Kidney-Friendly Ginger Cookies for the Holidays

Magical Low Potassium Ginger Cookies For Renal Diet

Kidney-Friendly Ginger Cookies for the Holidays

Gingerbread cookies are the quintessential cookie during the holiday season but can be high in potassium. So we set out to make kidney-friendly ginger cookies that you are sure to love!

Check out how we modified this recipe for a lower potassium spin on a classic holiday treat!

Overhead view of kidney friendly ginger cookies on parchment in a silver oval bowl with a gingham tea towel next to it and one cookie with a bit taken out of it

A Kidney-friendly Ginger Cookie You Can Really Really LOVE

All of us have some smells, flavors, sounds, etc… that pour holiday memories and warm feelings into our souls. Gingerbread is one of mine.  My mom’s gingerbread wasn’t the most incredible I’ve ever tasted, it was kind of spicy. 

But the cookie dough was out of this world.  And the smell of gingerbread and a warm house in a very very cold town is the kind of smell that is as much Christmas to me as candy canes and sparkly lights.

Why is Gingerbread on the Naughty List for Kidney Disease?

The problem with gingerbread for people with kidney disease is just one ingredient – molasses.  Molasses is why gingerbread ends up on a lot of “naughty” lists this time of year. 

One tablespoon of blackstrap molasses has 450 mg of sodium per NCCDB. Just one tablespoon has more potassium than almost 2 oranges.  Dark molasses and light molasses have less – around 300 mg each per tablespoon but it is still a significant amount of potassium.

Stack of three kidney friendly ginger cookies tied with white yarn on a wooden cutting board

Kidney Friendly Substitutes for Molasses

The quintessential smell and flavor of ginger cookies doesn’t necessarily come from molasses. The spices are the key, especially the ginger! I love substituting for all things molasses to lower the potassium.

You could also use dark corn syrup or for an interesting flavor try maple syrup instead.  All are low in phosphorus, but the potassium content varies widely. If you MUST have molasses, then opt for something other than blackstrap.

Check out how all of the sweeteners stack up against one another for potassium and phosphorus:

1 Tbsp Serving SizePotassium (mg)Phosphorus (mg)
Molasses, Blackstrap450 mg 8.4 mg
Molasses, Dark or Light308 mg6.5 mg
Corn Syrup, dark 9 mg 2 mg
Honey11 mg 0.8 mg
Maple Syrup42 mg 0.4 mg
Picture of a kidney-friendly ginger cookie with a bite taken out of it on a wooden table

Lower PotassiumSoft Ginger Cookie Recipe – Chewy Bite on Outside, Soft on Inside

I used this Soft Ginger Cookie recipe from Davita since I had heard rave reviews about it.  When I did a cookie comparison last week for the gingerbread house we were making, I was surprised to see that this kidney-friendly cookie, on a cookie-for-cookie comparison, was a bit higher than a traditional gingerbread cookie.

This isn’t listed in the chart below, but the caloric content for one 2.5″ gingerbread cookie is 67 calories, while one soft ginger cookie is 142 calories. That means either the soft ginger cookies from Davita were twice as big (making them fairly comparable to a traditional gingerbread cookie) or just more calorically dense. 

I’m not sure, but for me, it meant I could try pulling out the molasses and see if I still got a decent cookie.  Sodium could be cut back with less baking soda as well or by using a sodium-free baking soda substitute.

Cookies (per NCCDB)PhosphorusPotassiumSodium
Traditional Gingerbread Cookies (2 cookies)26 mg129 mg55 mg
Davita Soft Ginger Cookie (2 Cookies)32 mg140 mg118 mg
KidneyGrub Soft Ginger Cookies (2 cookies)  30 mg 47 mg117 mg
Overhead view of kidney-friendly ginger cookies in a oval silver bowl with white yarn and a tan and white checkered tea towel next to it.

Perfect Low Potassium Ginger Cookie Even Without Molasses

I swapped out the molasses for honey and still feel like I came away with a home-run cookie.  Soft on the inside and just perfect on the outside.  I happened to have gold sugar on hand from the gingerbread/cookie house and rolled my cookies in that instead of traditional sugar.  Magic!  The gold sugar took a regular gingersnap to a true Christmas level.

Hands cupped and holding a stack of ginger cookies tied with white yarn
Kidney Ginger Cookie 3 1024x683

Magical Ginger Cookies for the Holidays

These Ginger cookies are easy to make and are a perfect treat for giving or enjoying for the holidays!
Print Pin
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Low Calorie, Low Phosphorus, Low Potassium, Low Protein, Low Sodium
Diet Type: CKD, Dialysis, VLPD
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 77kcal
Author: Jessianna Saville, MS, RDN, CSR, LD, CLT

Ingredients

  • 2-1/4 cups all-purpose white flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1-1/8 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° F.
  • In a medium bowl combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat in 1 cup sugar.
  • Add egg whites and honey; beat well.
  • Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.
  • Shape dough into 1-1/2" balls, using about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough for each.
  • Roll balls in the remaining sugar to coat.
  • Place balls about 2-1/2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 10 minutes or until light brown and still puffed. (Do not over bake.)
  • Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

Nutrition

Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 96mg | Potassium: 14mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 178IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @KNI_Care or tag #KNIrecipes!
Hand holding a bottle of decorating sugar.

4 thoughts on “Kidney-Friendly Ginger Cookies for the Holidays”

  1. Hey Barbara –
    Just fixed this. The program I used for the recipe input didn’t have phos and potassium when I first started using it. So I did some background coding to switch out the saturated fat and unsaturated fat columns for phos and potassium. Unfortunately, in a recent update all my coding was no longer valid so I have to go through all the recipes and change the “saturated fat” and “unsaturated fat” back to “phos” and “potassium”. I’m actually changing programs this upcoming year because of the glitch for some beautiful, clean labels on all the recipes to share with your patients that include all the renal parameters. Super excited about that! Thanks for the comment as I am still working through all the recipes.

  2. Pingback: Cookie House - Especially for Kids on Dialysis - Kidney RD

  3. Pingback: Renal Friendly Ginger Cookies - Dialysis Patient Citizens Education Center

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