Soft & chewy buttery cookies studded with lots of sweet butterscotch and decadent chocolate chips. You’ll never guess they’re lightened up & healthy!
Last week, my guy and I decided on a romantic spur-of-the-moment date night to… The laundromat. (Yes, you can read all about our exciting adventure here.) But as part of our outing, we wandered around the grocery store on the other side of the parking lot while our socks and shirts spun around the dryer.
We meandered up and down nearly every aisle; my guy even pointed out a sleeping mask on the hair care shelves, reminding me how I’ve been lusting after one for months. (The crazy bright sunlight streams through the blinds in the morning and wakes me up every day like clockwork!) He stopped on the snack aisle, where he eventually settled on Despicable Me 2 fruit snacks with my encouraging approval. We bought tickets to see the movie in theaters the day it came out!
We paused at the candy shelves on our way towards the registers when I spotted chocolate-covered red licorice. (When did brands start selling that?) But just before my guy hopped in line to pay, my stomach rumbled louder than a freight train and practically begged for a sandwich.
I sprinted over to the deli, picked out the least soggy-looking one in the case, and followed my guy back towards the self-checkout. As he swiped the barcodes on our purchases, I realized I’d probably need a napkin to go with the mustard on the bread due to my slightly messy eating habits. I sped back to the deli to find one, and on my way back towards my guy standing at the front with the grocery bag, I spied…
Cookies.
Well, cookie crumbs, to be specific. The bakery, located adjacent to the deli, had set up a little wooden end table topped with a nearly 2-foot wide plastic container. On the clear lid, an employee had scribbled, “Cookie Samples.” Although probably filled with the discarded broken pieces fresh from the oven earlier, now only crumbs and a few larger morsels remained.
With my sweet tooth raging too, I grabbed four of the biggest ones (about the size of your thumbnail) and raced towards the exit before any workers spotted me.
As you probably guessed, I immediately ate the cookies bits first before unwrapping my sandwich. I savored every little nibble: so rich… so buttery… so indulgent… so NOT healthy… But their fun combination of butterscotch and chocolate chips captivated me, and I quickly turned to my guy exclaiming, “I could make a healthier version of these!”
So I did! My lightened Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies taste just as sweet and buttery as the little crumbs I sampled, with the same irresistible soft and chewy texture. Even with all of the half-melted mix-ins I crammed in, these treats are still skinny, low fat, and low calorie!
I started with a slightly modified version of my popular Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. If you haven’t tried them already, go make them now! They’re one of the most-viewed recipes on my blog, and everyone raves about these cookies—none of their taste testers can tell they’re healthy!
In that easy recipe, I replaced the regular-sized chocolate chips with butterscotch morsels, but I maintained the same amount mini chocolate chips. I loved the balanced ratio of flavors that produced, and it was the perfect amount of mix-ins. (Remember, too many chips will prevent your cookie dough from sticking together, and you’ll end up with flat cookie blobs in the oven!)
Other than the small amount of melted butter, my recipe differs from traditional chocolate chip cookies in 2 ways.
Cornstarch. It keeps the cookies extra soft! Think about it… You add cornstarch to soups to absorb liquid and thicken them, and in cookies, it soaks up the extra moisture to keep them incredible tender.
Extra vanilla. It imitates butter’s flavor! Adding more vanilla tricks people’s palates into thinking there’s more butter in the cookies and that they taste more indulgent. It’s one of my favorite tricks!
Unlike many of my other cookie recipes, chilling is optional today!
Chilling = thicker cookies that don’t spread
Baking immediately = wider cookies that do spread
It’s up to you whether you chill, but the texture will remain the same. In general, low fat cookies rarely spread like traditional ones after chilling because they contain less butter. So if you do chill, you must flatten the cookie dough slightly before baking.
Note: For the cookies in these photos, I skipped the chilling and immediately popped the dough into the oven.
Want to know my secret to super soft cookies? I slightly underbake them, then leave the cookies on the warm baking sheet for 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. This allows the centers to continue cooking without the outsides turning crisp and crunchy. They’ll stay soft for a week that way—if they last that long!
Paired with a tall frosty glass of milk, these Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies will practically disappear right before your eyes! The rich, almost buttery caramel flavor of the butterscotch combined with the decadent melted chocolate creates the sweetest marriage of tastes. And their addictive extra soft and chewy texture will satisfy even the pickiest of cookie eaters!
Go ahead, sneak a second… I did the same thing!
Print
Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Serving Size: 1 cookie
These buttery cookies are full of decadent chocolate and golden butterscotch chips! They’re extra soft and chewy, and they’ll stay that way for a week if stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
2 c all-purpose flour (measured correctly)
1 ½ tsp cornstarch
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 c brown sugar
¼ c butterscotch morsels
2 tbsp miniature chocolate chips, divided
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the brown sugar, smearing out any clumps along the side of the bowl. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the butterscotch morsels and 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips. (Optional: Chill the dough for 30 minutes, or up to 3 hours, for thicker cookies that do not spread while baking.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
Divide the cookie dough into 24 rounded scoops on the prepared baking sheets. (If chilled, flatten slightly.) Press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
© Amys Healthy Baking. Recipe and all images protected. Please obtain my written permission before using images. If republishing this recipe, please rewrite it in your own words or link back to this post.
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http://foodsforthesoul.net/blog/2014/05/16/butterscotch-chocolate-chip-cookies/
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