{"id":70547,"date":"2012-05-08T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=70547"},"modified":"2012-05-07T23:59:15","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T04:59:15","slug":"an-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookie-baking-accident-with-a-lower-calorie-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/05\/an-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookie-baking-accident-with-a-lower-calorie-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"An Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Accident with a Lower Calorie Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full disclosure: I’m a terrible baker. My husband warns people not to eat anything I bake.<\/p>\n

That said, I get the itch to bake periodically and it always has to be scratched. Quiet, uneventful Sunday afternoons get the better of me and my well-stocked pantry. Once I’ve made up my mind, the oven’s on and the flour’s flying. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This past Sunday, I was already in cooking mode, with Chef Devin’s turkey meatballs and homemade marinara simmering on the stove (see the Biggest Loser Family<\/a><\/strong> cookbook). When I pulled the oats out of the cabinet to combine with the turkey, I immediately thought “cookies!”. I also had mini chocolate chips left over from a birthday party the previous weekend. A couple of tiny cookies would be the perfect end to our dinner and weekend.<\/p>\n

I started reading through the ingredients listed on the oatmeal container and pulling each out of the cupboard and refrigerator. It called for butter. I froze. No butter. Then I remembered the healthier baking swaps<\/a><\/strong> article we did last year, and recalled Marisa Churchill’s suggestion for replacing butter with cream cheese<\/a><\/strong>. An entire brick of neufch\u00e2tel cheese sat in my fridge. Ball dodged.<\/p>\n

Then it called for granulated sugar. Completely out. So I Googled “honey replacement for sugar” and found several suggestions for a 1:1 swap. Completely doable.<\/p>\n

I carried on with the other ingredients, mixing together what resembled any other cookie dough I’ve ever made. I decided to tell no one, especially the husband. After all, he expects this sort of thing from me and the impending flop.<\/p>\n

When they came out of the oven they looked like a pretty typical (for me) oatmeal cookie. Nice little clumps that were hard on the outside but perfectly chewy on the inside. I was delighted. Not 100% perfect, but not a toss-in-the-trash failure, either.<\/p>\n

My husband tried them, questioned the amount of sugar I did (or didn’t use), and I had to confess. The real test came after they’d cooled, and I assure you they were as moist and chewy as the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had. Although I’m a little close to the situation, I found them to be a pretty tasty oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.<\/p>\n

So curiosity got the best of me. Had I stumbled on a healthier cookie? It turns out I had, by just a little bit! Using the Calorie Count recipe analyzer<\/a><\/strong>, I compared the original recipe to the “new” recipe. The result was a savings of 23 calories per cookie! As well, I cut the fat in half, from 5.7 grams to 2.1, reduced the sodium by 11 milligrams, and added half a gram of protein. The honey caused an increase in sugar of 1 gram.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My revised recipe has only 94 calories per cookie! That’s a steal in the homemade, pretty good, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie world. With a glass of skim milk, they’ve been a pretty satisfying treat this week.<\/p>\n

94-Calorie Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Makes about 3 dozen cookies; serving size 1 cookie<\/p>\n