Healthy Oven Chocolate Chip Cookies

Serves: Makes 3 dozen
Baking Temp (degrees F): 350
Views: 17820
Comments: 44

Variation: Sarah's Thick-with-a-Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo, posted with permission, by Valerie Adams, © Sarah Phillips

If you like chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges and chewy centers, these are for you. They're a good illustration of how I devise reduced-fat versions of high-fat classics. Sure, I could have cut out all of the butter, but they wouldn't have resembled chocolate chip cookies.
COOKIE RECIPE HELP / LOW / REDUCED-FAT RECIPE HELP

Valerie Adams, Bake your cake and eat it, too blog, Says: "The outside is nice and crisp and the inside is just the right amount of chewiness."

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (spoon into measuring cup and level top)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips (use regular ones if you can't find the mini's)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray two nonstick baking sheets (preferably insulated) with oil.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt until well combined. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer set at high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often with a rubber spatula to force the mixture into the blades, beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, about 1 1/2 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, beat the egg, oil, corn syrup and vanilla. Pour into the butter / sugar mixture and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. Using a spoon, stir just until a stiff dough forms.

5. Using a heaping teaspoon for each, roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Place them 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets (the cookies will spread during baking).

6. One sheet at a time, bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies will seem soft, but they will crisp as they cool. Cool in the pan for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to a wire cake rack to cool completely.

VARIATIONS
Sarah's Thick-with-a-Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nutritional Analysis: Per serving - About 70 calories (5 percent from protein; 64 percent from carbohydrates; 31 percent from fat), 1 gram protein, 12 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated fat), 9 milligrams cholesterol, 34 milligrams sodium, 1 gram fiber

The Healthy Oven Baking Book, by Sarah Phillips, Doubleday, 1999