An easy recipe for an addictive healthy treat!
With barely a week left until Valentine’s Day, my guy discovered that he accidentally agreed to work from 4:30-10:30 the night of February 14th. With a dinner date completely out of the question, we decided to improvise. Instead of rescheduling our romantic evening for a day or two later, we bought spur-of-the-moment tickets to see the San Jose Sharks, our favorite hockey team, play in their final game before the Winter Olympic Break.
We rarely follow the rules when holidays roll around.
So the Friday before, we hopped in the car and carefully drove 2+ hours in the pouring rain to the arena. Despite the clogged freeways full of people careening home during rush hour, we cruised right along in the carpool lane and still arrived with enough time to use the restroom, find our section, and sneak a few photos. (Okay, that last one was just me… My guy really dislikes having his picture taken and seldom smiles for the camera unless at a sporting event!)
We settled into our seats, bundled up in our festive Valentine’s Day colors—black and teal sweatshirts and jerseys—with our special souvenir soda cups, ready for the puck to drop. Along with our 17,000 closest friends, we cheered, booed, applauded, and shouted our way through the first 20 minutes of play, waving our arms like lunatics imitating our mascot’s shark jaws during power plays and pumping our fists in the air for goals.
After building a lead in the first period, the next 2 flew by quickly, other than losing the circulation in a few of my fingers for a couple of minutes due to gripping my soda cup too tightly… But that provided the perfect excuse to hold hands on our date while my guy sweetly warmed them up for me! And against all of the unwritten rulebooks prohibiting it, he thoughtfully bought extra crispy garlic fries to munch on for our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner later in the game.
We drove home a very happy couple, basking in the joy of the Sharks’ victory and spending an entire evening together away from work and chores.
Back in my kitchen, our fun twist on Valentine’s Day inspired me to create a whimsical, outside-the-box treat to share with you all. After a few nights of intense cravings for both breakfast and dessert, I decided on a mishmash of two of my favorite goodies:
Scones + Cookies = Scookies!
With the adorable appearance of miniature bite-size cookies, these Clean Chocolate Chunk Scookies taste just like scones: subtly sweet, incredibly moist, and completely bursting with decadent dark chocolate. Despite their classic buttery comforting taste, they’re secretly healthy, so you won’t actually feel guilty when you give in to the temptation of popping the whole batch into your mouth!
To make these scookies clean-eating friendly, I used whole wheat flour. It provides extra fiber and nutrients, but you can barely taste it! Even with its reputation for turning baked goodies dense and dry, these whole wheat treats still turned out unbelievably light and moist. If you don’t have any, you can substitute all-purpose flour instead.
I only added 1 tablespoon of butter to this entire recipe. Traditional scones depend on nearly 4-8 times as much to stay moist, but I turned to another secret ingredient instead. (Hang on, I’ll reveal it in a minute!) Unlike creaming or melting softened butter for cookies, scones require cutting chilled butter into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter. I recently bought an inexpensive pastry cutter at Walmart for less than $3, and it has been worth every penny! It created the perfect small buttery nuggets for these scookies, so I highly recommend buying one. (You can use it for making pie crusts too!)
Now for my secret ingredient… Greek yogurt! As a huge staple in healthier baking, it adds tons of moisture without the excess fat and calories of butter and oil. Plus Greek yogurt contains around 5 times as much protein as regular yogurt, making it a tasty way to sneak in some extra nutrients! I added ¼ cup into these scookies, just like with my favorite scone recipe, and many readers have called those scones the lightest, moistest ones they’ve ever had. Trust me; the Greek yogurt works magic!
Similar to scones, these low fat scookies are not overly sweet. They contain NO refined sugar, which most scone recipes typically include, and depend on a touch of maple syrup instead. I added just enough to taste to prevent them from tasting like plain bread, but not enough to send you into a sugar coma.
And now for the most important part: dark chocolate! If possible, chop up a dark chocolate bar (70% or 72% is best) instead of turning to chocolate chips. Chocolate chips contain a stabilizer that prevents them from completely melting, but chopping up a bar ensures that the dark chocolate melts and oozes a little more. You want to cut the chocolate rather small—no larger than miniature chocolate chips—to guarantee that every bite contains chocolate. And save a few chunks to press into the tops to give them a pretty finishing touch!
