You’ve all had a “healthy” cookie before, right? “Healthy” cookies are what happens when some well-intentioned person tries to adapt a perfectly decadent recipe and ruins it. My response to these, ahem, treats is usually along the lines of “Wow. Not bad! But you know what I’m really craving now? A cookie.” It almost like a tease: here’s something that vaguely resembles a cookie and yet will not taste good like a cookie.
The cookie conundrum, as I have just now dubbed it, will show you that there are exactly two types of people in the world. No, not men and women, sillies. I’m talking about the if-you-want-a-cookie-eat-a-freakin’-cookie camp vs. the sugar-is-the-devil-and-must-be-avoided-at-all-costs camp. The former will have you eating cookie dough out of the bowl if that’s what you really want (and ignoring the documented addictive powers of the sugar/white flour/fat combo) and the latter will have you eating faux cookies and feeling virtuous (and ignoring that the documented consequence of too much restriction is bingeing).
But Reader Gretchen called my theory into question this last week when she brought me cookies. They oozed dark chocolate and were chewy like a brownie but with a slightly crisp top. I was sure they were baked by the Devil himself in an oven fueled by the lost souls of desperate dieters. And then she gave me the recipe. It wasn’t just “healthy” it was healthy!
Just to be sure she wasn’t messing with me, I made a batch myself and took them to Sensei Don’s house for my Karate lessons (that you know I’m still taking!). Everyone liked them. They even passed the muster of his pregnant wife.
And you know they must be something special if I a) bothered to cook them (we’ve covered my supreme lack of culinary ability) and b) bothered to post the recipe here. This is a Great Fitness Experiment first! In almost a year and a half of doing this blog I have never ever posted a recipe. (My lack of step-by-step artful food pictures should tip you off to my status as a food blogger noob.)
So with Reader Gretchen’s permission here’s her recipe for chewy chocolate cookies:
Ingredients:
Cooking spray or silicone baking sheets
6 0z. dark chocolate broken up
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sweetener (see note*)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 1/2 tsp arrowroot powder (or corn starch)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 and prepare cookie sheets.
2. Place chocolate in microwavable bowl and heat on high until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally.
3. Using a mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks (Charlotte’s note: when working with egg whites don’t use a plastic bowl or utensils); gradually beat in 1 cup sweetener and continue beating until mixture appears creamy; add vanilla.
4. In a separate small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup sweetener, cocoa and arrowroot powder (or corn starch); then beat into egg whites on low speed.
5. Stir in warm chocolate and continue stirring gently until mixture thickens.
6. Place rounded tbsps of batter onto sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Don’t overcook. Cool for an additional 10 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely. Makes 24 cookies.
Nutritional Information
*Note: Gretchen used sucanat – a natural sugar that is as caloric as sugar. I used Stevia, a plant extract that has no calories. You could also use brown sugar or Splenda or any combination of the above that you would like. Just be sure to adjust the proportions accordingly (i.e. I used 1/3 amount of the Stevia because it’s sweeter than sugar. Splenda, I believe, measures cup for cup.)
If you use a non-caloric sweetener: 20 calories, 1g fat, 2.5 carb, 0.8g sugar, 1g protein
If you use brown sugar or sucanat: 65 calories, 1g fat, 11.3 carb, 10.5g sugar, 1g protein
So tell me which camp you fall in – do you like your cookies unadulterated or will you healthify a good recipe so you can eat more of it?
I am so excited to try these! I love you–and Gretchen!
If I’m going to have a cookie, I’m going to have a GOOD cookie. I’m not going to waste points on something that tastes like chalk covered with cocoa powder. (I just checked, these are 1 point for 3 cookies made with non-caloric sweetener and 1 point for 1 cookie made with brown sugar or sucanat.)
Portion control is my problem. If there’s only one or two cookies, I’ll eat one or two cookies. If there’s a whole bag of cookies, I won’t eat any because I’ll eat the whole thing once I get started.
When baking for others, I don’t change a thing. But, when baking for myself, I totally revamp the recipe. Why do I feed others what I won’t eat? Dunno, but I have not eaten a white flour, 100% white sugar cookie in years. Crazy talk because I will eat full fat ice-cream with very little guilt. Weird, huh? I guess we all have our “special treats” we allow ourselves.
Thanks for the recipe Charlotte. Bookmark worthy for sure!
