The year after I graduated from college, I stood in my kitchen with the recipe for these fudgy triple chocolate cookies in front of me, preparing to bake them as Christmas gifts. I pulled out my mixing bowls and the ingredients, and I started playing festive holiday music in the background on my laptop.
I sang along with the carols as I measured and whisked together the flour and cocoa powder, but when I went to melt the butter, a brilliant gift idea for someone in my family popped into my head. Without a pen or pencil handy, I repeated the thought over and over in my head so I wouldn’t forget it…
But that meant I completely lost track of what recipe step I was on, so I added the flour mixture to the melted butter before stirring in the sugar. Five seconds later, I realized that baking truly is just like math… The order of operations really matters!
Sugar dissolves in melted butter, which creates more “liquid” in your mixing bowl. When you add the flour after the sugar, there’s enough “liquid” in the bowl to incorporate all of the flour (and cocoa powder, in that particular recipe!). However, if you add the flour first… You end up with an incredibly dry and crumbly mess. And adding the sugar after doesn’t help one bit. Oops.
Although I had to start all over with that particular batch of cookies, I’ve never forgotten the order of {baking} operations I learned that day… And that comes in really handy when making one-bowl baking recipes, like these Healthy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies!
If you remember to follow the order of ingredient additions (like I always do now!), then you’ll end up with supremely soft and chewy cookies that taste just as sweet and buttery as traditional cookie recipes. Yet these healthy chocolate chip cookies contain no eggs, refined flour or refined sugar—and only 100 calories!
One bowl, minimal clean up, perfectly chewy low calorie cookies… Definitely the best kind of recipe! Life doesn’t get much better than this! 😉
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Let’s go over how to make the best healthy chocolate chip cookies!
The first ingredient you’ll add to your bowl is melted butter (or melted coconut oil!). I prefer melted butter for two reasons: (a) I don’t need to remember to set out the butter to properly soften and (b) melted butter creates more soft and chewy cookies. Since that’s the way I prefer my healthy chocolate chip cookies, extremely soft and chewy, I definitely love the melted butter trick!
Tip: Stick-style vegan butter will also work!
Next you’ll add a bit of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Any milk will work! Nonfat milk, reduce fat milk, whole milk, cashew milk (another one of my favorites!), coconut milk, oat milk, rice milk… You name it. Since some of my family members are lactose-intolerant and always keep unsweetened almond milk on hand, I used that dairy free milk so they could eat these healthy chocolate chip cookies, too.
Tip: The milk actually replaces the eggs used in many traditional recipes, so these healthy chocolate chip cookies are egg free, dairy free, and vegan!
The vanilla extract is actually a semi-secret ingredient! This is because you’ll add slightly more vanilla extract to your cookie dough compared to traditional recipes. Vanilla extract enhances butter’s rich flavor, so adding a little extra makes your healthy chocolate chip cookies taste just as rich and buttery as traditional recipes!
After you’ve whisked those together, you’ll stir in coconut sugar (like this!). Coconut sugar is exactly what it sounds like: an unrefined sweetener that comes from coconuts! However, it does not actually taste like coconuts. It has a rich caramel-like flavor, similar to brown sugar, but it pours like granulated sugar. It works really well in baking recipes like these healthy chocolate chip cookies (plus cinnamon rolls and brownies too!).
Since you’ve now mixed in the coconut sugar (remember from my cookie disaster story how important that is?), it’s time to add in the white whole wheat flour (this kind!) and baking soda. By waiting until now, you’ll definitely end up with the correct cookie dough texture—and therefore supremely soft and chewy healthy chocolate chip cookies!
White whole wheat flour isn’t actually a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour! It’s made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They have the same healthy benefits, but this gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture… And that lets the soft and chewy texture of your healthy one-bowl chocolate chip cookies truly shine!
Tip: I’ve included my favorite gluten free options in the Notes section of the recipe, if you’d like to make these healthy chocolate chip cookies gluten free!
Time for the chocolate chips! You’ll mix in both dark chocolate chips (these taste delicious!) and mini chocolate chips (these are my favorite!). I love combining the two! The regular-sized dark chocolate chips add a big burst of melty chocolate, while the mini ones ensure that every bite contains a bit of chocolate. Yum!
One last thing! Chilling is mandatory for this healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe. The cookie dough should be very loose and sticky when you first mix it together. If you tried to bake it right away, you’d end up with one gigantic cookie blob on your baking sheet! Chilling stiffens the cookie dough, so it’s easier to work with and your cookies spread the proper amount.
And as soon as your timer dings…
Try not to burn your tongue when you eat one fresh from the oven! 😉 And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy chocolate chip cookies!
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 3 tbsp (45mL) unsweetened vanilla almond milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (96g) coconut sugar
- 1 cup (120g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp (28g) dark chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp (14g) miniature chocolate chips (divided)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the coconut sugar. Add the flour mixture, and sprinkle the baking soda evenly over the flour (to prevent clumps). Stir in the flour and baking soda just until incorporated. Fold in the dark chocolate chips and ½ tablespoon of miniature chocolate chips. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet using a spoon and a spatula. Slightly flatten using a spatula. (The cookies should spread some if there isn’t too much flour in the dough!) Gently press the remaining miniature chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 9-12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Cookie Bars (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Fudgy Chocolate Chip Brownies (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy Practically Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (egg free & dairy free too!)
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Fudgy Chocolate Chunk Brownies
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy cookie recipes and healthy one-bowl recipes!
I tried this recipe and it turned out really good. Thanks for the recipe.
I tried this, and it was great! Most buttery cookies I’ve ever had, despite only having 2 tbsp…. am I dreaming! Yum! Ate like…. 3 in a sitting. Addictive and low calorie… thanks for sharing!
Can I use only honey instead of the coconut sugar?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Lola! Unfortunately, that doesn’t quite work. Honey adds too much liquid to the cookie dough, so it’d have the consistency of muffin batter instead of cookie dough. The cookies wouldn’t hold their shape, and they’d likely end up with a cakey or bready texture too.
However, I’ve used honey in this chocolate chip cookie recipe! Maybe that recipe would be a slightly better fit for you? 🙂
If you end up making either recipe, I’d love to hear what you think of your chocolate chip cookies!