Diet Cookies?

Yes. They do exist.......sort of.

Lately I've been really tired despite my early to bed early to rise routine. I have been working out every morning with my roommate and Jillian Michaels and even though I feel a lot better physically that still didn't help fix the problem. So, after a few weeks of thought, I came to the conclusion that my diet must be to blame for my lack or energy.

I LOVE food and I love to eat! My mentality has been that since I am working out I'll lose weight no matter what or how much I eat. Wrong! I stayed the same weight and didn't get any more energy. Then 2 weeks ago I had an epiphany. I took a blood allergy test a few years ago and learned that I was mildly allergic to a few minor things like wheat, dairy, gluten and GARLIC (my all time favorite spice) and so I decided that if I cut those things out of my diet it might help me feel better and have more energy. And so far so good.

For the past 2 weeks I have done my best to steer clear of wheat, dairy, gluten and garlic, which turns out is easier said than done because garlic is in EVERYTHING, and I can definitely feel a difference. But today at work, I daydreaming of desserts and I had to do something to make those dreams a reality. So I decided to find a recipe for cookies that I could potentially doctor up to fit my diet specification and I found a pretty good recipe.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

(I'm sorry this is not a prettier picture with a more beautiful arrangement of the cookies, but you get the idea)

Ingredients:

1/2 C butter (I used Crisco to make them dairy free)

1/2 C unsweetened apple sauce

1 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 C whole wheat flour (I used spelt flour)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 C quick-cooking oats

1 C semisweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of special dairy free chocolate chips and extra dark chocolate chips)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together butter (or crisco), apple sauce, brown and white sugar until smooth.

Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended.

Mix the oats and chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

I must say, they turned out really well and they definitely satisfied my need for dessert. AND to top it all off, they are still on my diet! However, when you eat 25 are they still considered "diet" cookies? Probably not. Good think I've only had 2...........but I think I want another.