Dark Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt Cookies (with Avocado) 🍪

I’m not a fan of recipes that have really long intros, so I’ll keep this short and (most importantly) sweet.

Photo by Irene Kredenets on Unsplash

Avocado is an excellent source of monounsaturated fat, which is significantly better for you than saturated or trans fats you find in a lot of processed foods or baking ingredients (looking at you, butter).

I’m a very health conscious person, but occasionally I want my cake and I want to be able to eat it too (without feeling awful from all the bad fats and sugar). So I’ve been working to figure out a way to substitute Avocados for butter in baking, which not only reduces the amount of saturated fat (0.25g versus 7.3g per tablespoon), it also dramatically cuts the calories (25 calories versus 102 calories per tablespoon)!

This is my version of Dark Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt cookies, reimagined using healthier ingredients.

Ingredients

• 0.5 Cup Brown Sugar
• 0.25 Cup White Sugar
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1 Tablespoon Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
• 0.5 Cup Mashed Avocado (1 Medium Avocado)
• 0.5 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon Hot Water
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Tools

• Salt Grinder (adjustable size)
• Mixing Bowl
• Hand Mixer
• Sieve
• Spatula

Hacks / Substitutes

• I love to use Oat Flour when baking since it can develop a similar structure to gluten (but it’s gluten free)
• Coconut Palm Sugar works well in place of the Brown Sugar, but it’s really down to taste
• Normal Kosher/Sea Salt is fine as well, but the Pink Himalayan Salt naturally has a more “salty” flavor because of the mineral deposits so you can use less to limit sodium intake

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 315 Degrees Fahrenheit. This low temperature keeps the cookies from browning too quickly because of the avocado.
2. Remove the pit from the avocado and remove the skin. Add the avocado to the bowl, and using a spoon or other utensil, mash until there are no lumps remaining.
3. Add in all sugar, and use a mixer to cream them together.
4. Beat in the egg, and stir in the vanilla.
5. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water, then mix in.
6. Sieve the flour into the bowl, 0.5 Cup at a time and mix until well combined.
7. Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips until well distributed.
8. Adjust the salt grinder to your preferred size, and add to taste. Fold in the salt until well distributed.
9. Drop large spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto parchment paper, and use the spatula to shape and flatten them to about 0.5 in. thick.
10. Bake for 15 minutes at 315 Fahrenheit and allow to cool for another 15 minutes.
11. Shamelessly eat a cookie to celebrate!

Thanks for reading! ❤️