A Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie

 I have been trying to make better cookies for awhile.  I followed the directions and my cookies just lacked something.  They weren't pretty and they didn't taste exactly like I wanted them to.  The first thing that I changed was the chocolate chips.

I switched to Ghirardelli's 60% cacao chips and by far, they are the best chocolate chips I have ever used.  I had a lot of food interactions last year and have completely given up eating chocolate and dairy, but these chocolate chips I can tolerate.  The next thing I have learned is that I can't make chocolate chip cookies with butter.  The cookie just doesn't look right.  It gets very flat and spreads out when I use butter.  So, I did some research and decided to try

Crisco.  Yes, I know, I have long had an aversion to Crisco.  Not considered the most healthy food ingredient but, it makes a pretty cookie.  

For the cookie above I used the recipe right off of the Ghirardelli bag.  

Here it is:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Somewhere between 3/4 and 1 cup of Crisco.  A full cup was too much.

(The recipe calls for 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, I omitted and replaced with Crisco.)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

10 oz. Ghirardelli 60 % Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

1. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy. 
3. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated.
4. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.  
5. Stir in chocolate chips.  
6. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  
7. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

And now for a healthier chocolate chip cookie.  Have you ever heard of clean eating?

Here is a really great blog that describes clean eating really well.   The Gracious Pantry

is a great resource for healthy recipes if your trying to start the New Year with healthier food choices.  Clean eating is about eating foods that aren't processed.  You are ridding your body of all of the chemicals put into processed foods.  Last year I went through a whole year of food reactions and I was surprised to learn how much is in our foods that we don't want in there.  I have only began to learn about this and am not an expert by any means but, I can tell that eating this way is better for your overall health.  

So, after months of not being able to eat chocolate I just discovered not only can I use these chocolate chips but, I can make them into these much healthier cookies.

Clean Eating Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Tools
Food processor
Large mixing bowl
Spatula

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds
1/3 cup cooked oatmeal
3 tbsp. agave or honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips (or dairy free chips)

Note: If you don’t want to use the chocolate chips, they could be very easily substituted with raisins, nuts or dried fruits of any kind.

Directions:

1.  Mix everything except the chocolate chips in the food processor.  You should have a wet, sticky dough when you're done. 
2. Using your spatula, scrape dough into your mixing bowl and mix in chocolate chips.
   
3. Spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.

*Note: I used the same chocolate chips as I used in the first recipe.  I also used honey and regular whole wheat flour.  

The healthier cookies turned out great.  They tasted good and are better for you than the first recipe.  I didn't use the grain sweetened chocolate chips. I wasn't sure I would be able to tolerate them so I used what I knew would work.    The Clean Eating Chocolate Chip Cookies only made 12 cookies.  So you may need to make that recipe larger if you are making more cookies than just for a personal treat.  

Enjoy!

Sherry

I will link this to: 

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

This Chick Cooked at This Chick Cooks
Friday Food at Mom Trends

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum 
Wednesday Show Off  at Elna-Sudden. 
What's It Wednesday   at Ivy and Elephants  
Thriving on Thursdays  at Domesblissity