Big, Soft, Almost Fat-Free Chocolate Cookies (Weight Watchers 2 points)

As Valentine’s Day is a day of decadence, it’s hard to resist all the Valentines Day temptations that we are seeing all over.  Did you know  it’s easy to swap ingredients to make a favorite recipe healthier with just a few tips:

1. Replace half the fat of any cookie recipe with an equivalent amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed-up, ripe banana. If you do so, always double the amount of vanilla or other spices in the recipe.
2. Always cream the butter or shortening for at least 2 minutes in the mixer at medium speed. More tender cookies have more air beaten into the batter. But once you add the flour, never beat the batter, only stir with a wooden spoon, just until moistened and incorporated. You don’t want the glutens to get stiff.
3. If a recipe calls for two whole eggs, use 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites; if it calls for 3 whole eggs, use 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites.
4. Replace walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts with almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, or unsalted sunflower seeds.
5. If you replace buttermilk or sour cream with low-fat buttermilk or fat-free sour cream, use cake flour rather than all-purpose flour for more tender cookies.

You can still get your sweet fix today (or any day) without blowing your diet!!
Instead of chocolate & strawberry cupcakes,  Cherry Sweetheart cake, or Butter Cookies ………try Big, Soft, Almost Fat-Free Chocolate Cookies! You can have chocolate cookies and still stay on your plan!

I plugged this recipe into the Weight Watchers Kitchen Companion app on my iPad and found they were only 2 points each on the new PointsPlus™ program!

The Kitchen Companion app makes it a breeze to follow a recipe on the iPad while I cook/bake.  I can check off ingredients as I go (not that I’ve ever forgotten an ingredient, ehmmm), and even set a timer right in the app.

Don’t you just love that handy dandy rack I got for the iPad?….I’ll be sharing more about that soon!

The recipe calls for rounded tablespoonfuls, normally I wouldn’t bother measuring, but since I wanted to be sure to get the correct size for my 2 points, I used a measuring spoon to drop each cookie on the pan. (Besides, I had to show off my adorable new apron I got from a friend.

The recipe says you should get about 24 cookies, I got 30.

Big, Soft, Almost Fat Free Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 24
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate square
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup white all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp table salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place the chocolate square in a small bowl and microwave on High 15 seconds, stir, then continue microwaving in 10-second increments until mostly melted. Remove from the microwave and continue stirring until completely melted. Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer on high, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until foamy, about 30 seconds. Beat in both sugars and vanilla until creamy (about 1 minute). Beat in the melted chocolate. Remove the beaters and stir in the flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt all at once with a wooden spoon, just until moistened.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake until puffed, about 15 minutes. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then cool completely on a rack. Cool the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking additional batches.

Notes

Store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.

1. Replace half the fat of any cookie recipe with an equivalent amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed-up, ripe banana. If you do so, always double the amount of vanilla or other spices in the recipe.

2. Always cream the butter or shortening for at least 2 minutes in the mixer at medium speed. More tender cookies have more air beaten into the batter. But once you add the flour, never beat the batter, only stir with a wooden spoon, just until moistened and incorporated. You don’t want the glutens to get stiff.

3. If a recipe calls for two whole eggs, use 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites; if it calls for 3 whole eggs, use 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites.

4. Replace walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts with almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, or unsalted sunflower seeds.

5. If you replace buttermilk or sour cream with low-fat buttermilk or fat-free sour cream, use cake flour rather than all-purpose flour for more tender cookies.

ENJOY your Valentines Day with out the guilt!

*Disclosure:  No compensation was received for this post. I am a Weight Watchers Insider for the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus program and have received complimentary online access to Weight Watchers, an IPad with the Weight Watchers Kitchen Companion App downloaded, and other tools. My opinions and love of chocolate are all my own.