Christmas Traditions Revised

One of the Christmas traditions in my family has always been to make tons of Christmas cookies: decadent pecan-chocolate chip cookies, silly snickerdoodles, sinfully yummy rumballs, creative cut-outs, and one of my favorites, jolly gingersnaps, made soft and rolled in sugar for that magical holiday touch. However, since I am now trying to control my diabetes with diet and exercise alone, I need to find healthier alternatives to carbolicious cookies! One way to do this is to use whole wheat flour which is lower on the glycemic index than regular flour. Now before you start complaining how yucky the cookies made that way are, let me share a recipe with you that I like better than the original. You give it a try and see if you don't agree they are fabulous!

Gingerbread Cookies

• ¾ cup butter


• 1 cup sugar


• 1 egg


• 1 T water


• ¼ cup molasses


• 2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour


• 2t ginger


• 1t baking soda


• ¾t cinnamon


• ½ t cloves


• 2T sugar

Cream together butter and 1 c. sugar with electric mixer. Add egg, water, and molasses and continue mixing until well mixed. Add remaining ingredients (except for the 2T sugar) and mix until well combined. Shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut. Roll in the 2T sugar. Put on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for 9 to 10 minutes at 350F. Allow them to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before removing. This recipe will make approx. 2 dozen cookies.