Sugar-Free Cookies (with Jell-O)

Recently, there's been a little scare in the family having to do with diabetes/pre-diabetes/what all of that means.

So, to show that I'm here to support my family, I decided to bake up something sugarless. I settled for one that embraces a slightly less usual ingredient.
There are a lot of recipes that are sugar-free, but use Splenda or Equal in place of the sugar. And don't get me wrong, those recipes sounded fine, but I wanted to find something a little more unusual/special to make, to show that being diabetic/pre-diabetic doesn't mean not having choices.

When I found this recipe, I was really intrigued. It cuts out sugar substitutes all together, and instead calls for one new ingredient: A package of sugar-free Jell-O! Any flavor! Not the gigantic box, just the regular-- and you have a lot of choices.

The two I picked were orange, and strawberry banana. I also bought a package of raspberry, which I think I'm going to turn into gelatin for myself. :D

The best things about using Jell-O in the recipe:
1) It turns the dough the same color as the flavor! The orange was...orange (duh.) And the strawberry banana came out this really pretty pink.

2) The dough smells SO GOOD. You'll want to eat it right out of the bowl (leave out the egg, and you can, no risk!)

The things that could be improved on:
1) The consistency within the cookie was odd. The outside was dry and really made me thirsty, while the inside was soft and weirldy flaky.

2) The flavor was..off, somehow. Tangy and attacked my whole mouth, but really flour-y too. Maybe it was just from rolling out the dough onto a floured surface, with a floured rolling pin.

But the cookies don't spread much at all, so you can pack a lot onto a tray and cut down on how long you're waiting to bake. Rolling them out also gives you the ability to cut them into cute shapes!


Sugar-Free Cookie Recipe

• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 package sugar-free Jell-O (small package, any flavor)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups flour

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Cream together the butter and Jell-O powder.
• Add in egg and vanilla, beat.
• Beat in baking powder, then flour bit by bit. Incorporate well.
• Roll dough out onto floured surface until relatively thin (1/4"? That's a guess)
• Cut out desired shapes, and place on a cookie sheet.
• Bake for 6-8 minutes, until slightly firm to the touch. (Cookies will not brown)

Final say:

The orange ones went over well. The strawberry banana smelled good and were pretty, but the flavor wasn't as pleasing. It's so easy to make the dough though, that you could experiment with various flavors-- just make sure the packages of Jell-O say "Sugar Free" or you defeat the purpose!

(Original recipe found here)