These healthier oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have NO sugar, NO white flour, and only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch! They are the perfect way to satisfy your mad chocolate cravings when you are supposed to be losing holiday pounds. Originally posted January 12, 2016.
Table of Contents
- You will love these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Healthy Cookies
- Are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy?
- Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
- How to make Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
- How to store Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe FAQs
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Recipe
- Other Amazing Recipes to Love!
I saw this bumper sticker today: “How’s my driving? Shoot me a text.” HA!
So my best friend Sarah announced on Facebook yesterday that she had just spent 4 hours creating the “Daniel Craig in Casino Royale 6 Week Meal Plan” as requested by her husband, and if anyone wanted a copy they could shoot her an email. (Click HERE if you want to see it! Thanks Sarah!) It is exactly what it sounds like: 40 days of meals similar to what Daniel Craig ate while training to be James Bond.
Eric and I were talking later and he was wondering if he should do it. I said no, I prefer soft bellies actually (mine included, most importantly). And I also said, “Daniel Craig is like 65 and not cute. Like a grandpa. But with abs. It’s disturbing.”
And he said, “You’re just wrong, Karen. Daniel Craig is legitimately hot.”
Well there you go, Daniel Craig. You win today. I think my husband has a man-crush on you.
But really, am I the only one?? Pierce Brosnan made a much sexier James Bond if you ask me.
Are you following a diet or any kind of meal plan this January? I had plans. But I also just ate 2 cookies, so…
You will love these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Healthy Cookies
But at least they were healthy-ish ones! My friend Amy from Amy’s Healthy Baking wrote a book all about Healthier Chocolate Treats and this is one of her recipes. How cool is that?? She is so talented. Her blog is all about healthy baking. Definitely check her out!
These skinny oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are perfect for January! (Or anyone who’s trying to look like Daniel Craig…) They are moist and lightly spiced with cinnamon.
Seriously, you can’t beat a cookie made from scratch and I’m not just talking about taste. These are no store-bought treat made of low-quality carbs and unhealthy fats stripped of nutrients during processing and preservation. No! The first ingredient alone, oats, is considered to be one of the healthiest whole grains out there, chock full of important vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants! And that brings me to a good question.
Are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy?
Um . . . what even is healthy? Okay, I’m joking, but actually it’s good to step back now and again to think about what healthy means.
“Healthy” basically boils down to two things:
- Calorie in versus calorie out. Balance. If you are eating fewer calories per day than you use, your body is still getting the daily calories it needs by burning excess fat, assuming you have excess fat. Otherwise, you are starving your body.
Bottom line, if your body isn’t getting your necessary calories somehow, you’re not eating healthy.
2. High-quality nutrients. Food doesn’t just provide energy (calories), it also provides the building blocks of life (nutrients). Variety matters. I don’t care how “healthy” kale is, eat nothing but kale every day and you will not get all your nutrients.
Bottom line, eating a wide variety of foods is the only way to get all those wonderful macro and micro nutrients.
So? The skinny on skinny oatmeal cookies? Are they healthy?
Folks, the good news is homemade oatmeal cookies can be a part of a healthy diet! The bad news is they have to be a small part of a healthy diet. (I hate it when there’s a catch.)
Like I said above, these cookies have nutrients aplenty. But with all those nutrients comes a lot of calories, all inside a little cookie. When big calories come in small packages, you don’t feel full fast and that can lead to excess eating. One of the best things about this better-option cookie recipe is that it only makes 12-15 cookies, which helps to keep portions under control.
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Here’s all you need! (Quantities given in recipe below.) These cookies are built on pantry essentials, win!
- Quick oats. While you can substitute old fashioned oats, I don’t recommend it (see below.)
- Whole wheat flour. Substitute white flour if you want!
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Kosher salt. Substitute table salt if necessary, but use a little less.
- Butter. Salted or unsalted butter is fine.
- Vanilla
- Large eggs
- Honey
- Dark chocolate chips
- Optional: raisins, craisins, or toasted walnuts (yum!)
What’s the difference between quick oats and regular oats?
