Better- for - you Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anyone who knows me, knows that I just LOVE to bake! Now, I haven't been to culinary school, like other people in my family. I just enjoy dabbling. Dave has to remind me often that baking and cooking are two separate and distinct forms of making food. With cooking one can easily add a pinch of something here, and a dash of something else there.

While baking is a form of chemistry.

And since I like to do my own thing waaay to much, I sometimes discover lots of ways to not do something. lol.

This morning the mailman delivered 2 boxes from QVC. I don't shop there, but I  know someone who does. So these boxes were a treat and surprise. One box had a George Forman type omelet maker in it, and the other contained a fun looking cook book. Eat What You Love, by Marlene Koch. It is a cookbook with lots of supposedly delightful dishes, with all the taste you are hoping for without the fat, sugar & calories you would expect.

& since I am in the mood for chocolate... and the cookies on the cover looked good to me,  I decided to give them a try. Here are a few rules I gave myself:

1. follow the instructions exactly

2. follow the instructions exactly

3. follow the instructions exactly

(cause you know, I like to dabble, and change things up a bit. and then it never fails... I just don't like that recipe. Never mind that I didn't actually make that recipe.)

So, with those simple rules, I set to work whipping up these cookies.

First I called my mom to thank her for the book. (that took an hour and 11 mins.) Then I looked for the recipe shown on the cover of the book. Surprisingly, there are not as many pictures in here as I expected. I found the green "classic cookies and cake" section in the back of the book and got to work.

The recipe calls for a large bowl, so then I had to actually *read* the recipe to decide exactly how big this bowl needed to be. I decided the 2 qt pampered chef mixing bowl would do the job. I got my butter out and about that time, decided to blog it, so I had to set up a quick photo-shoot.

Here is Max helping me out:

* I will note here that it probably won't take all day for you to make these cookies, since you may not need to stop to call your mom and then set up a photo shoot just to make these. And as I write this, the cookies are cooling on the counter, and I have not tested them, so I don't know how this is going to turn out.

Ok, so on to the cookie making:

Better-For-You Chocolate Chip Cookies by Marlene Koch

Nutritional Info

• Fat: 4.7g

• Carbohydrates: 11.9g

• Calories: 93.0

• Protein: 14.7g

Ingredients

1 Cup All purpose Flour

1/2 Cup white whole wheat Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 Granulated Sugar

1/4 Splenda Granulated Sugar (I used Stater Bros brand)

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 Large Egg

1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped Pecans or walnuts

chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.



2. In a small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, and baking soda.


3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, and sweetener until very light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.


4. drop the dough by level tablespoons onto a baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Flatten the cookies by pressing down on the dough with a spatula or the bottom of a glass.

5. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until lightly browned and set.

Cool on the baking sheet until firm. Remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

I did actually cool them on a wire rack!!!  I did!  I promise.  (I just didn't get a shot of that, so this is a pic of the foil set)

Number of Servings: 28

Ok, so... my first thoughts were

* no salt?

* this is waaaaayyy smaller than what I usually make. I wonder if it is because it isn't yummy and this is the "try me" batch, to know not to make them again.

*Why do I need to spray the cookie sheet with Pam????

* the raw cookie dough has a good "flour" flavor, with a slight "splenda" bite to it.

* the wet mixture from the beaters = tasty :)

I used the mixer to mix in the wet ingredients, but folded in the dry with a spoon.

The whole "1 level teaspoon" thing was bugging me, (and totally time consuming) so I did the second pan with the handy-dandy pampered chef cookie scoop; because I didn't outfit my kitchen with these amazing gadgets for nothing!

I have never smooshed a cookie with a glass bottom before, so that was a first.

The instructions say to bake for 7-9 mins, so I kept them in for 8 mins.

When I took the cookies off the "sprayed" pan, I still didn't get it. But when I took the second (rebel) batch off the other pan covered in tin foil and no spray, I could see bits of leftover cookie on the foil still. (so maybe the author knew what she was talking about)

I let the cookies cool while I typed this up.

taste:

good!

light & fluffy

a bit dry

cant really notice the splenda

cant really notice the butter either

not my normal cookie!

dont need to spray pan!

I would probably make these again, just not for the fam.


(however, I know my family will notice that these are not MY cookies!)

*Jordan says "they are not as good as your cookies.  too dry, too crunchy. not as good as yours.  & they are too dry"
Dalin says "too small, taste funny"

* this took waaaayyy too much time to make/blog about.  but it was kinda fun. 

So, my faithful readers, let me know what you think.  Give them a try and post your results here.  :)