Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

 

Last Tuesday morning, I groggily rolled out of bed and slipped into a set of workout clothes. With peppy pop songs blasting, I lunged, calf-raised, and high-kneed to the up-tempo beats before eventually pausing the music to give my legs a break and finish with a few of my favorite quick YouTube ab videos. Our sluggish Internet refused to load them, so I switched off the WiFi on my phone, raced through the exercises, and reset the modem before hopping in the shower.  

 

Squeaky clean with a banana in hand, I logged onto my computer to check email, but the browser window greeted me with a blank gray screen and its standard, “You are not connected to the Internet” message. After un- and re-plugging both the modem and router into the wall 10 more times, I admitted defeat and called Comcast.

 

 

The employee on the other end of the line prompted me to do the same reset routine, and after about 20 minutes of her puzzling through her manuscript prompts, I finally convinced her that since the TV failed to display any channels as well, the problem must stem from the box outside the house. She sounded relieved that I solved the mystery and promised to send a technician to show up the following afternoon.

 

From our scheduled appointment time of 2-4 pm on Wednesday, I stuck to my cell phone like superglue, checking the screen every 5 minutes like a boy-crazy teenage girl, but… It never rang. I dialed the Comcast 1-800 number again, and a different employee reported that the technician called and cancelled the appointment since I failed to answer the phone. When I requested to hear the number he phoned, the employee recited my mom’s cell back at me—not my phone number I had left the day before.

 

 

Tear welled up in my eyes. Two whole day of blogging gone—POOF!—just like that. Eventually the uncomfortable employee transferred me over to Customer Support, where another man reported that the next available appointment was on Saturday at 7:30 am. That meant another two days without Internet… A total of four days of blogging… No new posts, no responding to comments, nothing.

 

Upon hanging up, I dialed my mom, practically bawling like a baby. (I have self-proclaimed overactive tear ducts. They release water on a regular basis.) She reassured me that she’d call Comcast again, and 20 minutes later, my phone rang. Mom worked her motherly magic and escalated my case—the technician should arrive the next day!

 

 

After battling some random sickness and a scratchy throat for the same two days, my nauseous stomach woke me up at 7 am on Thursday morning, and I spent some quality time getting acquainted with the porcelain toilet bowl and the cool tiled bathroom floor. By a lucky twist of fate, the Comcast technician called to confirm our escalated appointment during that time and showed up a couple of minutes later.

 

When I answered the door, I explained that we solved the mystery: our neighbors hacked our TV/Internet cable to smithereens while ripping out their landscaping next to our shared fence. The tech worked silently for a long half hour to splice the cable, and he informed us that another team would need to come the following week to bury it back in the ground… But this time, it’d be covered with protective shielding to prevent any stray pick axes from chopping through it again.

 

No Internet and the first cancelled appointment weren’t exactly fun mid-week surprises…

 

 

But these Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies contain a much sweeter one! Fresh juicy berries and decadent dark chocolate chunks stud the surface of these irresistible honey-sweetened treats. Every bite fills your palate with warm comforting flavors.

 

The surprise? These are skinny and clean-eating friendly—aka they contain NO butter, refined flour, or refined sugar! They still taste like regular soft and chewy cookies—none of that dense, cakey “healthy cookie” business—and they’re less than 100 calories each. Go ahead and indulge… You won’t feel an ounce of guilt afterwards!

 

 

This easy recipe uses entirely whole wheat flour. Because whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than regular all-purpose, be extra careful to measure it correctly! Maintain a light hand with the spoon-and-level method to ensure your cookies turn out soft and chewy. (For a more detailed refresher, check out my Baking Basics!)

 

Before mixing them together, bring both the melted coconut oil and egg to room temperature. Coconut oil converts back to a solid at a fairly low temperature, so combining it with a chilled egg straight from the fridge results in tiny chunks of re-solidified coconut oil. Not good!

 

Tip: Melt the coconut oil first, before measuring out any of the dry ingredients. Immediately after, place the egg in a bowl of warm water (60-80°F). By the time you whisk together the dry ingredients, both the coconut oil and egg will be at the correct temperature!

 

 

Dice both the strawberries and dark chocolate to about the size of miniature chocolate chips. By cutting them smaller, it ensures you taste one in every bite! For the prettiest presentation, reserve a few chunks of each for gently pressing into the tops of the cookie dough just before baking. It gives them a really tempting allure!

 

Note: I only tried fresh strawberries in this recipe. I’m not entirely certain whether frozen would work since they generally contain more moisture. If you choose to try frozen, I’d recommend thawing them first for best results.

 

 

Chilling is mandatory. Pop the bowl into the fridge for at least 30 minutes; that gives you plenty of time to wash the dishes and preheat the oven! The cookie dough is already very moist from the honey, and the fresh strawberries release more liquid as they bake. If you skip the chilling, you’ll end up with one big cookie blob on the baking tray. (Yes, that happened to me!)

 

To further prevent the cookies from spreading into their neighbors, shape the dough into tall rounded scoops. You can even make them taller than they are wide—or spherical if possible! Even after chilling, the cookies still try to spread, so they’ll form that big blob on the baking sheet if you flatten the cookie dough at all. Taller is better!

 

 

Due to the honey, we bake these cookies at a lower temperature and longer than many of my other recipes: 325°F for 13-15 minutes. They will still look and feel underdone—that’s good! It’s my special secret to extra chewy cookies that stay soft for an entire week: underbake them slightly, then leave them on the warm cookie sheet for at least 15 minutes. The centers continue to cook through without the outsides turning crisp and crunchy. If they cookies start to tear as you lift them off the parchment paper, just walk away and let them cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet.

 

 

Got milk? ♥

 

Sweet and skinny, these healthy Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies are guaranteed to brighten your day with their fresh juicy berries and decadent melty chocolate. Incredibly soft and unbelievably chewy, they’re basically irresistible—I always sneak two (or three) at a time!

 

You definitely need to bake a batch—and don’t forget to enter the Immaculate Baking Giveaway too!

 

 

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