There’s nothing better than a cookie jar at the holidays that’s so full you can barely close the lid. That said, the sugar and saturated fat from all those goodies can add up quickly. For your next cookie swap or cookie exchange, start a new tradition by baking these better-for-you cookies, brownies, and bars. While the recipes in this roundup are not calorie, fat or sugar-free, their ingredients are aimed at slimming things down and adding a dash of good nutrition with things like oats, almonds, peanut butter, prunes, wild blueberries, cranberries, pureed pumpkin, and more.
Cookies
Chocolate Almond Cookies by Liz at Liz’s Healthy Table (shown above)
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles by Michele at My Millennial Kitchen
Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies w/ Sea Salt Caramel Rum Raisin Filling by EA at The Spicy RD
Oatmeal Raisin Peppermint Cookies by Sarah at Bucket List Tummy
Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies with Sea Salt by Kara at Kara Lydon Nutrition
More Cookies …
Vegan Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies by Sharon at The Plant-Powered Dietitian (shown above)
Oatmeal Raisin Sweet Potato Cookies by Lizzie at It’s A Veg World After All
Fluffy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies by Kelly at Kelly Jones Nutrition
Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies with Wild Blueberry Chia Seed Jam by Katie at Mom’s Kitchen Handbook
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies by Maggie at Meals with Maggie
Chocolate Chunk Holiday Cookies by Lauren at Nutri Savvy Health
Speedy Skinny Cranberry Almond Cookies by Elysse at Nutrition Twins
White Chocolate Macadamia Oatmeal Cookies by Marisa at Marisa Moore Nutrition (shown above)
Almond Flour Raspberry Cookies by Laurel at Laurel Ann Nutrition
Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingersnaps) by Maria at Halsan Nutrition
Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies by Lisa at Sound Bites Nutrition
Bars
No-Bake Almond Butter Bars with Dark Chocolate by Katie at Mom’s Kitchen Handbook (shown above)
Baked Almond Cherry Bars by Toby at Toby Amidor Nutrition
Fig & Oat Squares by Bracha at Beekay Nutrition
Lightened-Up Seven Layer Bars by Liz at Liz’s Healthy Table
No-Bake Healthy Energy Bars with Prunes by Amy at Amy Gorin Nutrition (shown above)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares by Bracha at Beekay Nutrition
Snickerdoodle Protein Bars by Kelly at Kelly Jones Nutrition
Brownies
Carrot and White Bean Vegan Blondies by Lizzie at It’s A Veg World After All (shown above)
Gluten-Free Avocado Chocolate Brownies with Prunes and Walnuts by Amy at Amy Gorin Nutrition
Healthy PB-Chocolate Cake Bars by Edwina at Edwina Clark
Fudge
Rocky Road Fudge (low sugar & vegan) by Jennifer Tyler Lee from 52 New Foods (shown above)
What’s your favorite cookie swap cookie?
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