I agree with Heather – when I bake for other people I usually make them pretty unhealthy, but I’ll change it around if it’s just me (applesauce instead of oil for example). Do you bake a lot with Stevia? I’ve been meaning to try baking with it but haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe I’ll try it with this recipe – they sound fantastic.
No, I like cookies okay but they do NOT taste better than fruit to me and certainly not worth the 400+ calories they have (plus crap feeling and drama from the sugar). I’d rather avoid it all, but would have a healthy cookie if I wanted the cookie idea experience.
I was always a frosting girl though–fat or sugar, yes, white flour, boring. Now, just fruit.
–T
Those look awesome. I just bought some stevia, I might have to give this a try. 20 calories a cookie? Wooohoo!
I jump between both camps. Some things, fat free/sugar free is just wrong. Fat free cheese is horrible. I’d rather have a hershey kiss or 2 to kill a chocolate craving than sugar free cookies. Sometimes though, you can make something that tastes just as or almost as good – I’m all for it. Like the low fat ranch I buy – I think I prefer it now to other full fat dressings. So it totally depends.
I so could have used this recipe 3 hours ago. I absolutely had to make cookies..hormone thing I think, so I did and I have eaten about 10!!! They were NOT 20 calories per cookie either! Next month it’ll be these and I’m sure I’ll eat 10 again…but at 200 calories, who cares!!!
A no fat, no sugar cookie that tastes good!?! It sounds too good to be true. Nonetheless, I’m willing to try it. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
– Dave
Im regular ole bakery laden with fat fat cookies…which is why I dont eat em often 🙂
BUT everything is different now that Im a babymamarolemodel (which is different Im learning than a spokesmodel :)) so Im slowly shifting to 50.50 & baking more and making them healthy.
I’m a weirdo – I practice complete abstinence from baking sweet things (or even buying them), healthy versions or not. Unless I have friends over and then it’s caloric hedonism, all bets are off!
Those cookies sound lovely, I need a British/American dictionary though… corn starch? Arrowroot powder?
TA x
I love the real deal when it comes to cookies because usually, when I go the ‘healthy’ route, I end up compensating and eating double what I normally would eat, because, well, they’re HEALTHY!
So I tend to go for 1 or 2 of the real thing and feel satisfied.
That said, I’m so trying this recipe on the weekend. Yummy!
I love love love cookies, and cake, and pie, and donuts…Yum. I had 4 fortune cookies just last night (anyone need some extra luck?) I just work out extra when I go on a baking spree (and kneading dough/stirring sticky stuff burns calories, right?). This recipe sounds delish. Thanks!
I fall into the unadulterated cookie camp, but try to limit myself to just one or two cookies when I do so. Not that I usually manage to limit myself, but there’s nobility in trying, right? I guess I just feel like, if I’m going to treat myself with a cookie, I want it to be really worth it.
BTW – I like the new picture, which may have been up for awhile. I wouldn’t know, as I’ve been AWOL for a few weeks.
Just a note that I’d be careful with the splenda. I think certain kinds measure cup for cup (like special baking splenda), but the regular stuff will make the cookies too sweet if done cup for cup.
Cookies sound yum though!
All fortunes need to finish with the phrase, “In Bed!”
Good place to have chocolate chip cookies too 🙂
Even the “healthy” cookies have calories. If it doesn’t taste good, then it’s not worth wasting the calories on as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take a real cookie please!
I’m so trying this.
After I finish experimenting with apples, honey, and cinnamon, and provided the kitchen is still intact.
I just had arrowroot animal cookies for the first time last week and they were actually good! I’d never heard of arrowroot before (so it’s not a common thing on this side of the pond either, Tokaingel), but it seems to make it just as sweet as sugar does.
I normally use real sugar or splenda, though the one time I tried to really alter a cookie recipe by using wheat flour and splenda, the cookies went from tasting like crack-incarnate to tasting just ok. Maybe that’s a good thing, I don’t know.
But I definitely fall in the camp of having the real thing if it tastes really good, and just have one or two (or three). Because why consume the calories on something that doesn’t taste as good if you’re just going to end up eating more to satisfy the craving?
This recipe sounds great, though, I’ll definitely try it! Can I get arrowroot at a regular grocery store or do I need to go to Whole Foods? Do they keep it with the sugar?
On a totally unrelated note, someone told me yesterday that there’s a store near work that sells python and lion meat. Now I’m entirely intrigued, and might just have to try that for my recipe this weekend (post on Monday).
