(sort of) Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I always want freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Always. So needless to say, I make them a lot. I have a few different chocolate chip cookie recipes that I use, with varying degrees of healthiness. The recipe I choose depends on my mood and the occasion. I use the full flavor, no holds back version, usually when I have guests over or am baking for someone else (sorry guests- they taste so delicious and I want you to like me!). I use the super healthy version when I make a breakfast cookie that I plan to eat every morning. This is my mid-range recipe, a mixture of healthy and indulgent, for times like tonight when I want to eat a dozen cookies, but don’t want to feel super guilty about it. So here is the recipe I used tonight:       

1 ½ cups flour blend

½ cup oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ cup butter

¼ cup applesauce (no sugar added)

1 egg

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup dark chocolate chips

When I make healthier versions of baked goods, I like to use a flour mixture, incorporating healthier versions rather than just white flour. What I use depends on what I have in my kitchen, but my go-to’s are wheat flour, ground flax seeds, almond meal, hemp powder, buck wheat, oats, etc. Tonight, to make 1 ½ cups flour, I used ½ cup white flour, ½ cup almond meal, ¼ cup hemp power, and ¼ cup ground flax seeds. Anyway, just mix all of the ingredients together and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Taking the cookies out when they’re not quite finished baking at 8 minutes and letting them sit before eating makes the perfect soft and mushy cookie that I love! This will make almost 2 dozen cookies. Enjoy!