Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies ... or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Vegan, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Fat Free, Nut Free, High Protein

Wouldn't it be great if you could have cookies that were packed with super-nutritious ingredients, so you could eat dessert totally guilt-free and still be happily nourishing your body? That's what I've wondered for a long time, and this recipe hits the spot in both regards! I stirred a few secret healthy ingredients in here that make these cookies high protein, low fat, low calories, but still really big and satisfying on taste! The special ingredients?  

• Quinoa Flour or Brown Rice Flour - works as the flour and provides a great source of protein
• Pumpkin - sweet vegetable that has a lower glycemic index, plenty of fiber, and is rich in important antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It "is less in calories but contains vitamin A, and flavonoid poly-phenolic antioxidants such as leutin, xanthin, and carotenes in abundance" (see references below). 
• Chia Seeds - loaded with antioxidants, a great source of important omega 3 fatty acids, good source of fiber, and a high-quality protein source. These are very important to add in one's diet, and they can even replace the eggs in baking!
• Cinnamon - proven to help stabilize blood sugar, boosts cognitive function, improves insulin production, and can even reduce cancer cells. 

Wet Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin
• 1 cup applesauce (unsweetened) 
• 3/4 cup erithrytol (or sweetener of choice)
• 2-3 pinches stevia
• 2 chia seed eggs (2 tbsp. chia seeds + 4-5 tbsp. water)
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. imitation butter flavor (optional, if you want to keep it really pure leave out)

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Quinoa Flour or Brown Rice flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 3 tsp. cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• pinch sea salt
• 3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips, or any other add-ins you'd like! (raisins, nuts, etc.)

*As many ingredients as possible should be Organic and trustworthy.

Stir the wet ingredients together, then mix into the dry ingredients. If the mixture looks a little too wet, then add in extra quinoa flour, and if it's too dry add in pumpkin or applesauce or even almond milk. It might look kind of wet, but that is okay and they should still turn out into solid cookies. You might get good results by putting the dough in the fridge for a while to firm up, but it's not really necessary and I didn't do it. 

Form the cookies into your desired cookie shape on a foil-lined pan. The cookies don't rise much at all, so form them into the shape you want now - bite-sized, or big cookies, whatever!
By using the dough as is, you will make Pumpkin Spice Chia Cookies (great for breakfast!), OR you can add in chocolate chips to make a gooey chocolatey dessert! Sprinkle the plain Pumpkin Spice cookies with cinnamon before baking, and they'll even look like snickerdoodles.

      Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Version: 
Stir 6+ tbsp. of natural peanut butter into the finished dough. The peanut butter taste of the final product will depend on the kind of peanut butter you're using, so use more or less than that amount depending on how strong you'd like the flavor to be. I used about 6 tbsp. of PB2 mixed with water, and the peanut taste was not too strong. Then stir in your chocolate chips and form the cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 16-19 minutes, or until golden brown/darker and the inside is mostly cooked through. You can still take them out if they are still pretty soft on the inside, since they will continue to cook on the pan, and they will just be softer and chewier. 













I obviously chose to make a lot more Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies today, as that is Kenny's ultimate favorite flavor combination. He really liked the cookies, and I really liked their taste, soft chewy texture, AND that they are so healthy, will not spike our blood sugar, and have only ingredients that are GOOD for our bodies! :)

Reference: 
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/pumpkin.html
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/11-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/11-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html