The Ultimate Healthy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies freeze well, can be eaten as a breakfast meal and are a great healthy treat for any time of day.

I have always been a bit of a health nut, but also have a strong weakness for a delicious homemade chocolate chip cookie.  My weakness is not aided by the fact that my wife bakes incredibly delicious batches of this wonderful little dessert.  In fact, because we simply cannot eat them all, when she bakes a batch we normally give half of them away.  Hence amongst our friends, family, & coworkers her recipe is quite famous…though not healthy in the least!

We always gave half away, until one day we had the frugal idea to freeze them.  We ended up freezing around half of her last batch and found that around 20 – 30 seconds in the microwave gives us a cookie that taste like it is fresh out of the oven.  Although I LOVE her cookies, the health nut in me has always wanted to find that perfect & ultimate chocolate chip cookie that is not only delicious but also healthy.  I knew that making a healthy cookie was not going to give us the same type of taste, but still wanted to create something that would satisfy our sweet tooth!

I am happy to report that due to the rainy dreary day we had, I committed myself to creating the recipe and have accomplished what my wife & I believe to be a healthy dessert masterpiece! My wife & I are going to eat these as breakfast cookies (bars) and as dessert.  They are actually quite a healthy creation that we are very happy to share with you.

Here is our recipe for The Ultimate Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Click here to for a Printable Version

Ingredients

Wet

• 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 stick butter (we use salted butter)
• 3/4 cup raw honey (pick up at your local health food store, substitute regular honey if that is all you have)
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I advise against using imitation vanilla)
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white

Dry

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup whole grain rolled oats (I do not use quick oats, so I roughly chop these oats in my food processors before adding to other ingredients)
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. fine sea salt

Finishing touches

• 12 oz. package of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chopped craisins (a.k.a. dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Now just mix and bake them like a batch of normal chocolate chip cookies.  In a mixing bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (I partially soften the butter in the microwave, just be careful not to melt it too much).  Stir them together with a spoon.  In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Now carefully stir in the dry ingredients in with the wet.  Now stir in the finishing touches.

Place cookies on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10 – 14 minutes (Mrs. Jabs & I do 12 minutes), depending on your oven and how well done you like your cookies.  Enjoy fresh out of the oven, or frozen then warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Alternate/additional finishing touches (add whatever you have a taste for here and substitute it for the finishing touches above, here are some ideas for additional )

• 2 mashed banana (If you use banana’s only use 1/2 cup of applesauce)
• 1 cup shredded & toasted coconut
• 1 cup Rice Krispies
• 1/2 cup chopped raisins

**Remember…these cookies freeze well, can be eaten as a breakfast meal and are a great healthy treat for any time of day.

Tagged as: Food, Homemade