Chocolate Cookies

Decadence that doesn't Destroy

Lately I have been experimenting with cookies! I love moist chocolate desserts, but they're a real belly buster. I wanted to create a cookie that incorporates my favorite qualities without the expense. I stated with a basic oatmeal cookie recipe, so that I had correct proportions of flour,sugar, and fats. I made about three different variations of those cookies which all turned out amazing. Some I used mashed strawberries instead of banana, raisins instead of chocolate, no oats instead of oats, peanut butter instead of oil etc. Feel free to play around with all of these ingredients! Below I will give my recipe for one of my favorite combo (which will be the first ingredient listed) and then tell you some alternatives to each step so you can customize your healthy cookie!  They're so simple to make and take less than twenty min from start to finish, here we gOOO!

Ingredients (8 Medium cookies)
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (48g)/ sugar in the raw/ cane sugar
3/4 cup Oat flour(90g)/ 100% whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp non-fat milk/soy milk/almond milk
1 small banana mashed/ strawberries/blueberries, blackberries, apple sauce etc (mix two use half and half)
.5 oz Green & Black 70% dark chocolate (chopped)/ nuts, semi-sweet chocochips, dried fruits, or mix&match
1 1/2 Tbsp Ghirardelli Unsweetened coco powder/ 2 tbs rolled oats/ 1 tablespoon of a protein powder
1 egg just whites/ tablespoon any canola oil/ olive oil (I usually leave out the egg, but I don't notice a difference)
1 Tbsp all natural peanut butter/ Almond butter/ chocolate almond butter/ double the egg or oil instead
(You can use butter if you want, but keep it under a tbsp. Personally I don't even keep butter in my kitchen.)

I don't actually measure anything except flour and sugar, but these are good guide lines. My favorite tool in the kitchen is my food scale. I zero out the scale with the mixing bowl on it and pour my ingredients right in to the gram amount (involves some simple math). I also don't separate dry and wet I just mix everything together at once. So... once you do that just use a spoon or whatever to portion out cookies on to a pan (note: make them the size/ shape you want them because they don't spread). I cook them for 6 min then rotate then another 6 min at 350. I take them out and put them in the fridge right away. Once they are cooled enough you can eat them! They are also a lot like a power bar or granola bar so they're great to pack for on the go and a lot cheaper than buying 2 dollar bars. If your a calorie counter there around a 100 calories a cookie depending on the ingredients, but I don't really believe in calorie counting but that's for another blog another day haha.