Sometimes cravings get to me. Even when I’ve had a full meal, the urge for something sweet takes over. Do you know what I mean? What’s a healthy food blogger to do? Make these dynamite-for-you, sweet and satisfying cookies that you can have any time of the day. Breakfast, anyone?
They even have a secret ingredient.
They also have a tad of sugar, but the addition of applesauce, banana and carrot help. They are subtly sweet. You could possibly substitute zucchini for the carrot, but it adds more moisture so add a little more flour if you do.
You can add any kind of nuts you have on hand. I made these with pumpkin seeds and walnuts. The basic recipe is very good even without the addition of chocolate chips or nuts! Enjoy! These are more cake-like than cookies made with more fat.
Oh, and the secret ingredient…. QUINOA. I love that they have a little more protein to balance the carbs.
Make sure to check out a few more plant-based desserts:
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Carrot Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
Carrot Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup cooked, cooled quinoa
- 3 Tbl ground flaxseeds + 5 Tbl water
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp Ceylon cinnamon*
- 1 large ripe banana mashed
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 cup finely grated carrots
- ½ cup coconut sugar or date sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract non-alcoholic preferred
- ½ cup mini vegan chocolate chips (optional)
- ½ cup walnuts and/or seeds such as, pumpkin or sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
- If you need to, cook the quinoa and just use 1/2 cup for the recipe.
- Combine the ground flax and water and let sit for several minutes.
- In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: quinoa, oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the applesauce, coconut sugar, mashed banana, grated carrots, almond butter, vanilla and flax mixture.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine thoroughly.
- Add the mini chocolate chips and nuts and stir again.
- Drop by large spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. They will spread so leave room between.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes, checking to make sure they don't brown too much on the bottom. If you like them a little browner and more crispy, cook a little longer.
Notes
non-alcoholic vanilla extract preferred
looks long and hard to make, I will save it for when I have time, they look great thank you
Susan, it does take a little longer if you don’t already have cooked quinoa on hand. Adding sweetness from bananas and applesauce helps keep the sugar down 🙂
Can hemp seeds that are flaky substitute for the flax?
The flax is in the recipe as an egg replacer. I’m not sure about hemp seeds. They need to make a gelatinous texture when mixed with water and I don’t think they do that. You could try some of the other substitutions like 3 Tbl aquafaba (juice from a can of chickpeas) or 1 Tbl chia seeds + 3 Tbl water. Baking recipes can be a little trickier, but often recipes are pretty forgiving with change. Good luck. gelatinous
Quick question is it 15 carb per cookie
Hi, I doubled checked the nutrition info and it came in slightly different. It calculated 11 gm carbs per cookie. I hope that helps 🙂
Quinoa expands 3-4 times so… Is it really 1/2 cup cooked quinoa? Then why start with 1/2 cup raw? You’ll have too much.
I see that instruction may be confusing so I removed it. It’s hard to make just 1/2 cup cooked quinoa because you need so little of it to start (1/2 of 1/3 uncooked quinoa). That’s why I gave instructions for more. Thanks for letting me know.