Healthy Cowboy Cookies

I’m finally catching up.

There have been so many recipe ideas I’ve wanted to health-ify over the years, and as much as I’d like to uphold the belief that of course I’ll make all of them, there has inevitably been a fair amount of picking and choosing. But that means I’m incredibly proud of the ones that make the cut.

When Averie posted about cowboy cookies (way back in the dark ages of 2015), I was enchanted by this deliciously classic recipe I had somehow never heard of and filed it in the back of my mind.

Recipe makeovers are kind of my bread and butter. Except I don’t eat bread and a lot of you don’t eat butter, but we make it awesome anyway. I actually have a running list of everything I want to and have already tackled, so if you’d like to make a request I’d love to see it!

In essence, cowboy cookies are very simple: a few basic superstar ingredients that come together to make an incredible cookie. There are a few variations but I based this recipe on the flavor profile of the New York Times’s version, which consists of chocolate chips, coconut, pecans, and oats.

Of course I took this as an opportunity to bust out my new favorite trick (subbing coconut for oats) and I soon became the proud baker of the best (low carb) cowboy cookies on the range.

These pictures are really purple. I know. I’m admittedly prone to brief spurts of a pseudo-artistic photo editing renaissance, so I kind of went nuts with making these matte.

But nuts can be excellent sometimes. They sure are in this recipe anyway.

Nutritional Breakdown

Calories

1/4 cup erythritol (0) + 1/2 teaspoon molasses (10) + 2 tablespoons applesauce (13) + 1 egg (70) + 2 cups almond flour (1120) + 1/4 cup pecans (188) + 1/3 cup reduced fat shredded coconut (83) + 3 squares sugar free chocolate (100) / 32 = 50 calories per cookie

Net Carbs

1/4 cup erythritol (0g) + 1/2 teaspoon molasses (3g) + 2 tablespoons applesauce (3g) + 1 egg (0g) + 2 cups almond flour (8g) + 1/4 cup pecans (1g) + 1/3 cup reduced fat shredded coconut (3g) + 3 squares sugar free chocolate (1g) / 32 = 1g net carbs per cookie

Protein

1/4 cup erythritol (0g) + 1/2 teaspoon molasses (0g) + 2 tablespoons applesauce (0g) + 1 egg (6g) + 2 cups almond flour (40g) + 1/4 cup pecans (3g) + 1/3 cup reduced fat shredded coconut (1g) + 3 squares sugar free chocolate (1g) / = 2g protein per cookie

Adapted from my Paleo White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and The New York Times

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

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Author: Kelly Morrison

Ingredients

¼ cup erythritol
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon molasses
2 tablespoons mashed banana/applesauce/softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg (or egg replacer, such as Ener-g or a flax egg)
2 cups almond flour
¼ cup chopped pecans
⅓ cup shredded coconut
3 squares sugar free chocolate, chopped

Instructions

* Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
* Combine the erythritol, baking soda, salt, molasses, and butter, and mix until smooth.
* Mix in the vanilla, egg, and almond flour, stirring to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then mix for 1 minute, until completely uniform. (A stand mixer is great here if you have one.)
* Stir in the pecans, coconut, and chocolate.
* Scoop the dough one level tablespoon at a time onto the prepared baking sheet gently flatten the cookies to about ⅜-inch thick.
* Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 9 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.
* Remove the cookies from the oven. Allow them to cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Devour.

More favorite cookies:

Chocolate Chip Nutella Filled Cookies