I’m normally a fan of “if I want a damn cookie I am going to eat it” but that’s because I very seldomn want cookie. That being said, I may whip these up for my BF who is on a health kick at the moment.
Will definitely try these – thanks!
I am trying to go the healthy route for myself these days and appreciate this sort of recipe.
I’m with Regular Cinderella, in that if I’m gonna eat a cookie, it dang well better be a GOOD cookie! If it’s healthy AND yummy, so much the better.
I’m going to try these. They sound delish!
(LOVE the new photo!!!!!!!)
Mmm tasty.
I do both. I’ll try to make healthier versions, then no one likes them, and then I’ll binge out on some “real” cookies (like that whole batch of cookie dough I ate by myself in November! Man that tasted good). Mostly I’m just really guilty of destroying recipes by trying to health them up. It’s because of my portion (un)control. But I like messing around in the kitchen:)
I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, so either sort is ok with me, because I’ll usually only have a bite. All the boys in my house like sweet things, though, so I’ll try this!
For the UK people… cornstarch = cornflower, but I don’t know about arrowroot!
This recipe looks great, but putting the ingredients into FitDay gave about 50 calories per cookie and that was using Splenda. Doesn’t the 6 oz of dark chocolate = approx 1000 calories? What’s the secret to making them have only 20 calories each?
Anon – I looked up my calculations and the bag of Godiva 70% choc. chips I used lists 80 cals/ounce. 6 oz = 480 cals for the whole batch. Although I don't actually have the bag anymore (just my scratch paper) so it's entirely possible I wrote it down wrong. I'll look it up again & post the correction if needed. Thanks!!
Thanks for the recipe, Charlotte!
I didn’t have dark chocolate around the house, so I tried it without, and they still tasted great!
Char – I’m making these cookies for my Birthday Turbo tomorrow night. My mommy is helping me make them since I don’t have any of the ingredience or hand-mixer! (Boy, I’ll be lucky to scoop up a man with my Betty Crocker skillz!)
Have you looked at Change Your Brain Change Your Body? I am following one plan and I have no cravings for sweets and feel great. I am completely convinced that cravings and binging is our brains way of trying to get what it needs – usually serotonin or dopamine. I experienced a change in what I felt and cravings when my thyroid tanked several years back and I began to question the new urges that came up and became convinced the brain is trying to tell us something. If you go to Dr Amen's website take his Brain Type Test. I think it's ALL brain chemistry.
Hoping these taste good!
20cals DANGGGGGGGGG
I haven't tried them, but I'm glad you found a healthier alternative to the standard cookie. Thank you for sharing.
I thought I should point, dornstarch, aka corn flour, is not a healthy ingredient and has very few nutritional benefits at all. Corn contains lectin or other agglutinin that acts as a metabolic inhibitor. I personally don't eat any corn products, so I'm thinking of trying this recipe without it, or finding a better substitute for that ingredient.
Thanks again
since when does dark chocolate have no sugar in it?
I use Baker’s chocolate which has no sugar in it but most people don’t like how bitter that is. So yeah, if you use regular dark chocolate then it will have some sugar from that.
Excellent cookies, but I don’t get the calorie count, Charlotte…
6 oz of unsweeteened Bakers chocolate = 840
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa = 150
3 egg whites = 51
4 and 1/2 t. cornstarch = 75
Total – 1216
Calorie per cookie = 50
The cookies are so chocolatey and flavorful…50 is a screaming deal!
So glad you like the cookies! They’re still one of my fave recipes (although I’ve settled into using half white sugar and half stevia as all stevia tastes a bit off to me). As for the cals, I may be off on the math. But I’m looking at my cannister of cocoa powder right now and it gives me 10 cal/Tbsp – there are 5.3 Tbsp in 1/3 cup so that’s only 53 calories, not 150 like you have. But maybe there are different types of cocoa powder?
I tried these, and they’re very good. I also used the half stevia half sugar thing, and I will reduce the amount of sugar to about half next time since the chocolate has a good amount of sugar in it already. Mine came out more like cake batter than cookie dough, so I actually made these into cupcakes rather than cookies. I still like it. Thank you!
Yay! So glad you liked them!!
Just finished making these- I think I must have done something wrong. They have a weird after taste of baking soda or something. Makes my tongue tingly. Unfortunately no one here likes them 🙁 I did use less dark chocolate as I’m not into super rich chocolate cookies, perhaps that was it? The texture was very fluffy and nice though.
Bonjour! I happened to find awesome thoughts 🙂 Keep writing!