To create that characteristic lightly crusty scone exterior, lightly brush the tops with a mixture of milk and maple syrup. You’ll bake them at a fairly high temperature to form a small layer of caramelization on the scones’ surfaces. It’s basically the best part!
Like I mentioned in my last recipe, I almost always give away most of the treats I bake once I’ve sampled a few. But after inviting my guy to try one of these Clean Chocolate Chunk Scookies, I ate the remaining 15 all by myself—they’re that addictive! The sweet crisp exterior, the tender crumb inside, and the rich dark chocolate chunks convinced me to keep nibbling on one after another.
If you’re like me, these are bound to be your new favorite breakfast, snack, and guilt-free treat for any time of day!
These taste subtly sweet like scones but have the adorable appearance of miniature cookies! They’re incredibly light and moist, studded with decadent dark chocolate. Store any leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter. Mix in the yogurt, 4 ½ teaspoons of milk, 4 teaspoons of maple syrup, and vanilla. Fold in 3 ½ teaspoons of the chocolate.
- Divide the dough into 16 small balls, and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon of milk and 1/8 teaspoon of maple syrup, and lightly brush on the tops of the scookies. Press the remaining ½ teaspoon of chocolate chunks into the tops. Bake at 425°F for 10-11 minutes. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Note: This recipe is easily doubled!
I am a fan now!
Love the s cookies. Kids can’t get enough of them.
Used honey instead of maple syrup.
Thanks.
Shabnam
If instead of 16 balls, I made them into 4 cookies, how should I adjust temperature and baking time?
Thanks…I’m absolutely new to baking.
Shabnam
I’m so happy you and your kids enjoyed my scookies Shabnam! If making them into 4 larger scookies, I usually shape them fairly round instead of flattening them out. They should still bake at 425°F, but they’ll probably need 12-15 minutes instead. Look for a light golden brown on the outside, and the if you gently touch the tops, they should feel somewhat firm. I hope that helps!
This is my new obsession, such a simple recipe so I substitute the chocolates chips for anything I have in the cupboard! Thanks so much for this! So easy especially for someone who can’t bake like me 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Jenna! I’d love to hear what else you substitute for chocolate chips — I love fun twists! 🙂
Hi, I made these today and was pleasantly surprised at the delicious taste considering how low in calories they are! I’d love to see more “scookies” recipes with different ingredients.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the scookies Renee! I’ll definitely keep that in mind when creating recipes to publish on my blog in the future! 🙂
Dear Amy, I just made those (using whole wheat pastry flour) into 8 bigger scookies (that I baked for 12 min) and I must say they are just DIVINE !!
I feel so blessed that I found this recipe (as it seems older and a little harder to find), it’s like discovering a hidden secret ????
You truly are a genious ❤️
You’re just the sweetest Caty!! I’m SO glad you loved these treats too! ❤️ You’re completely right, I do have quite a few older recipes… I’ve been blogging for 9+ years and counting, which is so hard to believe! I think I’ve shared 1200+ recipes over the years, so I probably have a lot of these “hidden gem” type recipes that don’t see the light of day very often! 😉 I need to go back and remake some of them — thank you for the reminder and inspiration to do that!!
Wow, 9 years, that’s awesome !
Oh yes you should, you’ll see what a genius you were already ????
It’s definitely something I’ll make several times, they’re sooo good !
Thank you again ????
Would you recommend to store them in the fridge to make them a last a little longer or should I keep them at room temperature as mentioned ?
Awww you’re too sweet to call me a genius Caty — I’m honored!! Thank you, lovely lady! ♡ Yes, if you store them in the fridge, they’ll definitely last longer than on the counter! I’d guess they’d keep for at least one week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, if not longer!
Thank you !
You’re welcome Caty! 🙂
Can I substitute granulated sugar instead of maple syrup in the dough and on top?
Yes! For the maple syrup that goes in the dough, substitute 4 teaspoons (16g) of granulated sugar. Then instead of adding granulated sugar to the milk to brush over the top, just brush the tops with milk and then sprinkle with granulated sugar afterward. (It’s easier and creates a slightly better texture!) 🙂
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these, Sue! It means the world to me that you’ve been trying so many of my recipes!! ♡