Kids Favorites Made Healthy: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every mama has a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, I'm sure. But if you're anything like me you have searched for a good HEALTHY alternative cookie for your little ones that also tastes great. It's so easy to grab cookies from the bag that you grabbed off of the shelf in the store, especially if your husband buys them all the time! But they usually contain ingredients that aren't so great for you. When you make them from scratch you can control what ingredients you use and how much chocolate and sugar goes in. This recipe yields quite a bit of dough, so you can freeze some for future use (just add a couple minutes to the baking time).



What You Need
1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups of packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of butter, softened
2 teaspoons of vanilla
4 eggs
4 1/4 cups of whole wheat (or almond or oat) flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 bags (12 oz each) semi-sweet chocolate chips - I personally used 1


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Don't pack it down.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
4. Combine sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a very large bowl. Beat with a hand or stand mixer until well blended. Add vanilla and eggs, beat again until well blended. Add flour mixture slowly while blending at low speed.
5. Add chips and fold in by hand with a wooden spoon.
6. Drop dough in tablespoon size balls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets with a layer of parchment paper. Bake at 350° F for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Cool on pans for 2 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
Store on the counter in a tupperware container for about a week (if they last that long!).

To store for future freezing, place balls on baking sheet with parchment paper and put in the freezer until frozen, then place frozen balls in a Ziploc bag. Bake according to steps 6 and 7, but allow for extra time to make up for the fact that the dough is frozen.

~ Misty Blue of the Us & Him Blog