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 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 butter.
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
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
Ingredients
- ½ cup cooked, cooled quinoa
- 3 tbsp ground flaxseeds + 5 Tbl water
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/2 whole wheat flour plus 1/2 all-purpose)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt (optional)
- 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 use 1/2 cup for the recipe. See the recipe below.
- 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.
Quino Recipe
- Rinse 1 cup of quinoa in a strainer under running water for about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup water plus the rinsed quinoa to a saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Lower the heat to simmer and cook until the quinoa has absorbed all the water, about 15-20 minutes. Yield will be about 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa.
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.
Wow, these are SOOO good! Yum. I substituted pecan butter for almond, whole wheat flour for the all-purpose and pecans instead of walnuts. Grating the carrots finely took a bit of effort, but worth it. I usually make a half recipe when trying new ones out, but am glad I made the whole batch!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies! Great substitutions… I didn’t even know about pecan butter and I have to try them with whole wheat flour. It’s much preferred actually.
I would love to try these. I’m allergic to Quinoa (and also I am gluten free) – would you have any ideas for a substitute for quinoa? Brown rice maybe? Thank you for this unique recipe!
Good question. Brown rice seems like it might be too heavy for these cookies. I read that amaranth is similar to quinoa and it’s also a seed. Since I haven’t tried a substitute for quinoa I can’t say how they’d turn out. I was thinking about my Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies wondering if adding grated carrot would work for them, maybe with a little extra flour, though. Worth an experiment, I’d say. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.