Here is the recipe for the whole wheat dark chocolate chip avocado cookies I made last night! I just took a new batch out of the oven – this time with walnuts! – and 3 are gone…

This recipe is for 12 cookies:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (Note: That says one and a half, not one-half. I learned that the hard way with a muffin recipe a while back…)

1/2 cup ripe avocado, mashed

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon hot water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark chocolate chips

I baked them two different ways. The first time I made them into rather robust round balls (I rolled them in my hands, which is helpful because the dough is sticky). They didn’t flatten out much like a regular cookie, so the second time, I used less dough and made them flatter before cooking. A taste tester today told me the first way is better, so, in conclusion: roll them with your hands into round balls and lay them on a “greased” cooking sheet (I used Pam cooking spray).

They took about 20 minutes to bake in my convection oven. Longer than normal cookies. But experiment a bit with your oven. If you have a regular oven and it’s at 350* see what happens after 10 minutes or so (toothpick time!).

They won’t brown too much, and they stay somewhat fluffy. Honestly, halfway through cooking I’ve flattened them with a spatula so they cook a bit faster.

They’re quite good! I need to not eat 3 at once in the middle of the day (end-of-day dessert, however, is a different story…). I like them because they’re whole wheat and therfore have more fiber, and because the avocado is of course a healthier fat than regular butter. It also has way fewer calories. I want to attempt to do a side-by-side comparison of fat, fiber, calories, etc. of regular cookes vs. these. Stay-tuned for that! In the meantime, enjoy :).