Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have less butter and sugar than other cookie recipes, but they are still tremendously good!
Or should I say “healthier.” I mean, I don’t know if I can really say these cookies are healthy, but they definitely have less butter and sugar than other cookie recipes I’ve made in the past.
The wonderful news is they are tremendously good.
Case in point: my brother is one of those. You know. Those people that turn up their noses at “light” or “healthy” versions of classic recipes, especially cookies or desserts. He was at my house when I first made these and he refused to eat one. Seriously! He refused. Not worth his time, he said.
Fast forward a few weeks later when he graciously offers to watch my boys for me. I come home and ask if he is hungry and he sheepishly confesses he found some cookies hidden in the depths of the freezer and snuck a few. The confession is followed with: “By the way, have you posted those cookies yet? They are amazing…some of the best I’ve had.”
Imagine his countenance when I tell him that those yummilicious cookies were the lowfat, heart-smart cookies I had made weeks earlier. The ones he refused to try, the little stinker. To his credit, he didn’t back down from his assertion that they were delicious. But I’m 100% sure I won’t let him live this down.
Make these cookies! I was so pleasantly surprised by the deliciously chewy, nutty texture and wonderful sweetness. I didn’t miss even a tablespoon of the lacking butter. And that’s saying a lot, because I really think butter is divine.
The one caveat to the healthy claim on this recipe is that it makes less cookies than some of my favorite traditional cookie recipes. So maybe if you consider that factor, they might not be much lower in fat and calories, but don’t let me know.
I like to imagine myself making healthy cookies so I can eat four or ten without feeling guilty.
One Year Ago: Unbelievable Chocolate Cake
Two Years Ago: Southwest Rice and Bean Salad
Three Years Ago: Easiest Brownies in the World
Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- About ⅓ cup (47 g) all-purpose flour
- About ⅓ cup (47 g) whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cups (150 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter
- ¾ cup (159 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup dried cranberries or cherries
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup (85 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, oats, baking soda and salt.
- Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove. Remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar. Add the butter/sugar mixture to the flour mixture, beating with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.
- Add the dried cranberries or cherries, vanilla and egg. Beat until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, silpat liners or coated with cooking spray. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2010
Great recipe! I made half the recipe, (used just the yolk), and reduced the sugar to just 1/4 cup for half the recipe. Got 11 cookies (20g each), at 90 calories per cookie.
These are great cookies! Not only great tasting, but so easy to throw together before school gets out – (no refrigeration). Loved them! Let’s hope there is some left before school get out today.
Just perfeft
SUPER recipe! I was running low on craisins, so I added extra chocolate chips. They are delish! Definitely a keeper recipe. 🙂
I just made the same mistake and used 1 1/12 cups instead of ounces. I realized my mistake when I added the wet ingredients and it didn’t come together. Anyway after a little math I added the correct amount of ingredients and now we have a ton of oatmeal chocolate cookies! Good thing these were delicious and my kids love them
Yup so used to cups being used just put 1 1/2 cups each flour using my last egg 🙁 Trying adding for baking soda and applesauce and praying they are edible!! Lol
I really enjoy these cookies. I love the craisin and dark chocolate combination! I enjoy the “heartiness” of it, almost like a granola bar, with the whole wheat and oats.
I did have a pretty hilarious experience making this recipe though, and I blame it on my not reading everything through carefully before beginning. When I saw the “1 1/2 … flour”, I speed-read it and assumed cups. I ignored the parentheses, because past experience had me believing the oz. information was contained there. You mentioned in the notes at the beginning that it had less butter and sugar than most other cookies, so I tried not to be too shocked at the idea of 6 TBSP of butter being enough liquid, with one egg, for the 4 1/2 cups+ of dry ingredients, but it wasn’t until I decided to TRIPLE the recipe in my Bosch (9 cups of dry ingredients), and added the paltry amount of wet ingredients that I finally realized that it just wasn’t going to come together, and finally looked closer at the recipe. Oh my. I had actually 9-X’d the recipe!!! Ha. Good thing I enjoy them! Sad for my son who doesn’t prefer the craisins, but maybe he’ll learn to like them, as we now have pre-packaged lunch desserts in the freezer for a good many more lunches!!! And the rest of us have no problem with that condition. 🙂
Oh my heavens, Barbara – 9X’d the recipe? You wild woman!
Regretting not reading the comments first. Or reading the recipe correctly I just made the same mistake. We won’t be running out of cookies any time soon.
I’m sorry, Caitlyn! Let me fix the recipe wording so that doesn’t happen again.
Mel, thanks so much for working so hard to perfect this recipe. It’s amazing how good it is with only whole wheat flour and oatmeal! My husband even said it was delicious (and he hates when I try to make healthy versions of things). He said he didn’t even mind the oatmeal. Ha!
