Slightly Less Sinful: Double Chocolate Cookies

I generally try to eat healthy, but unfortunately I have a serious sweet tooth. I’ve been trying to find healthier versions of some of my favorite foods and I’ve managed to create a banana bread recipe that uses no butter or oil, and very little sugar. Now it’s time to turn my attention to something more challenging: cookies. Cookies are essentially a mixture of butter and sugar, so I can’t eliminate them entirely.  This is what I’ve come up with so far:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp butter, softened
• 3 tbsp apple sauce, more or less
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp milk (skim milk or almond milk)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 F
2. Beat together sugar and butter until fluffy
3. Add vanilla, egg, and milk
4. Add all the dry ingredients
5. Mix
6. Add chocolate chips
7. Add apple sauce. Use more for cakier cookies.
8. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 9 – 10 minutes (I use an air insulated baking sheet)

Makes 16 cookies.

These cookies stay really soft, even after several days. They remind me of Dare Bear Paw cookies – chocolatey, but not overly sweet. Next time I think I’ll use a little less apple sauce though, and see if they come out a bit more crunchy.