe’s and sometimes I buy Land o’ Lakes. But, I think all of the brands are good! I hope you enjoy these cookies…Good luck!
November 29th, 2012 at 5:51 am
Always happy to find “skinny” dessert recipes so I can pig out!
November 29th, 2012 at 6:53 am
Thanks Lisa…Enjoy!
December 3rd, 2012 at 10:39 am
Skinny, beautiful and delicious – great combo!
Thank you so much for sharing this at Wednesday Extravaganza! Hope to see you there again this week with more deliciousness
December 3rd, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I’m so happy you like the sound of these festive cookies…Thanks for hosting such a fun Wednesday link party! hungrylittlegirl.com/