When I was a child, I learned to make these delicious cookies from my mother. We put the dough into a cookie press (remember those?) and out would come wonderfully shaped holiday cookies like wreaths and snowmen and stars. A little icing on top and it was a magical Christmas cookie. You can still buy these presses, although in wide assortment of prices and quality. I may actually still have a press around here somewhere, but usually I just make these as drop cookies.

You can also easily turn them into thumbprint cookies, those little cookies with a shallow well filled with jam in the middle. Smucker’s has a nice line of sugar free and low carb jams that will work fine for the filling or you can make your own low carb jam. I sometimes use my cranberry jam, which is easily made with sugar substitute, about 1/4 teaspoon lemon and a sprinkle of cloves and let it cook down after the berries pop. It has enough pectin to set up on its own.

So, here’s the low carb version of this recipe and it is wonderfully delicious, and the best part is they are only about 1 net carb each — a little higher for the ones with jam. If you ice them with powdered sugar icing made from sugar substitute, you aren’t adding any more calories or carbs!

Cream Cheese Cookies

1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
2 oz. Regular Cream Cheese (room temperature)
3/4 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar substitute*
.5 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg (room temperature)
1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
3/4 cups CarbQuick baking mix
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
1 tablespoon Vanilla Whey Powder

About 1 dozen

In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese in a mixer bowl. Add powdered sugar substitute* and baking powder and mix in, then add the egg and vanilla and beat until it is all mixed well and the dough is fluffy.

Mix the flours and the whey powder (if you are using it) together and add it to the cream cheese mixture, about 1/3 at a time and beating in each addition before adding the next. Put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes for drop cookies or at least an hour for rolled cookies.

About 10 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 365 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop cookies by rounded teaspoons and roll each cookie ball in granulated sugar substitute (like Ideal or Splenda or Stevia). Place on cookie sheets.

For cut out cookies, roll dough out on a lightly floured with coconut flour or other low carb flour pastry board into a 1/3 inch thick square. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Reform the dough and roll again until you can no longer cut any shapes. Place cookies on the baking sheets and sprinkle with granulated sugar substitute.

For thumbprint cookies, after the dropped cookies are placed on the cookie sheet, use the back of a spoon or your clean thumb to press a small well in the middle of each cookie. Fill with about 1/4 teaspoon of sugar free, low carb jam, such as Smucker’s Apricot Jam or Smucker’s Raspberry Jam or homemade low carb jam or cranberry sauce.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Check at 5 minutes and shorten or extend cooking time if needed. Cookies should be lightly brown around the edges. Cool for a few minutes on cookie sheets to allow them to set up, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

* If you can’t find powdered or confectioner’s sugar substitute, you can make it by putting a granulated sugar substitute in a food processor and processing until it turns to powder. Measure after it has been processed.

Makes about 12 to 16 cookies.

Nutrition Info per cookie (14 cookies)
Calories: 69.6 Fat: 6.1 g Net Carbs: 1 g Protein: 2.2 g

Thumbprint Cookies
Calories: 70.3 Fat: 6.1 g Net Carbs: 1.3 g Protein: 2.2 g

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 12/20/2013