Taste Test #2 By The Tweenagers – Low-Fat Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Before I forget, I need to give you an update on my recent post about the plate method for diabetics.  My sister Tina commented that for the DM plate method, you should add a fruit and a glass of low-fat milk.  A fellow blogger (Cindy) also suggested a tool kit for the portion-challenged; Tina thought it was a good product, so I’m sharing.  Note:  I do not own these nor have I ever used them; however, I do have a few leftover scoops from my Weight Watcher days and the tools are helpful.  The product line is called Healthy Steps; the Amazon link is here.

Now back to your regular program…

Following the chocolate theme, I’m eager to test a recipe for low-fat chocolate chip cookies from about.com.  The recipe calls for mini chocolate chips and I thought that was a brilliant substitution.  Less volume, but more pieces so you don’t feel as if you’re eating a skimpy chocolate chip cookie!  (I’m an optimist)!

There’s still butter, but not as much.  I compared the standard toll house recipe I use (literally, the one on the back of the Nestle chips bag) to see what changed:

Comparing the last two columns with identical yields, you can see that the amount of fat is decreased through less butter, no egg yolk, less chocolate chips and substituting some of the chips for cocoa powder.  The Nestle recipe has 147 g fat; the low-fat chocolate chocolate chip recipe has 65 g fat.  That’s more than 50% less fat; it will be interesting to see how the texture and flavor of these low-fat treats rate with the guys.

You make them just like the originals:

Preheat the oven and line two cookie sheets with parchment (I use reusable thin silicone mats).  Cream the butter with the two sugars:

The mix is definitely not as creamy as usual.

Add the vanilla and egg; mix.

The mixture loosens up significantly with the egg white and vanilla; I’m less freaked out now about the dough texture.

Whisk the dry stuff (flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda) in a medium bowl.

It looks like a lot of dry for so little wet…

Add the dry stuff to the butter mixture and mix together.  I used the mixer to do this.

The dough is very dense, like playdoh! I am worried now.

Stir in the mini chips.

It was more like mashing than stirring them into the dough!

The dough is very stiff (way more than chocolate chip cookie dough) and looks like this:

The dough was the consistency of my molasses cookie dough AFTER it’s been in the fridge for an hour!

The original recipe says to drop by the teaspoon, but the dough was so stiff I rolled them into little balls and flattened them slightly with my fingers.

Flattened because I was worried they wouldn’t spread and I’d have weird chocolate balls!

The recipe says to bake for 8 to 10 minutes; for my oven, the edges were set (firm to the touch) at 9 1/2 minutes.  I’m glad I flattened them slightly as they didn’t spread much!  Let the cookies cool for 1 minute on the pan, then remove cookies to a rack to cool.

The chocolate aroma wafted throughout the house. No wonder the tweenies came up the stairs in search of another round!

By the time these were in the oven, Ken and his posse were well established in the man-cave, doing whatever tweenagers do.  They became my instant taste test focus group.  I handed out a round of cookies and asked them to tell me if they liked them the same as, more than or less than chocolate chip cookies.  All four gave me a resounding “BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!”

I had one, too, and it was pretty tasty; I may even want to cut back a bit on the sugar.  Kurt’s concern is that with so little fat, these cookies could get rock hard, so I’ll have to stash a few away to see how they fare after a few days– but I think I’ve found two new recipes that can stand up to my regular baking routine!

My yield was a bit more than 30– yet this was all I had left!