January 19, 2021

CHOCOLATE COVERED HEALTHY COOKIE RECIPE

This healthy cookie were born a few years ago. I tried this crunchy cinnamon cookie covered in chocolate. These cookies were a gift from france. So tiny but so incredibly delicious and addictive. They came in two different boxes, joined in the middle and completely covered. I think they made it through the first week, and they were gone. Too good.

The thing I strive for the most in my life is finding balance between my absolute love for baking and cooking and having a healthy lifestyle. With that in mind, I started to look for a way to make those beautiful bites of deliciousness, but in a healthier version. So, my idea was a crunchy cinnamon cookie, covered in chocolate. Either dark chocolate, or sugar free chocolate or white sugar free chocolate. I wasn’t making my mind completely yet. Then, I thought about giving this healthy cookie and extra oomph. Salted caramel. Chocolate and salted caramel? Great. Cinnamon and salted caramel? Great too! So a gorgeous healthy cookie with a salted caramel filling and cinnamon cookie base was born.

The healthy cookie is made of almond flour and coconut oil. On the other hand, the filling is a mixture of dates, almond milk and peanut butter. This filling mixture, with a bit of salt tastes just like salted caramel.

Let the chocolate harden over a sheet of parchment paper and then transfer the cookies to a plastic or glass container before storing in the fridge.

THE HEALTHY COOKIE BASE:

The base of the cookie is a almond flour cookie. When I first tried this recipe, I used peanut butter instead of coconut oil and oat flour instead of almond flour. So, oat flour works fine but the texture is not as crumbly. If you use peanut butter instead of coconut oil, the flavor in these healthy cookies does change completely. Peanut butter has a very strong flavor and in my opinion it doesn’t combine as well with the rest of this cookie.

You can make this recipe with almond butter or cashew butter as well. These nut butters work well too! Almond butter does have a very characteristic flavor as well, but this one does combine with the flavors of our healthy cookies.

THE HEALTHY COOKIE FILLING:

The filling for these cookies is a date salted caramel, and it is so easy to make.

Dates are a super fruit that I absolutely love. It’s magical. Dates have so many benefits, like helping regulate the nervous system, making our bones stronger and so so many more! Plus, they are so so sweet, that you don’t need anymore sweeteners. Most of the times, dates come a bit dried. The idea for the filling for these cookies is a creamy salted caramel. To get the creaminess we want, using these dried dates, place them in warm water for about an hour. This way they hydrate and when processed, become a creamy delicious cream (for lack of a better word).

Another idea for the filling is using a sugar free or light dulce de leche. Back home we had this delicious sugar free dulce de leche that I absolutely loved using in dessert recipes.

COVERING THE HEALTHY COOKIES

The chocolate I used for these healthy cookies is a 60% cacao chocolate chips. I melted the chocolate in a water bath and while I was covering the cookies, I left the bowl with the chocolate over the hot water to maintain the melty texture.

TIPS FOR A PERFECT HEALTHY COOKIE:

Putting it together: To put these healthy cookies together easily, bake the cookie, add the filling on top and freeze for a few minutes. I place the entire batch in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This step gives the filling a bit of structure so that covering in chocolate is easy and quick.

Covering in chocolate: Once the chocolate is melted, leave the bowl on top of the hot water but with the heat off. So, this way, you take the frozen cookie and just dump it in the chocolate and cover it completely. Use a fork and a spoon. The fork is for holding the cookie while you cover with chocolate the top part with the spoon. This helps to avoid having an excess of chocolate on the bottom.

Melt the chocolate: Add a bit of water to a pot and place over medium/high heat. In a bowl, that is bigger than the pan, place the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted, turn the fire off and the steam of the hot water will keep the chocolate melted while you cover your healthy cookies. You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave with 20 minutes at time.

EQUIPMENT:

Bowls: A medium or big bowl for the cookie dough and another one to melt the chocolate. Also, If your dates are dried, in a small or medium bowl place them with warm water to hydrate.

Food processor: To make the date caramel, you will need a foordprocessor or a hand mixer or a blender. All of these work just as fine.

Spoons: To make the cookie dough and for the chocolate.

Forks: When you are covering the healthy cookies with the chocolate, use the fork to hold the cookie while you pour the chocolate over it with the spoon. This helps to avoid and excess in the bottom.

Silat or parchment paper: To avoid the cookies from sticking to the pan.

Cookie Sheet: The size and shape you like!

Yield: 27 Cookies

HEALTHY CHOCOLATE COVERED SALTED CARAMEL COOKIES

Ingredients

COOKIE BASE

1 Cup almond flour
1/6 Cup coconut oil (half of 1/3)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
4 to 6 sweetener packets.
1 egg white

FILLING

12 Dates
1 Splash of almond milk
1 Tsp peanut butter
1 Pinch of salt

TOPPING

200 gr dark or semisweet chocolate

Instructions

COOKIE BASE

Preheat the oven at 350F and place parchment paper on cookie sheet.
Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well with a spoon.
Separate the dough into 27 same sized balls. Press with your palm until you have a small and thinner cookie. Shape them a bit with your fingers.
Bake cookies for around 7 to 8 miutes. Until the sides are a golden

FILLING

Hydrate the dates in a bit of warm water.
Add dates (without seed), to a food processor or blender with the almond milk, peanut butter and salt.
Process until creamy.