WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY PROTEIN COOKIES (VEGAN)
Christmas may be over, but my love for cookies will never end! These chewy White Chocolate Cranberry Protein Cookies are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and low in sugar. Each cookie is less than 75 calories making them easy to fit into your macros or calorie needs! And, if you’re eating intuitively, you will appreciate that these cookies are very filling due to the added protein and lower sugar. You might also like my vegan Frosted Protein Sugar Cookies 😉
Did you know? Research shows the average American gains just over a pound during the holidays, but those who struggle with weight gain five pounds or more. Rather than stressing about weight gain this season, focus on maintaining healthy habits (meal prepping, getting to the gym) and balance your indulgences with more nutrient-dense meals. Enjoying healthier versions of your favorites can help too!
Protein substitutions
To add a boost of protein to these cookies, I used LIV Body Lean Vegan Protein in Oatmeal Cookie flavor. This vegan protein tastes great and is made without artificial additives. Bonus: LIV Body protein also contains organic superfoods and probiotics! Feel free to use my code “NOEXCUSES” for 20% off on their website 😉
You should be able to use any pea protein, rice protein, soy protein, or plant-based blend. You can try substituting whey or casein in this recipe, but you may need to reduce the amount of water to achieve a thick, rollable dough. I would also bake for 4-5 minutes less time so they don’t dry out.
Oatmeal substitutions
Since I love a nice hearty cookie, I went with oatmeal instead of flour in this recipe. Be sure to choose organic oats since regular oats have high pesticide residues! You can either use quick or rolled oats here. You can also substitute two tablespoons of gluten-free baking flour, all-purpose flour, brown rice flour, cake flour, cassava flour (Paleo), oat flour (oats blended into flour), sorghum flour, spelt flour, tiger nut flour or whole wheat pastry flour. For almond flour, you would probably need three to four times as much, but I haven’t tested almond flour in this recipe.
If you use flour instead of oats, your cookies will look more like this:
Sweetener substitutions
To sweeten these White Chocolate Cranberry Protein Cookies, I used a calorie-free brown sugar alternative. You can use any type you prefer (just search Amazon), but the one I used is a blend of monk fruit and erythritol. I personally don’t count carbs from erythritol because it only has 0.2 calories per gram (virtually none)!
Egg substitutions
Aquafaba, or the liquid from canned chickpeas, makes a great stand-in for egg white, but vegan egg replacer, or one egg white will also work. If you just substitute more water, your cookies may crumble apart.
Other substitutions
The only other ingredients are almond butter, vegan buttery spread and water. You could totally use cashew butter or sunflower seed butter in place of the almond butter, but I don’t recommend using buttery spread only because it will change the texture. IYou can swap out the buttery spread for unsalted butter if not vegan, or more nut butter (they just won’t be as cookie-like or buttery-tasting).
Pure vanilla extract and ground cinnamon add extra goodness to these cookies, but are optional.
Finally, I added dried cranberries and vegan white chocolate chips! You don’t have to use vegan white chocolate, but I did for the sake of keeping this dairy-free.
Here’s the printable recipe for these vegan White Chocolate Cranberry Protein Cookies! I hope you’ll rate and comment below if you try them 🙂
This post contains affiliate links and is sponsored by LIV Body.
White Chocolate Cranberry Protein Cookies (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (30g) cinnamon vegan protein powder* I used LIV Body Lean Vegan Protein in Snickerdoodle flavor (code NOEXCUSES for 20% off)
- 2 tbsp. quick or rolled oats*
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar alternative* such as Truvia Brown, Lakanto Golden, Swerve Brown, Sukrin Gold
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon optional
- 1/8 tsp. baking soda
- Dash salt optional
- 2 tbsp. aquafaba (canned chickpea liquid) or 1 large egg white
- 1 1/2 tbsp. almond butter*
- 1 1/2 tbsp. vegan buttery spread* or unsalted butter
- 1-2 tbsp. water
- 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. dairy-free white chocolate chips*
- 2 tbsp. dried cranberries
*See blog post above for more substitutions.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together dry ingredients (through salt) in a small mixing bowl.
- Add wet ingredients (through vanilla), and mix until combined (use less water if subbing whey or casein protein powder). Dough should be thick.
- Fold in white chips and cranberries.
- Using 1 1/2 tablespoon at a time, divide dough into six balls and place on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray (or lined with parchment paper).
- Press cookies flat (they will not spread).
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (7-8 minutes if using whey or casein protein powder).
- Leftover cookies (if there are any) will keep in an airtight container at least one week.
Notes
Also in Blog
THAI PEANUT CHICKEN & NOODLES
SUMMER BERRY CHICKEN SALAD
