Sweets (and my love for sampling them) have been the bane of my existence. I’ve always hated that I adore them so much. And I’m insanely jealous of those people who have a natural disdain for sweets. I wonder why I couldn’t just be like them? Why did I have to inherit my Swedish side of the family’s never-ending desire to bake and devour? Never could I give up sweets entirely, but my new views on eating more healthfully have forced me to manage my cravings to include some wiser choices and smaller portions. Whenever possible, I now bake with whole grain flour- and I’m always looking for ways to reduce the fat content too.
My most recent successful healthy baking creation: Iced Orange Cookies (from KA Flour Whole Grain Baking).
Here’s the how to:
If you’re a lover of citrusy desserts, you’ll enjoy these cookies. They have plenty of orange zest and freshly squeezed juice in them.
Typical cookie recipe. Don’t get freaked out by the curdly part… it’s supposed to do that.
The cookies are simply the ‘drop’ type. Rounded teaspoonfuls are just fine.
They’re actually kind of boring in both appearance and flavor without the icing. Don’t even think about skipping the icing!
I promised a more exciting cookie with the icing, and look at that! Transformed from boring to simply luscious, wouldn’t you agree? These cookies are made with all whole wheat flour (no white in sight!) My feeling is that you can taste the difference when eating one of the plain cookies, but with that icing on there you can’t really detect it … it just makes them wonderful.
The orange segments are just for garnishing fun, of course. The boys in my family are ‘baked good fanatics’… mostly eating the full-fat unhealthy sorts of treats. That being said, they both loved these cookies (whole wheat flour and all!) These also froze well- I stuck them into individual zips for lunches and threw one into the lunchbox each day for a little dessert.
With these treats, I didn’t feel so guilty about eating them. If you can manage to get 30 cookies out of the batch, each cookie is only 97 calories (and 2.5 Weight Watcher points). Not too bad… especially if you burn 500 calories putting in 50 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym! “Will exercise for cookies“… that should most definitely be my motto.
This recipe can be found HERE.
49 Comments
I’m addicted to cookies and to citrus flavors – these are right up my alley!
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These orange flavored cookies sound really delicious!
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Oh, the exercise is SO worth the sweets!!
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OMG! Do these ever look delicious. I love the glaze. Love the specks of zest. Food is the reason I exercise. I can not control my eating. Gluttonous fool I am.
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The frosting definitely makes them much more appealing!
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Ohhhhhhh. Soooo yummy!! I have got to make these. Great job!
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I live for sweets! Thanks for sharing a healthier cookie!!
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those look so yummy! citrus flavors are my favorite right now. So gonna have to try these!
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Yeah! A cookie I can eat while taking part in my Get Fit Challenge!! Thank you!!
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Icing just makes everything better!
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my best friend can do 60 minutes on the elliptical. i hate her. i can do one mile if i do it in quarter mile intervals. but im one of those lucky people who could care less about sweets. give me savory anyday!
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I love sweets!! I’m suppose to be on a diet but I am constantly craving for sweet stuff…
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If only healthy eating always looked this good!!! I am getting there though! Lovely cookies indeed!
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Those look soooo yummy!
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I never really notice a difference using whole wheat flour, but I definitely feel healthier.
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These look wonderful! I can see wee ribbons of candied orange peel, too, There’s nothing like some citrus in the dead of winter to warm you up and make you think of summer:)
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Ha ha I love that you “will exercise for cookies” Me too!! These look really great without the guilt:)
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“Will exercise for cookies”. haha! We made a similar icing like this for sugar cookies, and it was really good. Gotta try it on the orange cookies for sure.
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Don’t skip the icing– you’ll never have to tell ME twice, ha ha ha! Looks incredibly moreish!
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ooooh cute new site
. Love that frosting! I bet these would taste to yummy with lemonade–I long for warm summer days!
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Those look great!
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I made lemon cookies on my blog a while back, but Ive never tried orange cookies! What a creative and fun idea! I cant wait to try them!
Love your site!
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i love citrusy desserts and these cookies are just the right treat
Must be delicious and they look so nice iced and garnished 
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Frosting or no frosting I would be inhaling all of those!!! Big yummm!
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How pretty are those?? I love orange anything–and these look perfect!
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will run for sweets
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These look so good! I could live on baked goods, seriously it has always been my downfall!
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Another perfect citrus-y treat… I’ll have to try these out too!
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This cookie sounds delicious! Love the breakdown on the calories too. Great new blog look!
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I printed off this recipe so I can make it soon!
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I love the orange wedge on top, so cute!
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What lovely cookies! Citrusy desserts are some of my favorites, soooo yummy! Definitely worth the elliptical machine time
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Eek! You showed these cookies to me and now I have to have them! I completely understand you’re dilemma…sweets make my world go round, and I just don’t understand why some people could care less. But me, I crave ‘em (all the time). Looks like these orange cookies are the perfect treat to satisfy my sweet tooth!
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Orange flavor is a weakness of mine, these are beautiful and I am definitely bookmarking them!
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YYYYUM!!
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wow… this is something different… can’t wait to give it a try…
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I love the little oranges on top! And I love the pizza below!
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These look really great! I love sweets and could use some low cal cookies.
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Lovely, especially with the fun little orange top.
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Looks great! I love your new blog design!
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The icing IS what makes these!!YUM
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I bet these are refreshing and love the whole wheat flour in them! I bet the icing puts them over the top.
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Awesome! I love whole-grain sweets, you often cannot tell the difference and it gives off a nutty flavor that often contributes to the overall cookie design.
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oh I have to print these too. I just love how whole grain is becoming more and more popular. And there really isn’t a difference in taste when it comes to cookies, pancakes, cakes, muffins.
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Wonderful cookie!!
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Iced Orange, sounds fabulous to me! You have the most amazing recipes = )
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Made these today! What a nice change of pace…from a heavy oatmeal or choc. chip! My family woofed them on down with not a complaint in the bunch. Light, refreshing and almost ’springlike! Oh, one can dream can’t they???? Thanks so much for the recipe. It is a keeper!
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Beautiful! I will definitely be making these next January when are oranges are ripe on the tree. Of course, I’ll probably have to make them several times btwn now and then to make sure I know how to do it properly.
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these are so good. my international friends loved them as well because they are not too sweet.
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