Almond Cookies Without Butter: Half the Calories of Regular Cookies!

Your Christmas tradition? Making chocolate truffles and homemade cookies with your family. Packaged in pretty bags, you gift them on Christmas Day to all your guests. However, this year, several of your relatives have discreetly mentioned their need to cut back on butter, cream, and other rich foods in their diet. After adjusting your lavish menu, you set out to find recipes for slightly lighter treats. For the truffles, you substitute butter with some light cream. But for the cookies, the same switch seems a bit more challenging. Thankfully, Andrea from the @lerenardetlesraisins account has found the perfect recipe that is both delicious and half as caloric.

To make them, she uses just three ingredients: almond flour, plant-based yogurt, and agave syrup. Let’s compare the calories of these lighter cookies to a traditional version. The 200 grams of almond flour have 700 calories, the 100 grams of yogurt about 100 calories, and finally, the 50 grams of maple syrup amount to 130 calories. In a traditional recipe, 200 grams of wheat flour have 720 calories, 100 grams of sugar 390 calories, and the egg about 70 calories. But it’s the 100 grams of butter, at 720 calories, that really increase the calorie count. The result? The twenty traditional cookies amount to 1900 calories, compared to only 930 calories for Andrea’s version!

• 200 g almond flour
• 100 g plant-based yogurt (soy or coconut) or cottage cheese
• 50 g agave or maple syrup

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour with the plant-based yogurt (or cottage cheese). Then add the agave syrup, or your choice of liquid sweetener.

2. Knead by hand until you can form a dough ball.

3. Moisten your hands with a little water, then form smaller dough balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand.

4. Bake for 15 minutes at 180°C (350°F).

After baking, you’ll find these golden almond cookies are delightfully crunchy! With half the calories of their traditional counterparts, they’re a wonderful accompaniment to tea or coffee during the holiday season.