It's week #16 of my 2018 challenge to try one new whole-food plant-based (WFPB) recipe each week. This recipe is delicious and much healthier than traditional chocolate chip cookies, which are loaded with butter and processed white flour.

I found this recipe in The Engine 2 Cookbook by Rip and Jane Esselstyn. Rip and Jane are two children of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a renowned scientist and surgeon who has done a lot of work in researching how diet can prevent and reverse chronic diseases. His work was featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives. 

What I like about this recipe (besides the fact that it's healthier):

• It's chocolate chip cookies! :)
• Kids love to make cookies. It's a great way to spend time together. 
• My kids loved them. We ended up making a second batch, and my daughter took them to school on her snack day. 

What I ended up using/doing:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour (Made by putting old-fashioned oats in the food processor until it reaches flour consistency. It will take about 2 cups of old-fashioned oats to make 1 1/2 cups oat flour.)
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup nondairy dark chocolate chips (I couldn't find nondairy chocolate chips in my grocery store, so I picked up the ones with highest cocoa percentage I could find.) The chocolate chips can be added to the dough or placed on top of the cookies before baking them. 
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup 100% pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter (I used peanut butter.)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Note: This is a double batch. The recipe also calls for raisins (1/2 cup for a batch this size), but my kids don't like raisins in cookies, so I left them out. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix above ingredients until combined well (I just used a spoon to do this). 
3. Scoop onto a baking sheet (about 1 Tbsp in size). You can scoop them into balls if you prefer thicker/chewier cookies, or you can flatten them out for thinner/crispier cookies. 
4. Bake until lightly browned, about 12-15 minutes. I used a baking stone. Mine took 15 minutes. 
5. Enjoy!

RECIPES Page

This post was originally published on April 21, 2018.