Clean Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I came up with the recipe for these clean chocolate chip oatmeal cookies as a make-ahead treat I could take on our outdoor excursions. You don’t need to be into clean eating to fall in love with them either. They are everything any good oatmeal cookie should be; perfectly chewy, sweet and soft. And there’s no reason not to have seconds…

What Makes a Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Clean?

Oatmeal aside, can a Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie really be clean? When you deconstruct the recipe, here’s what’s in it:

• 100% Whole Grain Sprouted Spelt Flour: Sprouted spelt flour can be substituted for just about any recipe that calls for whole wheat flour and has become my new all-purpose baking flour for the past year or so. As an ancient grain, like quinoa, millet, amaranth, and others, spelt has not been manipulated to meet manufacturing needs the way wheat has been. Although it does contain gluten, spelt flour is considerably easier to digest than conventional wheat and many people who cannot tolerate wheat find they can still eat spelt. As with all of the grains I eat, if a sprouted option is available I go with that simply because sprouting releases all the available nutrients stored within the whole grain and makes it even easier to digest. And believe it or not, using sprouted spelt flour in place of whole wheat flour makes a tastier chocolate chip oatmeal cookie too! Learn more about the benefits of spelt over whole wheat.  As for where to buy it, I buy sprouted spelt flour from either Whole Foods Market or Thrive Market. 
• Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: This whole grain contributes to the soft, chewy texture and gives a great fiber boost too.
• Date Puree & Coconut Palm Sugar:  Whole food, fiber-rich and nutrient-dense dates are an incredibly clean way to sweeten Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, but they also help make the cookies even chewier. The coconut palm sugar is used as a substitute for empty calorie brown sugar. Although I wouldn’t classify it as a superfood, unlike refined sugar, coconut palm sugar helps prevent blood sugar spikes.  And I only use a smidgen over 1/4 cup of the coconut palm sugar for the entire recipe, which is not a lot considering conventional chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipes call for over a cup of sugar (yikes!)
• White Bean Puree: Adding white beans to your Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe might sound as appetizing as adding anchovy paste, but believe it or not, white bean puree helps make the cookies soft and incredibly moist without making them greasy. Besides the culinary benefits of beans, the health perks are remarkable. If you have our Clean Cuisine book, then you know eating a serving of beans is an important part of our anti-inflammatory diet program. If you don’t know beans about beans, be sure to read why beans just might be the very best carbohydrate here. 
• Organic, Pasture-Raised Eggs: So many people are totally confused about eggs, but as long as you eat eggs from pasture-raised chickens that are eating a natural chicken diet (which is NOT vegetarian, by the way), then eggs are absolutely a super healthy food choice. I know conventional cookie recipes typically don’t call for eggs, but I use eggs in my cookies as a binder and also to add moisture.
• Unrefined, Organic Red Palm Oil: Although you can absolutely use organic, extra virgin coconut oil in the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe, I prefer using unrefined, organic red palm oil instead. Although palm oil has gotten a bad rap for years, unrefined, organic RED palm oil is truly a superfood. Both Nutiva and Alaffia are the two brands I like best.
• Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips & Lightly Sweetened Cacao Nibs: Of course you can’t make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies without some chocolate chips, but I like to use a combination of dairy free chocolate chips and lightly sweetened cacao nibs.
• Raw Walnuts: I add chopped walnuts to my cookies as much for taste as I do for health benefits, including omega-3’s, phytonutrients, fiber, etc.

Here’s what they look like unbaked in the photo below. I prefer to leave them kind of roundish and ball-like, but you can always flatten the cookies out a bit with the back of a spoon if you want.

Clean Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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★★★★★

4.7 from 3 reviews

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 30 mins
• Yield: 14

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Ingredients

• 1 cup sprouted spelt flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 organic, pasture-raised eggs
• 4 pitted medjool dates
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon organic, unrefined red palm oil OR organic, extra virgin coconut oil, softened
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dairy-free mini chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
• 1/4 cup lightly sweetened cacao nibs (such as Navitas Naturals brand)
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts, coarsely chopped

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and coconut sugar. Set dry ingredient mixture aside.
3. In a high speed blender (such as a Vitamix), add the garbanzo beans, vanilla, eggs and dates. Process on high speed for about a full minute, or until mixture is smooth, creamy and lump-free. Combine the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix in the oil. Stir the ingredients together until everything is just combined (Note: Be careful not to over-stir or cookies will tend towards being hard rather than soft and chewy.)
4. Stir in the chocolate chips, cacao nibs and walnuts.
5. Measure out approximately 2 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie onto the parchment-lined baking sheet (Note: You can either leave the cookie in a ball shape as shown in the photo or flatten slightly with the back of a spoon.) Bake cookies for about 13 to 15 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and set aside for 10 minutes to cool and firm.

P.S. If you liked the idea of using beans in the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, be sure to check out this recipe for bean-spiked Chocolate Chip Cookies too! And if you are having a difficult time locating any of the ingredients, be sure to check out Thrive Market (it’s like a Coscto for healthy foods.)