Seasoned to Taste: Big and Chewy Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Return on investment. It’s a phrase those of us fortunate enough to have investments have been trying not to think about these days. But while there’s little most of us can do about our financial “ROI,” there’s no time like holiday time to consider the nutritional return on the caloric investment most of us will make daily over the next month.

Of course few of us, when approaching the holiday spread in the staff room or at the open house, are thinking, “hmm, what can I choose that will give me the most nutritional bang for my caloric buck?” More like, “ooohh, THAT looks good!” There’s plenty of gastronomic junk bonds out there, promising incredible returns of taste. But empty calories are the fine print of the holiday party prospectus, and the price you’ll pay for too many of them will become clear come Jan. 1.

We can try to spend more time on the vegetable and fruit end of the groaning board, and so long as we avoid the calorie-dense and high-fat dips that accompany them, that’s not a bad choice. But humans do not live by rabbit food alone.

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One way to have your treat and eat it, too, is to make recipes that give you more for the calories you consume. You can’t control what others contribute to the holiday sweet swap, but you can offer something that’s tempting, tasty and a good return for the calories consumed: a big, chewy, chocolate chip cookie.

Sounds like a crazy scheme, but this chocolate chip cookie relies on two secret ingredients: dates and a bit of browned butter, to deliver rich flavor, good texture and nutrients. With roughly half the calories and fat of the typical chocolate chip cookie, this treat offers dietary fiber, iron, potassium and surprisingly rich flavor.

To get this great return on caloric investment, recipe developer Meredith Butcher uses a couple of tricks. Sweet, supple dates are pureed and replace some of the usual butter. And what butter there is has intense flavor because it’s melted to the point of browning, adding richness without too big a surcharge of calories and fat.

To replicate typical texture, the dough is first rolled into balls. Then the balls are torn in half and pressed together at the base to leave the jagged edges up. The final touch is to add a few chocolate chips on top just before the cookies go into the oven. This rolling, pulling apart, squishing together and chip pressing makes fun for kids or anybody else who wants to build up a little sweat equity. Parchment paper makes for easy cookie sheet cleanup. And the big, satisfying sweets will deliver good nutrition and smiles both. These days, that’s about the best return on investment you can get!

Big and Chewy Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup water

4 tablespoons finely chopped dates

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1¼ cups packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring water to a boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add dates and simmer until tender and most of the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes. Using rubber spatula, press dates through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl. Scrape dates remaining in strainer into bowl (you should have ¼ cup puree.) Cook butter in small saucepan over medium heat until nutty brown, about 4 minutes. Let cool. (Note: it will be easier to check the color of the butter in a stainless steel pan. Nonstick cookware is so dark it’s hard to tell when butter is browned, not burnt.)

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat melted butter, brown sugar, and date puree in large bowl until blended. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Reserve 2 tablespoons chips, and stir in remaining chips by hand.

To form dough into 18 cookies, roll two tablespoons of dough into a ball. Pull the ball into two equal halves, creating jagged edges. Rotate the cookie halves so that the “torn” surfaces are facing up. Press the two halves together at the base so they form a single ball with the jagged side up. Space cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Press remaining 2 tablespoons chips evenly over cookies. Bake until edges are light golden brown and centers are soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating baking sheet front to back halfway through baking. Cool cookies completely on baking sheets. Serve. (Cookies will keep in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Source: Meredith Butcher, Cook’s Country

Calories,120; fat, 3 g; saturated fat, 2 g

Traditional chocolate chip cookies:  Calories, 220; fat, 8 g; saturated fat, 5 g

Lynne Ireland lives to eat and welcomes comments and questions from others who do (or don’t). Contact her at savor @journalstar.com.