Oats are one of the healthiest whole grains, and that includes quick oats, one of the ingredients in these cookies. Quick oats are smaller, drier, flakier, and more processed than old fashioned rolled oats. (They are partially cooked and then dried. Good news, quick oats are still a whole grain.) Unless you’re in a pinch, use quick oats for this recipe. They absorb moisture and take on a softer, cookie-er texture than old fashioned rolled oats.
How to make Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Now for the best part: baking! Here’s a simple overview of what to do and what to watch out for. (Step-by-step instructions given in the recipe below.)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
Mix dry ingredients together: oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Make sure you spoon and level your flour. I always do it with two measuring cups. Scoop with one cup, dump it in the one you need, then level off with the top of the measuring cup.
In a separate bowl, melt the butter. Whisk in the vanilla, then the egg. Whisk in the honey.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until it has just come together. Don’t overdo it, over mixing makes for tough cookies. (Then wipe out the bowl you used for your dry ingredients and toss it back in your cupboard!)
Save out about half of the chocolate chips. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the remaining chocolate, then fold it into the dough.
The chocolate chips are divided: half in the dough, half jammed into the warm cookies after baking for maximum showiness. If showiness isn’t your thing today, own it. Toss all the chips in the dough with reckless abandon.
Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, or freeze for about 15 minutes. Don’t skip this step! Yes, we’re modern humans. Yes, we’re pressed for time. Yes, Daniel Craig has multiple action scenes as James Bond available on YouTube for you to consume while waiting 30 minutes. Chilling this lower-calorie cookie dough helps mimic the higher-calorie cookie texture and shape.
Shape the dough into about 12-15 cookies, depending on how much dough you ate. (What, just me?? I mean who can say no to this goodness??) Place on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12-13 minutes, or until they have juuust started to brown on the edges.
Remove from the oven and immediately press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. They will melt immediately into pools of dark glory.
Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
How to store Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yes! In fact, try freezing single-serve portions before you let this buttery softness hit your tastebuds to better manage your waistline. Just let the cookies cool completely and toss them single-layered inside a ziplock. Squeeze out extra air. Voila, tomorrow’s treat, done today!
Another option is to freeze the dough itself. Spoon the dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (or a plate) and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. Place frozen dough balls into a labeled, freezer-safe storage bag. No need to thaw! Bake them straight from frozen, tacking on a couple minutes to the bake time. Freshly baked cookies, anytime you want!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe FAQs
Chilling cookie dough gives the finished cookie much chewier texture (not to mention great flavor). These cookies get (at least) 30 minutes of chilling time.
Melted butter also makes for chewier cookies, so the small amount we’re using here is getting melted.
It’s also important to measure ingredients correctly: you can improvise in cooking, but in baking, it’s best to stick with the given amounts to get the desired texture. Too much flour can straight up ruin an otherwise perfect cookie!
The most important step to preventing hard cookies happens before the cookies are even baked. DO NOT add too much flour!
I always use the “fluff and scoop” method. I fluff up the flour with a spoon, then use the same spoon to scoop it gently into the measuring cup before leveling it off. This recipe for healthier oatmeal cookies doesn’t call for too much flour, so you don’t have to worry too much.
You’ll also want to keep your cookies in an airtight container. If you’re going to have them around for more than 2-3 days, I recommend freezing them. That way you can pop one in the microwave anytime you need a treat.
Traditional oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made with a heck ton of butter. If you put a stick of butter in the oven, it’s going to bake flat, right? Same thing will happen to your cookies if you don’t have the right balance of ingredients. If you are looking for some amazing (traditional, full-fat) oatmeal cookies that don’t bake flat, check out my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies or these Very Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
For today’s skinny cookie recipe, this is not going to be a problem for you at all! These are low fat cookies. There are only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch. You are not going to have a problem with these cookies baking flat! Just make sure you follow the instructions to chill the dough before baking.
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick oats
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (scant)
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Pull out 2 medium bowls, one for dry ingredients, one for wet.
- In one bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Melt the butter in the other bowl. You don’t have to melt it all the way, if there are a couple lumps it’s okay. Let cool slightly.
- Whisk in the vanilla, then the egg. Whisk in the honey.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir until it has just come together (don't overdo it).
- Save out about half of the chocolate chips. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the remaining chocolate, then fold it into the dough.
- Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, or freeze for about 15 minutes.
- Use your hands to shape the dough into roughly 15 cookies (or 12 if you eat a lot of dough like me…)
- Place on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes, or until they have just started to brown on the edges.
- Once you remove them from the oven, immediately press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies.
- Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
- Drink with lots of milk!
I made this recipe and liked it a lot but changed the honey to erythritol 1/4 cup and the chocolate to 85% dark chocolate because I wanted no sugar version. Next time I want to try and use apples instead of honey and put nuts in. I am very exited to have found a good base to build new ideas on =)
Yes and I put like 2 tbsp of water because it lacked the moisture from the honey =)
That’s a great idea Brynhildur! Thanks for sharing your idea!
Delicious! What is the nutritional information? (Calories mainly)
Hi Tara! I don’t have that info, but I think if you scroll long enough people have posted it in the comments!
My cookie dough ended up being too dry and would not stick together to form balls? I ended up putting it all in a baking dish…hoping it comes out of the oven edible…was desperate for something sweet and chocolatey
How did it go Debbie?
I made these cookies with my 2 year old today and they turned out great! Next time I might cut back on the cinnamon because I’m not a huge fan of the cinnamon chocolate combo, but that hasn’t stopped me from eating more then my share!! I might also try adding a little peanut butter. Would I need to add more liquid (applesauce maybe?) if I added peanut butter to the mix?
Great recipe! I used a medium mashed banana instead of the butter and they turned out really well but I think next time I’ll bake for longer and not refridgerate.
I haven’t heard of anyone using banana, great idea!
Excellent cookies. I prefer to bake them a bit longer to get a crispy crunchy cookie. I added all the chocolate chips into the dough. Next time I may press some into the baked tops but I was in a hurry today. Thank you for the recipe
Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this recipe for a couple of rolls. Love the crispy edges, but couldn’t replicate them from the first time. Finally hit on it after a few tries. So, if you want crispy edges and softer centers, here’s what you have to do:
1.) Don’t refrigerate for 30 minutes. This causes the oatmeal to soak up all of the moisture, so the cookies really can’t “spread” out. I mix them pretty quick and throw them in immediately.
2.) Definitely use parchment paper. That way they can cool on the sheet without sticking… This will let the bottoms slightly carmelize.
3.) The baking time definitely has to be extended. I have found that they take around 20 minutes at 325 (pretty low setting for baking). I usually put them in for 12, then 4, then 2, and maybe 2 more minutes… Kind of feeling for the right amount of time.
Great recipe! Great solution to flour and refined sugar! Thanks!
I did the rough math for the recipe and if divided into 15 it is ~92 calories a cookie!
I only put half the amount of honey and Smart Balance Olive Oil Butter spread. Im about to make these cookies and I’m so excited! Sounds delicious
I liked them. I didn’t have dark chocolate chips so I used semi-sweet. I also didn’t mix the chocolate up in the cookie dough, I just added the chips to dough.
Not bad. I didn’t chop the dark chips I just put them all in. I didn’t have dark either but it’s fine. I added a bit more kocher salt as someone suggested. My husband wanted 2nds so couldn’t have been bad.
I made this recipe and used gluten free flour instead of oat flour. They were delicious! In fact, I offered them at a sport event in my community and two friends that are gluten-free asked me for the recipe! Chewy and soft….yummmmm.
I haven’t tried these with gf flour, genius! Thanks for the tip Tracy!
this is just what we needed!
These are my new favorite go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. They make the perfect amount to keep on hand without too much ‘temptation’ around. I love the combination of oatmeal and chocolate! The original recipe was a little too sweet for me so I cut the honey in half and didn’t put any chocolate chips in after baking. So I cooked them for a bit longer than suggested so they wouldn’t be so soft. But other than that, just perfect.
Easy…fabulous flavor! Next time will try agave and try peanut butter chips. Healthy way to enjoy a cookie.
As a professional pastry chef I gotta say I don’t get what all these people are bellyaching about, I really enjoyed this recipe, the only thing I changed was using brown sugar instead of the honey, but that’s just my personal taste. Already have another huge batch ready to bake in the freezer. Very nice indeed.