These healthier oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have NO sugar, NO white flour, and only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch! They are the perfect way to satisfy your mad chocolate cravings when you are supposed to be losing holiday pounds. Originally posted January 12, 2016.
Table of Contents
- You will love these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Healthy Cookies
- Are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy?
- Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
- How to make Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
- How to store Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe FAQs
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Recipe
- Other Amazing Recipes to Love!
I saw this bumper sticker today: “How’s my driving? Shoot me a text.” HA!
So my best friend Sarah announced on Facebook yesterday that she had just spent 4 hours creating the “Daniel Craig in Casino Royale 6 Week Meal Plan” as requested by her husband, and if anyone wanted a copy they could shoot her an email. (Click HERE if you want to see it! Thanks Sarah!) It is exactly what it sounds like: 40 days of meals similar to what Daniel Craig ate while training to be James Bond.
Eric and I were talking later and he was wondering if he should do it. I said no, I prefer soft bellies actually (mine included, most importantly). And I also said, “Daniel Craig is like 65 and not cute. Like a grandpa. But with abs. It’s disturbing.”
And he said, “You’re just wrong, Karen. Daniel Craig is legitimately hot.”
Well there you go, Daniel Craig. You win today. I think my husband has a man-crush on you.
But really, am I the only one?? Pierce Brosnan made a much sexier James Bond if you ask me.
Are you following a diet or any kind of meal plan this January? I had plans. But I also just ate 2 cookies, so…
You will love these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Healthy Cookies
But at least they were healthy-ish ones! My friend Amy from Amy’s Healthy Baking wrote a book all about Healthier Chocolate Treats and this is one of her recipes. How cool is that?? She is so talented. Her blog is all about healthy baking. Definitely check her out!
These skinny oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are perfect for January! (Or anyone who’s trying to look like Daniel Craig…) They are moist and lightly spiced with cinnamon.
Seriously, you can’t beat a cookie made from scratch and I’m not just talking about taste. These are no store-bought treat made of low-quality carbs and unhealthy fats stripped of nutrients during processing and preservation. No! The first ingredient alone, oats, is considered to be one of the healthiest whole grains out there, chock full of important vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants! And that brings me to a good question.
Are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Healthy?
Um . . . what even is healthy? Okay, I’m joking, but actually it’s good to step back now and again to think about what healthy means.
“Healthy” basically boils down to two things:
- Calorie in versus calorie out. Balance. If you are eating fewer calories per day than you use, your body is still getting the daily calories it needs by burning excess fat, assuming you have excess fat. Otherwise, you are starving your body.
Bottom line, if your body isn’t getting your necessary calories somehow, you’re not eating healthy.
2. High-quality nutrients. Food doesn’t just provide energy (calories), it also provides the building blocks of life (nutrients). Variety matters. I don’t care how “healthy” kale is, eat nothing but kale every day and you will not get all your nutrients.
Bottom line, eating a wide variety of foods is the only way to get all those wonderful macro and micro nutrients.
So? The skinny on skinny oatmeal cookies? Are they healthy?
Folks, the good news is homemade oatmeal cookies can be a part of a healthy diet! The bad news is they have to be a small part of a healthy diet. (I hate it when there’s a catch.)
Like I said above, these cookies have nutrients aplenty. But with all those nutrients comes a lot of calories, all inside a little cookie. When big calories come in small packages, you don’t feel full fast and that can lead to excess eating. One of the best things about this better-option cookie recipe is that it only makes 12-15 cookies, which helps to keep portions under control.
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Here’s all you need! (Quantities given in recipe below.) These cookies are built on pantry essentials, win!
- Quick oats. While you can substitute old fashioned oats, I don’t recommend it (see below.)
- Whole wheat flour. Substitute white flour if you want!
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Kosher salt. Substitute table salt if necessary, but use a little less.
- Butter. Salted or unsalted butter is fine.
- Vanilla
- Large eggs
- Honey
- Dark chocolate chips
- Optional: raisins, craisins, or toasted walnuts (yum!)
What’s the difference between quick oats and regular oats?
Oats are one of the healthiest whole grains, and that includes quick oats, one of the ingredients in these cookies. Quick oats are smaller, drier, flakier, and more processed than old fashioned rolled oats. (They are partially cooked and then dried. Good news, quick oats are still a whole grain.) Unless you’re in a pinch, use quick oats for this recipe. They absorb moisture and take on a softer, cookie-er texture than old fashioned rolled oats.
How to make Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Now for the best part: baking! Here’s a simple overview of what to do and what to watch out for. (Step-by-step instructions given in the recipe below.)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
Mix dry ingredients together: oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Make sure you spoon and level your flour. I always do it with two measuring cups. Scoop with one cup, dump it in the one you need, then level off with the top of the measuring cup.
In a separate bowl, melt the butter. Whisk in the vanilla, then the egg. Whisk in the honey.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until it has just come together. Don’t overdo it, over mixing makes for tough cookies. (Then wipe out the bowl you used for your dry ingredients and toss it back in your cupboard!)
