Healthy Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars

Happy Saturday! I hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Yesterday, I decided to try out a new recipe in honor of Treat Yoself Friday. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookie bars, and even though it was a cheat I still wanted something healthy! 

I know, I could have anything I wanted and I picked something healthy?! I feel like a broken record but once again, as always, it comes back to balance. 

So I did some research on recipes that weren't as healthy so that I could adapt them and put my own twist to it. I found this one at Two Peas & Their Pod. It seemed like a good contender so I substituted some things, played around with the proportions, and got to work! 

The first batch I made came out pretty good. My test tasters thought they were great but I still wanted to tweak them a bit. In the original recipe I subbed the butter with coconut oil 1:1 but decided the second time around to decrease the oil. So this morning after my run I made a second batch with less oil, and I'm happy to say that did just the trick! The bars were a lot fluffier and rose better plus they didn't taste as coconut-y. I love coconut but I didn't want that flavor to be strong in these bars.

So what you'll need is: 

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup coconut sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chips)

1/2 cup baking stevia

2 tbsp honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

To make them: 

1. preheat the oven to 325 degrees

2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. 

3. Melt the coconut oil and add the vanilla and eggs. Mix until the eggs are broken and then add the stevia and coconut sugar. 

4. Add half the wet into the dry and mix until combined then add the remaining dry ingredients. 

This is the part where you can lick the beaters clean before putting it in the sink :)  Don't pretend you don't do it. 

For some reason whenever I make cookie dough I like to eat the dough before the chocolate chips are added. Yeah I know it's weird but it's what I've always done!

5. Then fold in the chocolate chunks (or chips!). I had both chunks and chips but decided on using chunks for this recipe. 

6. Grease a 7x11 baking dish and pour the batter in

7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top and edges are lightly browned. I actually pulled mine out of the oven after 18 minutes because I wanted them to be a little underdone and gooey in the middle. Those are the best kind of cookies!

Look at those chunks! You wouldn't get all that with just chips ;)

I wanted to make sure to get all the angles for you guys! 

This recipe made 18 cookie bars and the macros were: 201 calories, 9g fat, 22g carbs, and 3g protein

Amanda's friend is out of town and we've been watching her dog for the past couple days. His name is Denver and he's an absolute sweetie! Although I might be biased since labs are my favorite breed (don't tell Layla). He's literally Layla in male form as he's so easy going and loves everyone and everything. The two of them have been having a blast together and get along perfectly! I may or may not just hide him when the time comes for him to leave because I want to keep him forever...

Anyway, last night before bed the two goons decided that they both wanted to sleep in my bed. So we ended up having a giant snuggle party and even though I seemed exasperated let's be honest, I loved every minute of it!  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)