Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is fall break right now, the weather has cooled down, and the leaves are changing colors hence filling me with the need to bake and shove everything into my freezer to munch on at a later date.
I love a good warm chocolate chip cookie as much as the next person, in fact they may even be one of my weaknesses (hey there's chocolate involved so that automatically makes it a weakness). But every once in awhile I'm looking for something slightly less sinful than your typical variety of chocolate chip cookies. This is where a blurb in a magazine article caught my eye and made me ponder my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. The article suggested replacing half of the fat in your recipe (whether it be cookies, pumpkin bread, and so on) with pureed avocado. Avocado is full of monounsaturated fat, the "good" fat, which helps to lower LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol, and increase levels of HDL cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol.

I know you're probably thinking the dough looks a little green, but I swear just wait and see.

About a year and a half ago I gave this suggestion a try hoping that my cookies didn't come out green or tasting like guacamole and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The cookies didn't spread out (so don't freak out when yours don't either) and they come out very moist with a fluffier texture than your traditional chocolate chip cookie. Now it is hard for people to believe that the cookies would actually come out well, but when I feed them to people without them knowing that there's avocado in them they never even notice, and then I reveal my secret to them. Everyone should give these a try at least once!

You can use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with this trick, but below I've given given my go-to recipe with the avocado substitution for half the fat in them.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup pureed avocado
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups AP flour
12 oz chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy
3) Add pureed avocado, vanilla, baking soda, salt and eggs mixing well
4) Add flour one cup at a time mixing until just mixed in, as not to over mix the dough
5) Stir in chocolate chips
6) Drop cookies onto cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 min or until slightly brown on top
*Note baking times will vary due to the avocado in the cookie. It is best to watch the first pan of cookies and adjust the time and baking temperature as needed.
7) Remove cookies from the cookie sheet and let cool on a cooling rack
8) Enjoy these slightly less sinful cookies!

Yield: About 4 dozen 3" cookies