Chocolate Chip Lentil Cookies

I am always looking for ways to hide healthy ingredients in desserts. I am the first to cut the sugar in half, cut the butter in half, and use some whole wheat flour instead of all white. So when I saw this recipe come over my email from a colleague (thanks Julie!), I had to try it right away. Conveniently I had just made a curry that needed some thickening – so was able to use the leftover lentil puree in there.

Have I piqued your interest yet? Lentils. In cookies. YES!

The original recipe is by Michael Smith, PEI Chef, and can be found on the www.lentils.ca website. I have made some adjustments (I don’t believe any cookie needs 2 cups of sugar in the recipe!). Here is the revised recipe. 

P.S. my kids just got home from school and are eating them now - they have no idea that there are lentils in there, and they are usually very suspicious that I have hidden something in everything I make (they are almost always correct in that assumption).

Ingredients

¼ cup butter

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

½ cup lentil puree

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

¼ cup rolled oats (not instant)

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Step 1: Puree the lentils in a food processor. Drain the can and pour the contents into a measuring cup. You need 4 parts lentils and 1 part water. Puree. Then measure 1/2 cup of the puree to use in the recipe.

Step 2: Using a stand mixer if possible, cream together the butter, applesauce and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Step 3: Cream in the lentil puree.

Step 4: Add the flour, salt and baking powder. Cream together, then add the oatmeal.

Step 5: Stir in the chocolate chips.

Use two teaspoons to drop the cookies onto a Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Pinch a small crumble of sea salt onto each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.

If you are doing the Weight Watchers program, I calculated these to be 2 Points Plus points each. That would be for a yield of 40 cookies. Here is the other nutritional info (per cookie):

calories 86

fat 2.19g

cholesterol 8.38mg

sodium 109.42mg

Total carbohydrates 14.57g

     dietary fibre 0.8g

     sugars 6.8g

protein 1.76g

Happy eating :-)