Chocolate Chip Cookies – a healthier version

Hey, when it comes to cookies my kids will actually eat and think are a special treat I feel comfortable calling this recipe “healthy”. It may not be an essential item in the food chain, but it’s better than store bought.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup apple butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray.
Beat butter in a large bowl with mixer. Add sugars, egg, vanilla, and apple butter. Continue mixing. Add flour, oats, baking powder, and salt until all ingredients are well mixed.
Fold in chocolate chips. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

These cookies will be chewy from the apple butter. I actually made a similar recipe that resulted in hard and not-so-great-tasting cookies. I like my version much better because of the chewyness and moistness. I stored them in a tupperware container and they managed to get more moist, but the kids (and my mother-in-law) love them! I probably put extra chocolate chips and vanilla extract when I made them – those are two ingredients I have never measured exact. Either way I think you’ll like them! They don’t settle into a traditional chocolate chip cookie shape so if you want a rounder cookie instead of a the cookie clump these bake up as I suggest rounding them out with your hands before baking. I usually roll cookie dough into a ball and then press them down before they go in the oven – I just didn’t this time since both kids were awake and eager for their promised reward of cookies to be done.

I hope you enjoy them! Check out my apple butter chocolate chip cookies for a not-healthy but fabulous alternative!