Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

These are delicious! Oh how I love cookie dough! I secretly like making cookies just so I can nibble on the dough!! Now I can do it guilt free.

I have tried SEVERAL different recipes for healthy chocolate chip cookie dough and none of them hit the spot until I came up with these. I tweaked several different recipes, taking things out, lowering the calories, making them healthier, not having them taste like whole wheat, or pureed beans, etc. etc.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

1/3 cup cashews

1/2 cup oats

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

couple dashes of cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon stevia*

3 tablespoons sugar free maple syrup or liquid sweetener of your choice*

1/4 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips or chocolate chip of your choice

Directions:

Blend cashews and oats in the blender or food processor until flour like consistency. Pour in a bowl and mix well with the remaining ingredients. Eat dough as is or form into little balls about a teaspoon each. Should make about 30 cookie dough balls if you haven't already nibbled on the dough. Freeze cookie dough balls on a plate so they don't stick together. After they are frozen, toss them in a bag and keep them in the freezer.

 *I used Joseph's Original Sugar Free Maple Syrup. You could also try substituting it with maple syrup, honey, or agave. If using a different sweetener you can probably omit the stevia.

Did you know eating nuts like cashews lowers your risk of weight gain?! In moderation of course!

Although nuts are known to provide a variety of cardio-protective benefits, many avoid them for fear of weight gain. A prospective study published in the journal Obesity shows such fears are groundless. In fact, people who eat nuts at least twice a week are much less likely to gain weight than those who almost never eat nuts.

Read more health benefits of cashews: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=98