Made these to surprise my daughter after school. I doubled the recipe and made half with just chocolate chips (she has an aversion to dried fruit) and the other half with a mix of craisins and raisins (what I had on hand). They were SO good! Oh, and I used quick oats (also what I had on hand) and it worked out great! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!!
Hi Mel! I’ve tried your cheesecake cookies before and I loved them. Thank you! ^_^ I’ll be trying out this oatmeal recipe soon. Can I add cocoa powder to make this a chocolate oatmeal cookie? If so, how much should I add and should I lessen the amount of flour? Thanks! 🙂
I haven’t adjusted the recipe for cocoa powder so you’ll have to experiment; good luck!
I have made these four times, and for some reason they just spread right out. They are totally flat, and they burn if I leave them in for 10 minutes, and they fall apart. Not sure why I am having such a hard time with them.
Kim – Are you at high altitude? If so, sometimes adding a couple more tablespoons flour helps them not spread so much.
Made them last night and forgot to store them in an airtight container, but… they were still delicious and very chewy this morning! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love it!
Glad I found this recipe! I was pleasantly surprised how much they fluffed up during baking. This recipe is a keeper!!! Not only did MY tummy approve but so did my husband.
okay, i have one more confession… when i plugged in the recipe i left out the dried cranberries. i just don’t do dried. so the calories may be slightly higher if you add them. 😉
Wow, 69 calories is awesome, if you can eat just one, but if not, even three of them are better than a candy bar! Normally, I am a little like your brother….if I am going to eat dessert, I am going to make sure it’s good…I don’t really like eating stuff that doesn’t taste good because it’s wasting calories…I would rather have 3 bites of something amazing than some healthy cookie that tastes like cardboard. That being said, these are amazing! I bought tons of dried cranberries awhile ago and decided I need to use them. When asked to make a plate of cookies for a funeral, i came to my most trusted source and did a search for cranberries and found these (I didn’t see them in the index though). Boy am I glad. I do wish I had doubled the recipe. I made smaller cookies and got 32 cookies. I also had quick oats I was trying to get rid of and they still were yummy. So glad I found this jem. They really don’t taste healthy, they taste fattening, in a good way. Yum. Thanks for another winner.
I can’t wait to try these. I have loved all of your reciepes!
YUM!! I just made these and they were yummy! I plugged in the recipe at SparkPeople Recipes so that I could add them to my nutrition tracker and using a 1.5″ scoop you can get 28 of these babies for 43 calories a piece!! Thank you!!
OOPS!!! I looked again at the calories and they are actually 69 calories! sorry about that!!
ha ha I know two of your brothers and am wondering if the “stinker” is one of them. lol. The cookies do look good!
These have been added to my personal list of favorite cookies. They were sensational!
As usual, everything I make from your blog is great…These taste unhealthy—which means there very good!
whole wheat flour in cookies is actually something i don’t believe i’ve ever seen in a recipe, much less tasted! this would be the perfect cookie to try it on–lovely batch, particularly because there are no raisins involved! 🙂
My absolute favorite cookie is oatmeal chocolate chip and my husband adores cherries and chocolate. So needless to say we are super excited to make these! Thanks!
Your brother sounds like my husband!! I’ll have to make these and tell him afterwards they are on the healthier side as far as desserts go! I tend to cook the opposite of low-calorie but these look delicious!!
Cute story about your brother 🙂 These sound really good!
Ohhhh I can’t wait to try these! I’m always trying to find a lighter yet still delicious version of all my favorite naughty foods!
I made these tonight, yummy!
I always add wheat germ to cookie recipes and it gives them a wondeful nutty taste and boosts nutrition. These cookies are so good 🙂
Mmm, these are my husband’s favorite kind of cookie! I love that they are “healthier.”
I can’t wait to try these! I am ALWAYS looking for new oatmeal cookie recipes! 🙂 And I especially love that they’re healthier! Thanks!
Made them this morning- they are fantastic! My only regret is not doubling the recipe! Be careful to put in 1/3 cup of flour and not look at the ounces and think it’s a 1 1/2 cup (when you’re running at mock speed- you can almost make that mistake).
Will be making them this week! Yummy!!
The cookies look wonderful!
I’ve been trying to eat better – I need to try these for sure!!
I will be making these soon! Have some dried cranberries to use up from a granola recipe. I will have to keep it a secret that they are considered healthy or my family will not eat them either!
Haha! I love the story about your brother! This cookie recipe looks delicious, even if it is “healthier”. I love the dried cranberries/cherries!
Can’t wait to try these! I love your other oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe!