"Clean" Chocolate Chip Cookies

For out family's 4th of July celebration, I was to bring a dessert. I debated whether I wanted to bring a healthy dessert or just a good old sweet treat for everybody to enjoy. So I decided to go with both. I had seen a picture for these cute little star cookies where you use strawberries and blueberries to decorate them. Here is the picture I'm referring to:

Great idea, right? Well, let me tell you. First of all, strawberries are not all uniform in size and shape. I had so many issues trying to cut them to get that nice star shape. They were also way too big for my cookie, so I had to trim them. Every single slice. For all the cookies. Waaayyyyy too much trouble. So after I went to all this trouble, they still didn't look great, and I had to figure out how to package them to get them to the party. Clearly, they don't exactly stack. So I came up with this wax paper layering thing that kind of worked, but still wasn't great. So my warning to you is - it isn't as easy as it looks. I could have done a dozen other things with my time than make these cookies. 

Anyway! What I did like was the chocolate chip cookie recipe I came up with to make the base. These are my healthy chocolate chip cookies, and they really hit the spot. I'll definitely make them again, sans decorations. I also made a batch of sugar cookies and did the same thing to bring to the party. 

My ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies are all good for you. They are a perfect dessert for my toddler, especially since they aren't as sweet as most other cookies. They were good topped with cream cheese and fruit, but I liked them just as is. 

I used ground oats and whole wheat pastry flour to get that whole grain goodness but still trying to keep it light  and soft. Also, local honey for the sweetener

Butter. Not a traditional "clean" ingredient but it is in this house. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Once you do your research, you find that butter is indeed a healthy fat. 

I used mini chocolate chips because I thought it would make them easier to cut into shapes once baked, but in the future I will use chunks for sure.

I like to bake cookies in sheet form, so I get doughy-er cookies. 

Here they are baked

The boy loves helping!

I forgot to take pictures of my cut out cookies. I cut them out after they were baked. After all the time I put in making them, I just didn't have time for anything else. That isn't important though. This is a good, healthy recipe for chocolate cookies - I'd even eat them for breakfast!

Chocolate chip cookies

2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 cup honey

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats, ground to a flour in processor

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In mixer, blend butter and honey until well combined. Add egg and vanilla. Then add the dry ingredients. Last, blend in the chocolate chips. Spread out on cookie sheet that has either been greased or fitted with a silicone pad. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until just set (just barely getting some color on the edges. Let cool and cut!