Save out about half of the chocolate chips. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the remaining chocolate, then fold it into the dough.
The chocolate chips are divided: half in the dough, half jammed into the warm cookies after baking for maximum showiness. If showiness isn’t your thing today, own it. Toss all the chips in the dough with reckless abandon.
Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, or freeze for about 15 minutes. Don’t skip this step! Yes, we’re modern humans. Yes, we’re pressed for time. Yes, Daniel Craig has multiple action scenes as James Bond available on YouTube for you to consume while waiting 30 minutes. Chilling this lower-calorie cookie dough helps mimic the higher-calorie cookie texture and shape.
Shape the dough into about 12-15 cookies, depending on how much dough you ate. (What, just me?? I mean who can say no to this goodness??) Place on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12-13 minutes, or until they have juuust started to brown on the edges.
Remove from the oven and immediately press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. They will melt immediately into pools of dark glory.
Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
How to store Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yes! In fact, try freezing single-serve portions before you let this buttery softness hit your tastebuds to better manage your waistline. Just let the cookies cool completely and toss them single-layered inside a ziplock. Squeeze out extra air. Voila, tomorrow’s treat, done today!
Another option is to freeze the dough itself. Spoon the dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (or a plate) and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. Place frozen dough balls into a labeled, freezer-safe storage bag. No need to thaw! Bake them straight from frozen, tacking on a couple minutes to the bake time. Freshly baked cookies, anytime you want!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe FAQs
Chilling cookie dough gives the finished cookie much chewier texture (not to mention great flavor). These cookies get (at least) 30 minutes of chilling time.
Melted butter also makes for chewier cookies, so the small amount we’re using here is getting melted.
It’s also important to measure ingredients correctly: you can improvise in cooking, but in baking, it’s best to stick with the given amounts to get the desired texture. Too much flour can straight up ruin an otherwise perfect cookie!
The most important step to preventing hard cookies happens before the cookies are even baked. DO NOT add too much flour!
I always use the “fluff and scoop” method. I fluff up the flour with a spoon, then use the same spoon to scoop it gently into the measuring cup before leveling it off. This recipe for healthier oatmeal cookies doesn’t call for too much flour, so you don’t have to worry too much.
You’ll also want to keep your cookies in an airtight container. If you’re going to have them around for more than 2-3 days, I recommend freezing them. That way you can pop one in the microwave anytime you need a treat.
Traditional oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made with a heck ton of butter. If you put a stick of butter in the oven, it’s going to bake flat, right? Same thing will happen to your cookies if you don’t have the right balance of ingredients. If you are looking for some amazing (traditional, full-fat) oatmeal cookies that don’t bake flat, check out my Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies or these Very Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
For today’s skinny cookie recipe, this is not going to be a problem for you at all! These are low fat cookies. There are only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch. You are not going to have a problem with these cookies baking flat! Just make sure you follow the instructions to chill the dough before baking.
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick oats
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (scant)
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Pull out 2 medium bowls, one for dry ingredients, one for wet.
- In one bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Melt the butter in the other bowl. You don’t have to melt it all the way, if there are a couple lumps it’s okay. Let cool slightly.
- Whisk in the vanilla, then the egg. Whisk in the honey.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir until it has just come together (don't overdo it).
- Save out about half of the chocolate chips. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop the remaining chocolate, then fold it into the dough.
- Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, or freeze for about 15 minutes.
- Use your hands to shape the dough into roughly 15 cookies (or 12 if you eat a lot of dough like me…)
- Place on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes, or until they have just started to brown on the edges.
- Once you remove them from the oven, immediately press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies.
- Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
- Drink with lots of milk!
I had high hopes for these cookies, especially using honey as the sweetener. It is always a slight guessing game when trying to use honey instead of sugar. When I was getting the dry ingredients together I saw the cinnamon and was a tad puzzled on the high amount. I decided to just go for a teaspoon. Unfortunately, this too was way too much. We are not by any means cinnamon phobic and my husband eats most everything I make him. He brought it up and I said I did think about the amount and used less. I had one the next day and it just is not working for us. If I had to do over I would maybe put in 1/2 teaspoon if any. Thank you for the recipe, just not our jam.
I made these cookies tonight. They were delicious! I made a few slight changes. I used old fashioned oats, King Arthur gluten free flour, Haines no sodium baking powder, and semi sweet choc chips. As for the other ingredients I used the same as it called for. I’m trying to watch my sodium intake. I used 1/2 tsp of kosher salt but next time I will try 1/4 tsp to see if it’s noticeable. The cookies have great flavor. I made 9 cookies out of my batch so they were a little big. I really like how this recipe doesn’t have much butter and it doesn’t have any added sugar (besides the chocolate chips). This recipe is a keeper. Thank you!
Great substitutions Tami! Love it. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!!
