Friday, June 3, 2016

Diabetes-Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies



One of my personal traditions is to make treats for my friends and family on their birthdays. Sometimes I let them pick whatever they want, and other times I know their favorites and I just whip up a batch of goodies. I’ve made everything from whoopie pies and brownies to chocolate chocolate chip muffins, and buffalo wings.


However, there is a small glitch to my birthday treat tradition: Diabetes is common both in my Thompson family line and the Ditch family. I was faced with this dilemma recently when my brother-in-law’s birthday approached. Since he has diabetes, how would I give him a festive treat and without causing blood sugar issues?

The Picky Eater always loved chocolate chip cookies for his birthday, which made me wonder if a diabetes-friendly version was available. I also wanted a recipe that didn’t use artificial sweeteners. (Right or wrong, I just believe real sugar must be better for you than chemicals.)

An internet search came up with this recipe from Diabetic Living magazine. Since I don’t have diabetes, I’m not sure what makes these cookies more blood sugar friendly than regular ones. The recipe calls for real brown sugar! If I had to guess, it’s the additional complex carbs in the ground toasted oatmeal, a smaller sugar amount than traditional recipes, and the smaller serving size that makes these cookies work.

Each cookie made using the original recipe has 12 grams of carbs and 7 grams of sugars. I tweaked the recipe a bit by using whole milk yogurt instead of low-fat, and adding chopped pecans. So be aware! I don’t have any knowledge how my changes may impact healthfulness of the cookies. When in doubt, go with the original recipe.

These cookies are soft, moist and chocolate-chip-cookie delicious. They don’t spread out while baking like traditional cookies, which gives them a tasty, cake-like texture.

This recipe is now a part of my cooking-making repertoire.     



Diabetes-Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 60 cookies
1 cookie per serving

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt (I use the whole milk variety.)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pour the oatmeal onto a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake until oats are toasted, approximately 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once. Pour the toasted oats into a food processor and blend until finely ground. Set aside.

Using a mixer, blend together the butter, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt until combined. Mix in the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually add in the flour and mix until just combined. Mix in the ground oats, and then add in the chocolate chips.

Spoon rounded teaspoon-sized portions of the dough 2 inches apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. (I used a teaspoon-sized ice cream scoop.) Bake for 9 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown, rotating the baking sheet in the oven halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, and then transfer them to a cooling rack.   



1 comment:

  1. ooh im such a huge fan of choclate chip cookies i had pledged that after im done with papersking writing service id treat myself to this delicacy it would be good if i kep the promise :)

    ReplyDelete