We Don’t Want No Diet Food! Cookie Recipe!

You want to lose weight – not eat cardboard!

There seems to be several reasons to eat diet food and none of them make sense.

  • You get to eat more!   “Oh great, I get to eat more of stuff that tastes absolutely no good.”
  • It tastes bad so it naturally depresses your appetite!   “Oh great, I don’t get much to eat because I’m on a diet and I don’t even enjoy what I am eating.”
  • All the real food ingredients have been removed and replaced with chemicals that do a pretty good job of replicating the food they replace to reduce the calories per serving!   “Oh great, I’m eating good-tasting chemicals!
Several reasons to eat diet food and they’re all bad! Here’s a reason not to eat diet food.
  • You can eat real food and lose weight. Yes, you can eat any food you want and lose weight. It’s not a matter of eating diet food, or eating healthy food; it’s a matter of choosing foods that combine to make a healthy diet.

A healthy diet isn’t eliminating any foods you enjoy. It’s eating a variety of foods that give you the nutrients you need for good health and limits the calories to slightly fewer than your body is burning for its energy needs.

That means you can make and eat cookies with real butter and sugar, like these traditional holiday favorites!

Raspberry-Almond Thumbprint Cookies

2PointsPlus Value

 Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 15 min

Other time: 30 min

Serves: 32

Recipe and photo credits: Weight Watchers International, Inc. 2 PointsPlus values per serving

Recipe and photo credits: Weight Watchers International, Inc. 2 PointsPlus values per serving.

These cookies are made with less butter than the traditional recipe but they’re still incredibly delicious. Use any type of jam you prefer.

 Ingredients

2 cup(s) all-purpose flour   

1/2 tsp baking powder   

1/4 tsp table salt   

3/4 cup(s) sugar, granulated   

1/3 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened   

1/4 cup(s) whole milk   

1 tsp almond extract   

1/2 cup(s) sliced almonds, lightly toasted and chopped   

4 spray(s) cooking spray (I prefer to skip this step and line my cookie sheets with parchment paper instead)   

1/3 cup(s) reduced sugar raspberry jam   

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add milk and almond extract; beat well.

 Stir flour mixture and almonds into sugar mixture until combined; cover bowl and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

 Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray or cover sheets with parchment paper in lieu of the cooking spray

Roll level tablespoons of dough into 32 balls; place about 1-inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Press an indentation into center of each ball using your thumb. Using a small spoon, fill indentations with jam.

Bake until bottoms of cookies turn golden, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheets for 1 or 2 minutes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

 Yields 1 cookie per serving.

Yes, you get one cookie per serving, but please don’t say, “I can’t eat just one cookie,” or “It’s not even worth eating if all I can eat is one.”  

Those statements are examples of limiting beliefs. Neither are true until your actions make them true. Furthermore, you can eat more than one serving if you choose by paying attention to how many you decide to have and tracking the servings so that you don’t exceed your food plan limits.

Now really, wouldn’t it be easier to lose weight if you got to eat what you liked, and learned how to manage it within a balanced and healthy diet? Wouldn’t it be easier to maintain a weight loss if you challenged your limiting beliefs and recognized satisfaction and fullness with less food?

Forget diet food! Go for the good stuff!
Lose weight by eating great!

 

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.