When I was in junior high school, I was still being homeschooled, and still very much a kid. There was no hint in my mind that my wardrobe (think birkenstocks and overalls) wasn’t “cool.” I had like three friends, and I’m pretty sure the thing I said I wanted to be when I grew up was a chicken farmer. Not only was I still a kid, but my palate still had a lot of growing up to do too. While I was probably the most far gone, my whole family ate a lot of junk food, fast food, and soda.
That was about to change, though. My parents went through a serious food conversion, and suddenly, all the cheese filled hot dogs, pizza bagels and Dorito chips were gone, having been replaced with things I had never heard of before, like carrot juice, sprouts and brown rice. Mom tried to make it fun. She tried to convince me that these new food tasted great!
“Carrot juice tastes just like chocolate milk!”
Those actual words escaped from my mother’s mouth. <——— Trust issues
I basically went into shock with all of this new foreign (to me) food. Where were my fruit roll ups? My Little Debbie’s Delights?? And WHY was there broccoli in my scrambled eggs?
My mom tried to ease the transition for me by making treats that weren’t terribly unhealthy, but at least resembled some of the foods we were eating before.
She rifled through her chocolate chip cookie recipes and began experimenting to give them a “healthy” makeover. This recipe is the end result of that experimentation, and while I’m not claiming that they’re 100% “healthy,” they helped me to bridge the gap from a serious junk food addiction to a (little bit) more well rounded diet where I enjoy veggies (almost) as much as chocolate.
They’ve been a family favorite for years now, and we affectionately refer to them as “Hippy Cookies”
Thanks, Mom.
Now let’s talk about what’s actually in them.
Here’s the thing.
Substituting whole wheat flour for white flour should have made them not as good, right?
Replacing white and brown sugar with whole cane sugar and date sugar should have made them less sweet and satisfying right?
Wrong!
It’s crazy how good these cookies are. Because of all the extra fiber and more complex flavors of the sugars, they have a similar taste and texture to granola bars. They taste more like a hearty snack than an indulgent treat, although the truth is that they lie somewhere in-between.
They make great snacks for hiking!
As far as baking them goes, the process is identical to most chocolate chip cookies. Mix wet, mix dry, combine and bake!
Watch out though, all of those good for you ingredients can sometimes convince you that these cookies are a great substitute for breakfast! Don’t believe them, or do…
Thanks for reading 🙂
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
- 1 cup rapadura (whole cane sugar)
- 1 cup date sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 oz chocolate chips (1/2 regular bag)
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce the speed to the lowest setting, and add eggs one at a time.
- Once eggs are fully incorporated, add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Process oats in a blender or food processor until the consistency of fine flour is reached.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- With mixer on low, slowly add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated, add chocolate chips. Scrape sides of bowl and mix a bit longer until no flour remains.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to form balls of dough and place 2 inches apart on rimmed baking sheets.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes or until edges become lightly golden brown.
0
0
7
0
0
0
These look so delicious! Perfect with a big glass of milk!
Oh yes, milk is a necessity! Thanks for your comment 🙂
You are a wonderful story-teller, Lindsey! I’ll have to see if I can make these as gluten-free hippy cookies. 🙂
Thank you Carlotta! That is a huge compliment to me. I’ve never tried to mimic whole wheat flour with gluten free options. Do you use brown rice flour? Let me know if it works out!
Your hippy cookies look very moreish 🙂 Perfect for my nephews.
Thanks so much, Razena!
Thank you Lindsey! I’m gonna try your “hippie cookies” today I hope- they sound amazing. Your momma is a doll – I loved meeting her Sunday:)
No, Sandy, Thank you! I checked out your Etsy shop! You are very talented. It was hard to measure George’s neck because of all his extra skin, lol. But, he’s excited to see what he gets to model 😉
Hey, where’s the photo of you in jr. high in overalls? Ha ha!! I thought you were pretty hip as a teen, though. There’s nothing wrong with being a chicken farmer. Isn’t that what I turned out to be? Oh my! If Carlotta is successful with a gluten-free version, I’d love to try it.
I wish I could be a chicken farmer! …someday! Haha those pictures are NEVER going on the blog.
LOL. Oh God, this post made me laugh out loud. Especially the carrot juice/chocolate milk/trust issues bit. HAHAHA. Also, I’ve never EVER heard of cheese filled hot dogs… is that really a thing?!
These granola bar cookies sound so good! I’m going to have to make a batch with my kiddos and we’ll bring them on our next hike around Mackworth Island! Thanks for sharing them with us! Great photography, too 🙂
Amber, thanks so much for your kind words! Yes, there really were hot dogs that were injected with some velveeta-esque cheese substance, and they were a particular favorite of mine. I haven’t seen them in grocery stores for over a decade though (probably banned by FDA.)
Let me know how you like them if you do end up making them!
Love this recipe and your writing style! I was laughing through the whole story!
Thank you so much!
These hippy cookies look absolutely delicious. Will try these soon. 🙂
Thank you Deepika! Let me know how you like them!
Looks super yum..love chocolate I should try this
Oh boy, I love chocolate too! Thanks for your comment!
My goodness, carrot juice tastes like chocolate milk? LOL. Well, certainly a “resetting” of the tastebuds takes some time and effort. Your cookies look like the perfect start. 🙂
Thank you, Demeter! It certainly does, but the health benefits are well worth it in the end 🙂
Thanks for your comment!