These Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies are a little fancier than the beloved original and healthier too. Dates are added along with a few more ingredients to make texture packed cookies. Irresistible to everyone who passes the cookie jar.
There are almost always great cookies hanging around this house. And some of the most favorites is a healthy version of old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies.
They are so much more than just a delicious treat or snack. Always having them on hand on special days such as Father’s Day or Labor Day makes a tradition.
But making chocolate chip cookies with dates on a regular basis isn’t such a bad idea either. This is what a cookie jar full of cookies causes:
- Lots of foot traffic when people are just looking for some sweet treat
- Visits in the kitchen for a little comfort snack
- A great excuse to step into the kitchen and not only find a cookie but a little conversation
- An inviting homey atmosphere for family and friends
An Extra Tempting Cookie
There is nothing more satisfying as a home baker seeing the joy on people’s faces when they discover a new flavorful twist in a familiar chocolate chip cookie.
That’s a great reason to keep playing around with those flavors and textures, hoping to make each one equally irresistible.
This time around, I’m throwing in dates, raisins, and granola into these date filled cookies. Another great combo with incredible texture!
When they come out of the oven they taste so good! Yeah, by the time they’ve cooled enough to store – quite a few are missing.
How to Bake Cookies in the Oven
You can use whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour but this recipe is taking advantage of whole wheat pastry flour. It makes a softer texture than regular whole wheat flour.
In the photos below you can see the flour topped with baking soda, baking powder, salt, and beautiful ground cinnamon.
Also, aren’t those raisins and chopped dates pretty?
You may think that you can’t get a beautiful fluffy whip when using dairy free butter and unrefined sugar but you can! Just as light and fluffy as dairy butter.
Check out the photo below. It is dairy free butter and coconut sugar. A nice pale brown that is puffy and fluffy and didn’t take any longer than whipping with dairy butter. About 5 minutes with a mixer.
The photo next to the whipped butter is the same whipped butter mix with two flax eggs and a little dairy-free milk. (I used almond (unsweetened). You can use any dairy-free milk you like but keep it unsweetened.
After you fold in the flax eggs and dairy-free milk all of the rest of the ingredients are added. Fold all of that in and try not to eat too much of the cookie dough.
the dough is loaded with delicious additions that are hard to resist.
Drop a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet about 2: apart. Flatten a little and you’re on your way.
- The small bits of granola adds a nice crunch which becomes more apparent as they cool down.
- They have a perfectly natural sweet balance with lavishly chocolate goodness.
There’s always room for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Nothing is more satisfying as a home baker than to see the joy on people’s faces when they discover a new treat is fresh out of the oven.
One of my downfalls is chocolate chip cookies so I tend to start with cookie dough and chocolate chips.
It’s fun to come up with slightly different versions and sometimes I go way over the edge. Like adding a lot of goodies.
These chocolate chunk and date filled cookies are perfect for dipping in almond milk, hot or cold.
It’s become another favorite cookie staple in our cupboard that everyone loves and I think it will become that for you too.
Do You Love Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Here are some more recipes that you might enjoy:
It’s fun making these giants and the little ones really get a kick out of these Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Rustic Chocolate chip cookies are so simple and pretty with one edge dunked in chocolate.
And how can I not mention one of my first chocolate chip cookies that I made as a vegan, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies
Nut Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are well, nut free and just big and fat.
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What Do You Think?
If you’d like to leave a star rating along with a comment, it would really be appreciated.
And if you take a photo of your homemade recipe, follow me over on Instagram and tag me on your photo @vegan_in_the_freezer. You could even use my hashtag #VeganInTheFreezer. I’d love to see it!
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal mixed with 6 tablespoons water
- 1 cup dairy free butter
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 1 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 2 cups granola or granola cereal
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup dates, chopped in small pieces
Instructions
- In a medium bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a small bowl mix the flaxseed meal and water and set aside so it can thicken.
- In a large bowl add the butter and coconut sugar and beat with a hand mixer until it is light and fluffy. That takes about 5 minutes.
- If you have a granola that is in large clumps put it in a baggie and pound it with a mallet (or some such item) that will crunch the the granola into smaller bits.
- Now to the large bowl with the butter mixture add the flaxseed meal mixture and almond milk and stir.
- Beat in the flour mixture a half a cup at a time. You can use the hand mixer up to this point.
- Now hand mix in the chocolate chips, raisins, dates and granola.
- Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet by the tablespoon full. Space about 2" apart.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes. Let set 3 minutes and remove to racks to cool completely.
Notes
Freezing:
Freeze in airtight containers for up to 4 months. They defrost quickly and you can even eat them straight out of the freezer.Nutrition
Nancy Perine
Helllo! I had fun looking all around your web site/blog. Your recipe for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies caught my eye. I had everything on hand except the flaxseed meal and coconut sugar, so hot footed it to our specialty food store and they fixed me right up. These were fun to make and I even managed to not eat them all and left enough to share with friends. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I’ll be back!
Ginny McMeans
Hi Kimberly, the oil won’t whip nice and I believe the oil will make it too wet. If you do make them I would love to hear what you did and how they turned out.
Kimberly
I know coconut oil doesn’t always work in baked goods, but could I substitute 1/2 the vegan butter with coconut oil? I like a hearty, chewy cookie. These look delicious! I hope to make them this weekend, and I’ll report back if I sub the oil to let you know how they turn out.
Vicki
We loved these! Chocolate chip cookies are always good but the dates really made them special. I tried to freeze them but they didn’t last long enough. 🙂
Ginny McMeans
Thanks Susan!
Susan
Calorie Counter recipe say 125 calories per cookie if I use Earth Balance Vegan buttery sticks.
Ginny McMeans
Thanks Melissa! You can’t beat the sweetness of dates.
melissa @ my whole food life
These look so good! I love the idea of dates in the cookies. Yum!
Ginny McMeans
That is wonderful! I aim for delicious and easy. Sorry, I do not have nutritional facts. I have tried different programs but the facts were never the same so I gave up. Ha!
Theresa
I just made these, so delicious and oh so easy to make!! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Do you have nutritional facts for these cookies?
Ginny McMeans
So glad you got inspired Kristen! That sounds great too for the oatmeal raisin cookies.
Kristen Kelley
These look so good! I never would’ve thought to add dates to a cookie unless it was using date sugar. I think I may have to add some to my next batch of oatmeal raisin cookies, too! Thanks for the inspiration!