Three Tips for Finding Healthy Cookie Recipes

Author: LWJF
Here's a breakdown of what healthy ingredients to look for and which ingredients to stay away from when searching for healthy cookie recipes.
Look for whole grain flours; stay away from bleached, refined flours. Unbleached, whole grain flours instead of white flour will vastly improve the healthiness of the cookie, especially since flour is a core ingredient. Only whole grain flour keeps most of its natural nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber, while bleached white flour retains very little. This is because whole grain flour uses the entire grain while the latter uses just the endosperm which is the starchy part of the grain. Regular white flour is still healthier than bleached white flour. Bleached white flour becomes bleached because it's highly processed with chemicals to speed up the aging process of the flour with chlorine, chloride, nitrogen oxide and others. Enriched (adding back what was taken out in processing) flour is also not the healthiest choice to use. Enriched wheat flour is not whole grain.
Look for sea salt; stay away from table salt. If a healthy cookie recipe has nutritious ingredients but contains table salt, opt to substitute sea salt instead. Both have the same chemical makeup of sodium and chloride, but sea salt undergoes very little processing so trace minerals aren't lost like they are in traditional salt.
Look for healthy sweeteners; stay away from refined white sugars and artificial sweeteners. Refined white sugar is void of nutrients; recipes with this ingredient make the cookies unhealthier. Artificial sweeteners cut calories but again, have no nutritional value and often change the taste. For healthier alternatives there's a wide variety of options. Maple syrup, honey, dates, molasses, and evaporated cane juice are a few. These choices also provide a positive taste difference; often times refined white sugar overpowers other flavors. Don't miss out on the other wonderful flavors that might be hiding in your cookie underneath all that white sugar!
If you are looking for healthy cookies, healthy cookie recipes and other healthy snacks with these beneficial ingredients, check out The Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook by Dr. Laura Trice.