Christmas Spice Protein Cookies

Christmas has traditionally been a great excuse to eat as many frightfully unhealthy treats as possible; a no holds barred, all out season of indulgence. Sounds great, but what if you could do all this without sending your blood sugar levels to the ceiling? Thankfully there are loads of sugar free and grain free recipes out there ensuring you can indulge your stomach to your heart's content without compromising your health…no need to turn to the dreaded cookie jar this year, oh no.

I’ve taken inspiration from this brilliant Paleo Gingerbread Cookie recipe, with a couple of important changes. The ginger has gone out of the window and in its place is a teaspoon of allspice, and importantly, some of the ground almond has been subbed with a scoop of organic whey protein. The organic whey protein adds such a rich creamy backdrop to the Christmassy spices and deep fruity sweetness of the molasses, giving you layer upon layer of utterly divine Christmas cheer. It really is like having a mouthful of Christmas pudding drowning in a spoon of fresh double cream. Oh yes! A quick note about molasses: in case you weren’t already aware, it’s actually rather good for you.

Go on, give them a go.

1. Adding a teaspoon of ground ginger will turn these into amazing gingerbread cookies.
2. Replacing the organic whey protein with an extra 25g of ground almonds will give you a chewier cookie.

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Mix the ground almonds, spices, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the molasses, coconut oil and vanilla essence until thoroughly combined.
5. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, until you've got a nice ball of dough.
6. Grab a tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball with your hands and then press down with the palm of your hand to create a cookie shape on the greaseproof paper.
7. Repeat until all the dough has been turned into cookies.
8. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
9. Let them cool on the baking tray with 15 minutes, after which you can leave them to cool completely on a cooling rack.
10. Enjoy!