Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found a pumpkin chocolate cookie recipe on Pinterest several months ago when I needed to make something for Thanksgiving. Being the calorie conserver that I am, I modified it to reduce the calorie, sugar, and fat content (the healthier I made it, the more I could eat, sue me). They were delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I made them again Christmas morning for my birthday.

However, until I put the recipe into MyFitnessPal, I never realized just how healthy they were. One cookie has 108 calories, 3.2 grams of fiber, and 3.4 grams of protein. 3.2 GRAMS OF FIBER AND 3.4 GRAMS OF PROTEIN. FOR ONE COOKIE. I was floored. Cookies are one of my many loves, and now I can enjoy them all the time, not just on cheat days. Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

º 2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

º 1/2 cup Stevia or Splenda

º 1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

º 1 tsp baking soda

º 1 tsp salt

º 2 large eggs

º 1 tsp vanilla

º 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (although it turns into 2 teaspoons whenever I make these)

º 1 cup pumpkin

º 1 cup chocolate chips

*If you want, you can add a couple tablespoons of honey or agave and more chocolate chips (the original recipe actually calls for 2 cups). These aren't the sweetest cookies, which is fine for me as I don't have a massive sweet tooth, but I realize everyone has different tastes. 

Preheat the oven at 375. Mix the baking soda, salt, and flour in a bowl.

In a second bowl, mix the sugars, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. 

Vomit.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and start mixing. Once it looks like this,  you can start mixing it with your hands.

There we go.

Now, add in the chocolate chips aka piece of heaven.

Roughly shape the dough into a square (that's a square, shut up).

Divide the dough into 25 pieces, cutting it 4 times horizontally and vertically.

Place however many chunks you want on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and bake 12 - 14 minutes (make sure you flatten the dough balls out a little bit, mine baked into literal golf balls). 

Put the extra dough chunks in a plastic container and store in the freezer (this way, when you want to more cookies but don't want to make a whole batch, you can pop one in the oven and voilà! Cookies without major cleanup! Oftentimes I'll make a double batch just so I have more to put in the freezer. Lolz whoops.)

The cookies will look cakey, but don't fret. That's only because of the pumpkin. Store them in a cookie jar or container that isn't completely air tight (avoid Ziplock bags, they tend to turn soggy).

Like I said, literal golf balls.

Regardless, they still turned out great. #hiddenmickey for Shannon.

What a cheat day it was.

Nutrition per cookie:

108 calories, 3.4 g fat, 3.4 g protein, 3.2 g fiber