Houston... We Have A Cookie. And We Are Happy.

On the way to pick Lily up from school Friday, I was sneaking in a Skinny Cow chocolate bar.

By the way,  have y'all discovered these yet?  They're called Heavenly Crisp candy bars and they come in chocolate and peanut butter.  Now, I've only tasted the chocolate ones because I don't like peanut butter interfering with my chocolate but I can tell you this: the Skinny Cow does not lie.  The milk chocolate ones are most definitely heavenly.



Anywho, as I said, Lily wasn't with me so I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to eat a little chocolate, since her new diet limits chocolate intake and I'm not so cold-hearted that I would eat it in front of her.

Instead, I sneak around, eating it when she's not home, then brushing my teeth so I don't have chocolate on my breath.  What can I say?  That's just the kind of mom I am.

But my cell phone rang so I set my candy down on the console and proceeded to yak it up all the way to her school.

I got out of the car to meet Lily at the sidewalk.  I opened the back seat car door and let her climb in while I was chatting with one of the therapists.  All of a sudden, I saw her make a quick, darting move towards the front seat about the same time that I remembered the candy.

On a normal day, my kid is quick.  You must eat your Wheaties and wear your running shoes to keep up with her.

But let me tell you - when she saw that chocolate, she was fast as lightning.  She grabbed that candy up, shoved it in her mouth and started chewing like a chipmunk.  As mentioned above, I am not a cold-hearted person (and I like having five fingers on each hand) so there was no way I was going after that candy.

I buckled Lily in her car seat and laughingly told the therapist what just happened.

She then proceeded to tell me that Lily had been consistently using her iPod Touch to request candy.

Repeatedly.

As in, every time she got her hot little hands on that device, she was asking for candy.

And when she was told to request something else, she would go to the emotions page and press MAD.

Also repeatedly.

Mad.  Mad.  Mad.

So now I'm not laughing anymore.  Because that just makes me SAD.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

So I drove straight home, handed the Bird off to my husband, and headed to the kitchen, determined to find a cookie my sweet girl could eat.

After a little experimenting, I came up with a cookie that fits Lily Bird's new diet and is actually tasty.  In fact, everyone in the family likes them, which is an unexpected plus.

And the best news of all?

There's chocolate in it.  Dark chocolate, mind you, which isn't that delicious on it's own, but wrapped around yummy cookie dough, it's quite delectable.

I packed two cookies in Lily's lunchbox today.  I'm hoping when I pick her up from school this afternoon, instead of hearing my girl was mad, mad, mad, I hear that she was happy, happy, happy.

And then I will be, too.

For those of you who might be interested, here's the recipe.

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups enriched white flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks, softened
1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar blend
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup NuNaturals Stevia Baking Blend
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chunks (I used Whole Foods 365 Brand)

Positions racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, & salt into a medium bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars/stevia on medium speed until well-blended, about 2 minutes, then scrape down the bowl.

Beat the eggs & vanilla in a small bowl, then add to butter mixture and blend well. Scrape bowl again.
On low speed, add flour mixture and beat until just mixed, scraping down the bowl.

Stir in chocolate.

Drop rounded tablespoons (I used a medium size cookie scoop) onto prepared sheets.  Bake about 6 minutes in the first position you placed them in the oven, then switch the sheets and bake another 6 or so minutes.

Cool on wire cooling racks.

Store in airtight container.

Now before you get all "picky picky" on me, remember we just have to limit her sugar intake, not eliminate it.  Thus the 1/2 cup of Splenda brown sugar blend and 1/4 cup of white sugar you see above.  The original recipe called for 1 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup white sugar.  So I would call this a successful reduced sugar cookie.