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Nikki's Healthy Cookies from 101cookbooks.com sound like they'd be right up your alley, too.

1/2 cup honey in a recipe recommended to diabetics? Hell no. That's more than a teaspoon of honey in each cookie--not to mention the sugar in the banana, which is one of the highest-sugar fruits around.

As a type 1 diabetic for 12 years, I can tell you: those cookies are kryptonite.

There is no "diabetic diet." If you want a cookie, your options are: (a) eat one and exercise and watch your sugar closely or (b) don't eat one.

"Diabetic" recipes are bulls---.

Could you find some recipe with agave nectar instead of honey or sugar?

I think it really depends on the person, but type 2 is quite different from type 1, in my experience. Having lived with a type 2 diabetic for years (and having had a too-close-for-comfort encounter with the condition myself), I would advise against sending cookies to someone who has just been recently diagnosed. Not for the purpose of saving him from the doom and destruction of a few extra carbs in their diet, but rather to avoid stirring up any troubling food-related emotions he may be experiencing. This time of year is already fraught with copious anxiety over food choices, particularly for a diabetic, and the double-whammy of a recent diagnosis is likely to stir up some extra worry.

As an alternative, what about a care package with some holiday-spiced teas you pack yourself, or roasted and spiced nuts, or some combination of low-gi winter fruits (apples, pears, oranges) and cheeses? this might be received as less of an agonizing temptation and more of a thoughtful, caring gift.

also, pretty much any type of sugar (including agave, honey, maple syrup) has the potential to spike a person's blood sugar, depending on their individual tolerance for such things.

My stepdaughter is type 1, and instead of cookies we set out nuts, or cubed cheese and fancy meats for our parties. And if I can find it, some nice beef jerkies are a welcome idea too. Things that she can snack on without us worrying about her insulin levels.

I like the idea of sending a care package with tea or nuts or something other than cookies. While cookies are great as a treat, the person would probably appreciate that you tailored the gift to their needs.

I would suggest looking up recipes that use splenda or other alternative sugars, but I've never had much luck making desserts that taste very good with those.

Another type 1 diabetic here. I agree that you should just skip the cookies, unless he specifically requested them. There's so much pressure this time of year to have "just one". Tea or coffee or spiced nuts are great ideas.

I am also a type 1 diabetic. In the age of Splenda, there is no reason why diabetics can't eat any dessert that substitutes sugar for the artificial stuff. It's a one-for-one replacement, and no one can ever tell that you made the recipe without sugar.

While I normally use white flour and Splenda if I'm baking for both myself and guests, I often use whole wheat and soy flour instead if it's just me and the family. The lower glycemic index is easier on the blood sugar levels - but the soy bakes faster so you will probably need to adjust times to that the goodies don't burn. It's also a little dryer - but it's not a terrible trade off.

After reading the comment on Splenda I was going to send you to a recipe using brown sugar splenda and pumpkin, but then I looked up the glycemic index of pumpkin and there's no way I would feel good about providing that link. My point: even if you think the recipe is ok, perhaps you should check all the ingredients' glycemic indexes on-line!

After one christmas baking with splenda for me recently diagnosed type-2 stepdad, I've just given up and moved into olives, nuts, pickles and cheeses. I know this isn't an answer to your question, but pickled things by Rick's Picks have been my go-to gift for my hard-to-buy-for diabetic for a few years now!

I'm not a doctor, so obviously don't take my words as a final say, but pumpkin is a perfectly fine food for diabetics. If you look at canned, unsweetened pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie filling), there is very little carbohydrate per serving, and even less sugar.

Glycemic load is another way to evaluate the impact a particular food will have on blood sugar - it takes into account how much carbohydrate is contained in a given serving as a percentage of its total size. The glycemic index simply measures how quickly it will get into your bloodstream.

I cook with pumpkin all the time, and my pies (which I make using nut-based crusts) always get rave reviews from the non-diabetics!

While your heart is in the right place, I beg you as a child who lost her Father to complications from this very disease, do not do send him cookies.

Being recently diagnosed is a head trip in and of itself and he will be undergoing a tremendous amount of stress around it because if he wants to live and keep his limbs and stay off dialysis and keep his eyesight he needs to do a major dietary change. A better gift would be to offer to pay for a few sessions with a Registered Dietician who specializes in his type of disease - that will show how much you care.

I so agree with kodaly, my husband is a type 2 diabetic... and it took us years to adjust to living with diabetes as a family. It is not just adapting one's diet and it isn't about removing all treats - it is about recognizing where their sugar levels are at the time and what to eat to get things level. I would stay away from a foody gift there is too much emotional stuff going on!!! A care package is great what about a foot care package with some nice minty scrubs and creams. Diabetics have to take special care of their feet. I know my husband would love that. Great that you are being so thoughtful how many gifts my hubs has received that he had to say thank-you for but couldn't enjoy - some foods are just no-no foods. I always keep some muffin mix (http://www.se7en.org.za/2009/05/06/se7en-million-marvelous-muffins-a-low-gi-recipe) on hand so that I can whip up a treat for him when the rest of us are indulging.

thanks for all of the suggestions, everybody...the reason i want to make him cookies is because i have no doubt that he will continue to "cheat" on his diet, and will eat whatever he wants (we're talking about a pretty stubborn, set-in-his-ways guy, here), so i want to offer him an alternative to what he normally eats. kind of a way to show him that, if he's going to keep eating cookies, there are options that will hurt him less in the long run.

also because i have no money and am baking for pretty much everybody on my christmas list this year =)

Looks like alot of resources here. I love the suggestions of nuts and olives. I also do a veggie tray with greek yogurt and onion dip. But would love more side dish recipies. The holidays are hard because its the only time i have to consider this and food is SO emotional.