Semi Guilt-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
With age I've noticed my sweet tooth has shifted. My preferences in desserts lean more towards fruity and savory items. However, chocolate chip cookies are still my weakness. I love to bake, but seeing how much butter and sugar goes into most recipes makes me feel sick. I've seen plenty of "healthy cookie" recipes out there, but they don't interest me. When I eat a cookie I want it to be indulgent, not a crumbly nugget that does nothing to satisfy a craving.
Over the past couple months, I've been experimenting with a cookie recipe. My goal was to limit the butter, eliminate the refined sugar, and have less flour. So far, I think I've achieved this but I'd like to keep improving it. I posted a picture of the cookies on my Instagram and had several people asking for the recipe. I'm a tad nervous to share the recipe for 2 reasons:
These definitely aren't the perfect clean eating cookie. I hope the ingredients don't disappoint anyone. I think the recipe is good for cutting back on the butter and white sugar. I'm working on finding more replacements. Let me know if you have suggestions!
I made scribbles for notes while baking today. I hope this is accurate!
Enough with the chit chat. Onto the goods...
You'll see that I bake using metric measurements. I've also included imperial measurements in case you don't have a scale. Although, I do recommend using a scale to be precise.
Ingredients (Metric)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
250 grams smooth peanut butter
100 grams honey
200 grams brown coconut sugar*
2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
140 grams all-purpose flour
200 grams instant oats (rolled oats work too)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (1 tsp if using Mortens)
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
*I don't suggest substituting coconut sugar with regular brown sugar. The cookies will be a lot sweeter if you do.
Ingredients (Imperial)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 cup brown coconut sugar
2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups and 2 tbsp instant oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (1 tsp if using Mortens)
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats.
In a large heat safe bowl, microwave the butter until melted. Using a hand mixer, blend the peanut butter into the warm butter until well combined.
Beat in the honey and brown coconut sugar until well combined. Mix in the eggs, extra yolk, and vanilla.
Once the wet ingredients are well combined, add the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix the dry ingredients together while they rest on top of the wet ingredients. Once the dry ingredients are combined, add the chocolate chips and mix everything together. I hope this isn't confusing.
I like to save on dishes by not mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. ;)
Roll about 3 tbsp of dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet.
IMPORTANT! Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven and gently flatten them with a spatula. Bake for 2 more minutes. Take them out of the oven and sprinkle flaky salt on top. Let cool for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack.
This keeps the cookies soft in the middle and a tad crisp on the outside
EDIT 4/30/20: My Mom (who lives in MN) didn't see a reason for squishing the cookies but she still did. lol! Maybe it's an elevation thing? When I bake these, they are about 2 inches high before flattening them, so that's why I do it.
I'm still new to writing recipes, so please let me know how these turn out if you bake them! I'd love to know if anything was confusing or not accurate.
The unabashed baker,
Anna