How to Turn Holiday Cookies into Protein Cookies

We love cookies. Spread out on dining tables for a Christmas party, served as a little post-dinner treat, and honestly, suitable and desirable at any time of day. However, for those of us tracking our macros or simply trying to hit our daily protein goals, typical cookies miss the mark. Enter the protein cookie — a slight twist on your favorites that gives you access to the treat you love with added protein to hit your goals.

We'll walk you through how you can turn your favorite cookie recipes into a high-protein variation.

How Do I Make Christmas Cookies into Protein Cookies?

Flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and baking soda — these are the basic ingredients for your holiday christmas cookies. However, flour, butter, and sugar don't offer much protein on their own. To turn classic Christmas cookies into protein cookies, you can keep the festive flavor while making a few smart swaps and additions.

Smart Swaps to Boost Protein

Turning Christmas cookies into protein cookies is easy with a few simple ingredient swaps.

Swap the flour: Replace part of the all-purpose flour in your recipe with almond flour, oat flour, or a scoop of protein powder. Vanilla protein powder typically works best for sugar, chocolate chip, oatmeal, shortbread, and peanut butter cookies.

Swap the butter: Replace part of the butter with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nut butter, or apple sauce. These options add moisture while cutting back on fat and calories. 

Swap the sugar: Instead of white sugar, try maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar — or simply use less sugar than the recipe requires. You can also experiment with zero-calorie or low-sugar substitues like monk fruit blends, erythritol, allulose, or stevia blends. 

Add-ins with protein: Get creative with your add-ins. Try adding nuts, seeds, nut butter, powdered peanut butter, or even chopped up protein bars for extra protein and added texture.

Moisture adjustment: Protein-rich ingredients absorb more liquid, which can dry out your cookie dough. Add a splash of milk or almond milk, an extra egg, a scoop of apple sauce, or other wet ingredient to help keep your cookies soft and chewy.

Tips for Baking Protein Cookies

You're baking cookies and making them protein-packed, it's exciting stuff! Just be sure to follow a few tips and tricks to have your efforts succeed:

• Don't swap all of the flour for protein powder. Start with a quarter swap and work your way up from there.
• Use a vanilla or unflavored protein powder for the best taste.
• Soft cookies need a little more moisture than you may think, so keep your dough moist with yogurt, applesauce, eggs, milk, or nut butters.
• Protein cookie dough won't flatten as well as your typical cookies do in the oven, so be sure to flatten them with your hand or a spoon before baking.
• Rest the dough for 15 minutes to allow the protein powder to fully hydrate. This will lessen chalky cookies.
• Manage your expectations. Protein cookies are deliicious, but they aren't identical to your traditional cookie.

Best Protein Powder for Baking Cookies

When it comes to baking up your favorite Christmas cookies with a protein-twist, not all protein powders are created equal. Whey protein isolate (like Purist® grass-fed whey protein powder) or concentrate are you best options, mixing into dough well, helping cookies spead and flatten, and not turning dry when baked.

If you don't have whey protein isolate, here's what you can expect from other protein powders in your cookies.

• Casein protein creates a chewier cookie and may require you to add more liquids to the dough.
• Plant protein blends pair well with spices, cholocate, and nuts thanks to its mild earthy taste. Simiilar to casein protein, you'll want to add extra moisture to keep the cookie from crumbling.
• Collagen peptides typically won't affect the flavor much, but you'll want to mix this with another protein powder since collagen alone won't thicken the dough the way other protein powders will.

Read More: Whey vs. Collagen Protein

Simple Protein Cookie Recipe

Here's a tasty, macro-friendly protein cookie recipe from Jacquline Owens — former D.1 rower and current Row House instructor.

PBPC — Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

This recipe uses basic ingredients that you may already have in your home. For oat flour, simply place some oats in a blender until they turn into a a flour consistency. Each cookie will end up with approximately 180 calories and 10 grams of protein.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup chocolate protein powder (36 grams)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Mix everything together then section into 8 medium-sized cookies and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper — these things are sticky! Bake at 350°F for 5-6 minutes. 

Takeaway

'Tis the season to be eating cookies, and if you're looking to hit your protein goals or macros, protein cookies are the rigth swap to keep you jolly. Start off by swapping in protein-rich flour alternatives or protein powder, then reduce or replace butter and sugar with higher-protein or lower-sugar options.  Finish by adding protein-packed mix-ins and adjusting moisture as needed, and you'll have festive cookies that taste indulgent — while working a little harder for your goals.

FAQs

What's the best protein powder to use in protein cookies?

Whey protein isolate or concentrate are the best protein powders for your protein cookies. They mix into dough well, help cookies spead and flatten, and keep your cookies from crumbling. You'll also want a vanilla flavor or unsweetened, which both tend to work best for cookies. Check out Purist® whey protein isolate in vanilla.

Can I replace all of the flour in my cookie recipe with protein powder?

Protein powder doesn't behave the same way that flour does, and if you were to replace all of the flour in your recipe with protein poweder, your cookies would likely end up dry, chalky, and crumbly. Basically, flour helps to maintain the structure of your cookie. It's best to replace about a quarter or a little more of your flour with protein powder.

Rosie Borchert is a NASM-CPT and writer whose work has appeared on BarBend, Tonal, ABC, Netflix, and Amazon Studios.

This article was reviewed by Ashley Boyer, ACE-CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, for accuracy.