Healthy Cookies. No, Really!

She Said:

I have been on the hunt for some tasty healthy cookies for a while now and I think I've found them. I have bought different kinds of pre-packaged organic and natural cookies but they all fell short. So yesterday I tried this recipe and they are actually really tasty! I followed the recipe almost exactly. Here's what I did:

Healthy Honey Oatmeal Cookies

3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350℉. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Using a mixer with paddle attachment, mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, egg and water thoroughly. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and then stir in the oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Add in the chocolate chips. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

A couple of things that I learned. 1) Do not spray the cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray - it just burns. I'll use parchment paper or a Silpat next time. 2) I would have preferred raisins to the chocolate chips. Or along with. These cookies just needed raisins.

That's it, though. They're quite tasty, still soft the next day, and, yep, even relatively healthy. I will use more organic and/or natural ingredients next time. I just had the standard stuff on hand this time. Why buy the expensive stuff if you don't know whether or a not a recipe is good, right?

Oh, also, I think I would do a light drizzle of a white chocolate glaze over the top next time, too. They could use a little punch of sweetness on the top.

Cookies without the guilt

He Said:

You know how you really love love love cookies but you try, usually unsuccessfully, to avoid them because you're really trying to be healthy? Yeah, I know that feeling, too. Fortunately for you (and by "you", I clearly mean "me"), I found this great recipe over on the Eating Well site called "One Nutty Date" that is absolutely mah-velous. They are healthy and, equally as important, easy to make. Oh, and I discovered that today's "Natural" peanut butter is not the same as that "Natural" peanut butter from days of yore. Today's actually tastes like peanut butter. How cool is that? Anyway, here's the recipe.

Enjoy.

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She Said:

Well, there's peanut butter. Right off the bat, I'm sold. Although, I do have to say that I'm not normally a "peanut butter cookie" fan so much, but these have so much more going for them - plus that great taste of peanut butter - they were an instant hit with me.

They have dates. Dates. I'm not sure I've ever even had dates before. But you know what? I like 'em! In fact, they're mostly texture - not a whole lot of overwhelming flavor.

I wasn't sure I was going to like the cinnamon with the peanut butter but all of these separate flavors all work very well together. The white chocolate drizzle is a must. (We, ignorantly, used those things they call "white chocolate morsels", 'cause the recipe called for white chocolate chips - silly us - and then found out later that they are actually pseudo-white-chocolate and we'd have been better off chopping up some real white chocolate to use, but, oh well - it tasted good anyway!)

Based on Weight Watchers standards, these puppies are 2 points each but they are delicious and satisfying and you will probably be able to stop at one or two (at a sitting, that is!). You will be back for more later, though. I promise.