I can’t remember the last time I baked with vegetable oil or white flour or white sugar. Why? Because the main reason I bake is so that my family has slightly less of a chemical concoction for dessert than the typical store bought items.

You see, we are a dessert family. Without fail we have dessert every night after dinner. That’s what was done in my home growing up,* and I think it is actually part of my DNA . I CANNOT go to sleep without eating dessert.

Sometimes it’s Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups. Sometimes it’s ice-cream. Sometimes it’s 16 Handles. Sometimes it’s Whole Foods Organic Chocolate Chip Cookies or Milanos or Newman-O’s.

Even the ‘healthier’ desserts out there are filled with crap. Milanos? Hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed, soy lecithin and vegetable oils. Newman O’s? A little better – only soy lecithin. Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups? Even better – the soy lecithin is organic – but organic or not, still not good. (Click here to find out why soy lecithin isn’t good.)

So what is my point here?

My point is that the majority of store bought desserts are going to have unnatural ingredients in them. So by baking your own desserts, at least you KNOW what is going into them and have the power to ‘health them up’.

Am I suggesting you bake everyday? HELL no! Perhaps once per week? Twice MAYBE? And if you double the recipe, the finished result could even last for 2 or 3 rounds of dessert.

Today I am going to show you how I health up Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies so I can feel ~~good~~ better when my family devoures them.

Below I copied the traditional recipe for Nestle Tollhouse cookies but crossed out some of the ingredients and replaced them with healthier options. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

*My older brother and I always joke about how he used to clear his dinner plate and literally come right back to the table with the Marshmallow Devil’s Food Iced Cake Entenmann’s box in hand.

Nestle Toll House Cookies Made Healthier

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups ~~all-purpose flour~~ oat flour or almond flour for gluten free, or whole wheat flour if not
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup ~~butter softened~~ coconut oil, melted
~~3/4 cup granulated sugar~~
~~3/4~~ 1 cup packed ~~brown sugar~~ coconut crystals
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs (I recommend organic)
2 1 1/4 cups ~~NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels~~ Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips (for dairy free)
1 cup chopped nuts (I recommend organic, raw walnuts)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375° F.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Mix in coconut oil, coconut crystals, and vanilla extract. Add eggs, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.
BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

You’ve just made this recipe gluten free, dairy free, and upped the nutrition content by removing the white flour and white sugar. Coconut oil is one of the healthiest fats, and walnuts are full of omega 3’s. You’ve also eliminated the need to use an electric mixer that would normally be used to mix the butter.

Now – I’m not going to lie. Do they taste AS good as the original? Absolutely not. But are they still delicious? YES! And that is an emphatic yes! Even though we’ve swapped some ingredients, they are still chocolate chip cookies! Kinda hard for them NOT to be good!

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