Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

A soft, chewy cookie recipe that beats them all! This is truly the best recipe for Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies made with coconut oil, natural sugar, whole wheat flour and dark chocolate chips. If you're like me, you will hide these in the pantry from your kids!

I'm a prolific buyer of coconut products, and by that, I mean all the coconut products. In my cart, you will find: coconut oil, coconut sugar (to make my coconut sugar cookies), coconut milk (both canned and fresh), and coconut cream.

I've been buying all the coconut oil to make batches of these healthy chocolate chip cookies for my friends, family, and neighbors. This is one of my favorite easy cookie recipes and because I can have cookies in less than 20 minutes, I tend to make it often. Plus, it only has 8 easy ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil. Today, we're baking with unrefined coconut oil, which means it has not been stripped of its coconut flavor. When you open the jar of coconut oil, it will smell of luscious coconuts and faraway beaches. Refined coconut oil has had the aroma removed so that it can be used for frying without imparting its coconut flavor. It's best if the coconut oil is solid, not melted, because we're going to cream it like we would cream butter for our tea cakes recipe.
• Coconut Sugar. Coconut sugar is also known as coconut palm sugar. It's similar to raw sugar, and it is made by collecting the sap from the coconut flower and then heating to remove excess liquid. It appears like a finer-grain brown sugar. See below for sources and tips to locate coconut sugar.
• Egg Yolk. We only need the egg yolk, not the whole egg for this recipe.
• Vanilla Extract. Real, pure vanilla extract is best here, because it compliments the flavors of the dark chocolate chips.
• White Whole Wheat Flour. My go-to for ensuring my kids eat whole grains made from the entire wheat kernel is white whole wheat flour. It's made from a softer variety of white wheat, so it feels more like regular refined all-purpose white flour, yet it actually is a whole grain. It has all the benefits of using whole wheat flour, but a much milder taste, more similar to regular flour. If you can't find it, use half whole wheat flour and half regular white flour.
• Baking Soda and Baking Powder.
• Dark Chocolate Chips. The darker the chocolate, the better, am I right? I reach for the 72% dark chocolate chips, but I have also used 60% dark. You can also chop up a dark chocolate bar. This will result in much more melty chocolate than using chocolate chips.

How to Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375, and spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick spray. I really like to bake these cookies directly on the sheet so that they spread evenly and develop a slightly crisp edge. One small spritz of cooking spray achieves this.
2. Next, beat the solid coconut oil and coconut sugar together using an electric hand mixer until creamy.
3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat again.
4. Finally, it's time for the dry ingredients: sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt evenly over the surface of the wet ingredients in the bowl. Beat everything together until combined.
5. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
6. To evenly divide the dough, press it flat in the bowl. Use your eye to divide it into quarters and then make two cookies from each quarter of the dough. Yes, this is a small batch recipe and only makes 8 cookies. You can double it to make more cookies, if you like.
7. Next, space the cookies evenly on your cookie sheet and press them slightly flat before sliding them into the oven to bake for 9-11 minutes. When the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown, remove them from the oven. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes to continue cooking, and then immediately move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Storage

Truthfully, these cookies do not last long in our house. I leave them on the counter, lightly covered with a kitchen towel. They will keep an air-tight container for up to 3 days on the counter at room temperature.

I do not recommend making and freezing the dough, because the melting point of coconut oil is so low (just slightly above room temperature), so the oil can melt and ooze out before the rest of the dough defrosts in the oven.

However, you can bake the cookies fully and then freeze them flat in storage bags. Just defrost at room temperature for a few hours, and they're ready to eat.

Ingredient Substitutions for Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Coconut Oil - I don't recommend substituting coconut oil with butter or any other type of oil for this healthy chocolate chip cookies recipe. Coconut oil has a higher percentage of fat solids than anything else, and this recipe has been developed based on that.
• Coconut Sugar - You can use granulated white sugar in place of coconut sugar here. Do not use brown sugar in its place, even though it is the same color. It contains molasses, which changes the moisture of the dough. I talk about this in my Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar recipe.
• Flour - I prefer white whole wheat flour for this recipe. This is because it is a whole grain flour that contains all the benefits of using the whole wheat kernel. It is made from a soft white wheat berry so it is not as coarse or harsh as regular whole wheat flour. In the absence of it, use half regular whole wheat flour and half regular all-purpose flour.

Equipment

• Small Cookie Scoop - This is the best small cookie scoop I have in my kitchen.
• Best Cookie Sheet - I prefer light metal cookie sheets that are not insulated with air or overly thick. This is my current favorite.

Frequently Asked Questions about Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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