Finally a healthier cookie that tastes good! My family and I love them! So tasty.
Love hearing this Kris! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review, it means a lot :-)
I roughly followed the recipe, slightly increasing the honey and butter, realizing that there wasn’t a lot of liquid for the dry ingredients. I ended up with cookies that were way too dry. They did not rise or spread, but rather retained the shapes they were in when I put them in the oven exactly. The recipe requires more liquid to generate pleasing cookies at all. If I tried this again, I would add milk and a bit of oil. As is, this produces hunks of sweetened oats that are barely palatable. Also, in baking, is honey healthier than sugar? While I have had no-bake items in which honey worked very well, I think it may just be a waste of money to use so much honey in baked cookies. It may also have contributed to the cookie morphology problem I had.
Hi Matthew, so sorry to hear about your dry cookies! Hundreds of readers have tried and loved this recipe. I recommend following the recipe exactly rather than roughly, and making sure to fluff and scoop your flour before measuring, as adding even a little too much can throw off the results. Whether you consider honey healthier than sugar is up to you, but it is a less-processed food than white sugar. Hope your next batch of cookies turns out perfectly!
I liked these pretty well–certainly using quick oats made them much better than the oatmeal cookies I had been making, with regular oats. And refrigerating the dough was a great idea.
My problem is that they are much too sweet! I thought it’d be a great cookie for us because it sounded like it would have less sugar than most cookies, but I guess it’s just that it is honey, not sugar. So, here is my question: have you experimented with making it with half the honey (or maybe even less)? I did a bit of experimenting–I made it in two batches, and for the second batch, I added some flour and oats, plus a bit of milk so that it wouldn’t be too dry. I thought those were better but still too sweet.
Thanks!
Hi Marcia! Thanks for sharing your comment with us. This is the sweetness we liked best for this cookie to be a little healthier but still feel like a treat, but everyone’s different, and we love hearing about your experiments to make this cookie suit your tastes.
Thanks! Does anyone–Sarah or any readers of this blog–have suggestions for recipes for choc. chip oatmeal cookies that don’t use artificial sweeteners but use very little sugar or honey? I find that with the choc. chips I don’t need much other sweetener for a cookie to be tasty. But it’s a matter of getting a consistency that works okay.
Hello, I made this yesterday and I made a mistake in the measurements of the flour. But I have a question, the written instructions with a picture in your #4 you say “Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until it has just come together.”
And in the instructions after the recipe you say the opposite “add the wet to the dry” both could had different outcomes for me in the past. Would love to know how you do it for this recipe, since I’ll would love to make it again. Thank you so much, the flavor was amazing I wish K didn’t make my mistake with my first batch.
Hi Mimisu! Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Correcting that now in the recipe card :-) Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, it means a lot!
Can I do these with old fashioned oats?
Yes you can Daisy! But you’ll want to give them a whirl in the blender or food processor first, so they’re a finer texture, like quick oats. Otherwise your cookies won’t stick together. Enjoy!
Awesome cookies! My husband and I cannot stop eating these!!
Going to try and add some dried tart cherries with the dark chocolate chips.
Hopefully they will be a hit!
Where are the measurements?
Hi Carmel! All measurements are included in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!
I have made these more times than I can count (with maple syrup) and they are always a hit. My one question is about doubling the recipe. Not sure about doubling the baking powder… any advice? Thanks!
Hey Ana! Yes you can double the recipe no problem!
I’m with you on Daniel Craig vs Pierce Brosnan. Craig is just not hot—-not even warm !
I’ll be trying these cookies, too
Not even warm!! Haha! So funny, it’s true 😂 I hope you love the cookies Diana!
Flavor gets five stars! I thought that might be too much cinnamon, but it’s lovely.
My cookies did not spread at all, however… and were rather dry. More like a health bar texture.
Might make again with a little more butter or a splash of milk.
A keeper though for sure! Thank you!
Hi;
They taste good but the top layer of mine seem unbaked? If I bake them longer then the bottoms would be over baked. Any. Idea?
Hi Roxanna! It’s no fun when your cookies aren’t baking evenly. A few different things could be happening. The oven might be too hot, the cookie sheets might be too dark, or the position of the baking sheet in the oven might be too low. You can easily correct the first problem by turning the oven down by 25 degrees and the last one by moving the baking sheet to a higher rack. As for the possibility that your cookie sheets are too dark–if you don’t want to replace them, you can solve the problem by using a silicone mat. Silicone distributes heat evenly and will help the cookies bake evenly. I hope your next batch turns out perfectly!
I’ve made these twice with a couple changes. Reduced Cinnamon to 1/2 tsp (1.5tsp is way too much and gives them a weird flavor). Replaced honey with 1/3 cup Maple syrup. Added 1/3 cup lowfat plain yogurt. I flattened the cookies a bit with a fork before baking as the shape you drop them on the sheet is the shape they will come out.
Overall a decent semi sweet treat for a household that does not eat much sugar on the regular.