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!
These healthy cookies are incredibly soft & chewy! The fresh strawberries add a sweet bright note, while the dark chocolate give them an irresistible decadence. Store any leftovers between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container for up to a week.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey, mixing until thoroughly combined. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Reserve ½ tablespoon of the strawberries and 1 tablespoon of the chopped chocolate, and fold the rest into the cookie dough. Chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- Drop the dough into 15 rounded scoops on the prepared baking sheet. (If chilled for longer than 1.5 hours, flatten slightly.) Gently press the reserved strawberries and chocolate chunks into the tops. Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. (If the cookies threaten to break apart when transferring after 15 minutes, let them cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet.)
Notes: Unsalted butter may be substituted in place of the coconut oil.
Try to cut the strawberries and chocolate into chunks about the size of miniature chocolate chips. This ensures there’s a piece of each in every bite!
Oh Amy I am so sorry for all that hassle, but these cookies?! YUM! Can not wait to try them, thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Emma! I’m really excited to hear what you think of the cookies. They definitely helped cheer me up during the internet mishaps!
I’m sorry you’ve had trouble with your internet. After an ice storm in NC, I was without it for three days and I didn’t know what to do! I’m sure it wasn’t so bad for you since you had a batch of these delicious looking cookies! I’ve never had cookies with strawberries, but I’ll be trying these soon 🙂
Oh Megan, that sounds absolutely awful! An ice storm and no internet?? I’d be crying nonstop! This was my first time trying strawberries in cookies too, and I absolutely fell in love. You’re right — the cookies did make the situation a lot better!
Oh Amy! You had quite a time (and I hope yo are feeling better now)!
I get incredibly stressed when the internet goes down as well! And … just like you, I have overactive tear ducts! 🙂 Pretty sure I tear up at least once a day – it’s usually a sweet commercial or something cute my kids do. But yes, overactive indeed!
The cookies you’ve made look divine, and the fact that these are skinny – fabulous! My oldest will love these for sure – these cookies are almost like a chocolate-covered strawberry!
Gretchen, you’re brilliant! I hadn’t even thought of chocolate-covered strawberries when baking these, but you’re absolutely right. They do taste like them, with a cookie to boot! 🙂 I’m so glad I’m not the only one whose tear ducts are overachievers. We could keep Kleenex in business with just the two of us!
Isn’t Comcast the greatest? *Insert sarcasm here*! I always have issues with them too, and they are never the friendliest, either! But I’m glad you got that all settled and hope you are feeling better. These cookies look delicious! Another recipe where I can try my hand at whole wheat flour, love it!
Thanks Gayle! If you can ever get transferred over to Customer Service at Comcast, the people there are a lot friendlier. They aren’t necessarily following a script, so they can be super sympathetic! I really hope you enjoy the cookies too! 🙂
Ohhh don’t feel bad about crying! I lost cable in my basement (due to a TiVo/Comcast communication error) but not anywhere else in the house, and I was absolutely sobbing on the phone! I can only imagine what the rep on the other end must have thought of me…
We probably had the same rep Erin! Your situation sounds a lot harder to figure out too. At least with ours, we could dig up the pieces of cable outside. Hope your cable crisis is all sorted out now! (And that you get your Walkers cookies soon too! 🙂 )
Ugh I am SO SORRY! No internet SUCKS. And I’m sorry but making you wait so long? RIDICULOUS. /rant
I love these cookies!! 🙂
Thanks Dorothy! And ohhhh my gosh… I was so upset when they cancelled the appointment! It was the day of your tornado warning, and we had actually planned to go out that night and get our own coaxial cable to replace the shredded one. I was still a little scared of getting blown away like the other Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz! 😉
Oh no!! What a terrible couple of days- so sorry love! I love how you can always count on Mom to work a little magic. 😉 these cookies look incredible!! Oh, melty chocolate, how I love thee!
Thank you Andrea!! What would we do without our mothers… And our entire families?? They’re our biggest support systems; I can’t imagine life without them!
UGH internet troubles are awful, but ESPECIALLY for a food blogger!! I probably would have eaten all the dough and pouted in the corner if that happened to me. HA! These cookies look wonderful, strawberries don’t get enough love in cookies these days!
Thanks Brittany! I was literally shoving cookies in my mouth to deal with the stress. Thankfully I was too tired to make it past 3 and fell asleep! 😉 I agree, we need more cookies with strawberries. The flavor combinations are endless!
I made these with King Arthur Flour’s gluten-free measure for measure AP flour. The cookies really do get puffy and fluffy, so I’d recommend less than 3/4 tsp of baking powder. Also, remember to actually add the reserved chopped strawberries and chocolate right before baking – I forgot to, and therefore my cookie experience wasn’t optimal. Overall, they tasted good and I would make them again, I’d just remember the last step and modify the baking powder amount.
It means a lot that you tried my recipe, Heather! That’s so odd that yours turned out so puffy. I haven’t had that happen before, so I’d love to help figure out why that was! In order to do so, I have some questions for you. 🙂
Other than the King Arthur GF flour, did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons for all of the ingredients? (Especially the flour and honey!)
Did you use the full amount of honey?
How long did you chill your cookie dough?
How much did you flatten the cookie dough before baking (if at all!)?
How much did the cookies spread while baking?
How was their texture? Was it more cakey and bread-like, or were they really soft and chewy?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit once I know your answers to all of them!
Thank you for these health-consious inspirations
You’re welcome! 🙂