It is in the name of honesty that I divulge this shameful fact: I don't like yogurt as a stand-alone food.
This may be an unconventional way to set up a recipe post sponsored by Greek Gods Yogurt, so let me explain. I love yogurt as a COMPONENT of other foods. Or combined with other foods. Especially Greek yogurt, which I will use for any and everything from a mayo substitute to a topping for baked potatoes.
Here's the thing: I have discovered that I do like baking with yogurt. In fact, I love baking with yogurt.
Yogurt--Greek yogurt in particular--lends a tangy, buttermilk-like flavor to baked goods, and an incredibly fluffy texture. I am guessing the texture has something to do with the fact that the acidic component of yogurt acts in tandem with any leaveners to create fluff city, but I am no scientist, so that is only a theory.
OK, so with all that having been said, I need to tell you that when Greek Gods was all, "let us send you some of our chia seed Greek yogurt to bake with!", I was all (please imagine me saying this in Justin Timberlake's voice) "yeah girl, let me see what I can bake up with your chia seed goo".
As long as there are no follow up questions, that is exactly how it happened.
So, a few days later the yogurt arrived, and I got baking. I love healthy-ish cookies (you know, the kinds with oats and whole wheat flour, but still plenty of butter and sugar), so I was really psyched about a riff on chocolate chip cookies using this yogurt.
I thought it made a great #whathappenswednesday concept, too: what happens when you make chocolate chip cookies with Greek yogurt?
These cookies came out awesomely!
As I had previously experienced, the yogurt gave the cookies an amazingly fluffy texture. The chia seeds were subtle, but definitely present, adding a little bit of an earthy flavor and tiny bit of texture. With a bunch of oats and some very good quality chopped chocolate thrown in the batter, these were definitely not your typical chocolate chip cookies, but turned out to be 100% crave-worthy.
I brought some to the yoga studio where I teach, I brought some to a fellow yoga instructor's birthday party, and the rest my sweetheart ate. They all disappeared, nobody declared them too healthy, everyone remarked on the fluffy texture.
These cookies are well worth a try if you want to add a little health to your cookie but, you know, still have a cookie, or if you just want to try something new, or if, like me, this is a way that you can enjoy yogurt. And if you love yogurt, go ahead and dip these cookies in it for added bliss.
Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Chia Seed Cookies
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt (I like salty; use less, like 1/8 to 1/4 tsp if you don't)
- 1/2 cup, or 1 stick, unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 container (150g) Greek Gods Vanilla Chia Seed Yogurt
- 2 cups good quality semi or bittersweet chocolate, chopped; or, use chocolate morsels
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- In a large-ish bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, and salt. Set to the side.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed, until soft and malleable-looking. Add in the two types of sugar, and continue creaming for 2-3 minutes, or until nice and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing completely and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Stir in the vanilla and the Greek yogurt, mixing on low speed to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. The dough will become very gooey at this point.
- Add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed to combine. Once completely cohesive, fold in the chocolate and the oats, stirring to ensure even distribution.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic, and put the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or (even better) overnight. This is very important as it discourages the cookies from spreading too much, as well as allowing the flavors to come together.
- Near the end of your cooling period, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough on to the prepared sheets, leaving plenty of room around each cookie to allow for spreading. (I did 12 cookies per sheet).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden and "set" on top, rotating the pans at the 5 minute mark. Remove from the oven, let cool on the sheets for a couple of minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- Repeat baking until you've used all the dough. I made about 40 cookies from this batch.
- Store leftovers, well wrapped, at room temperature, for up to 5 days.