Protein Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The story of these cookies begins with a challenge thrown at me by a friend who follows a strict gluten-free diet.
He asked if I could bake him a batch of gluten-free, high-protein cookies. No wheat flour allowed - of course - but also no flour subs allowed (such as rice flour, quinoa flour, or similar). As he didn’t care for them either (I know, picky friend...)
“Just don’t use flour, or any flour sub please. Try to be innovative!” he told me. However, I could use oats, he said that oats are gluten-free.
“Really? I didn’t knew oats were gluten-free. Interesting. Are you sure?”
I was not 100% sold on this, and some research was definitely necessary.
I then discovered that what he said was not entirely correct. According to the scientific literature available, most of the people suffering from celiac disease can tolerate small amounts of pure oats, provided that they have not been contaminated with other cereals.
The official guidelines for celiacs, however, discourage the consumption of oats, because the contamination risk is almost always present (just really small amounts are permitted).
Notwithstanding that, I decided to use oats anyway in these cookies (he’s not celiac, so there’s no risk). Still I didn’t want to label them as “gluten-free”. When I’m not sure about something, I prefer not to make a statement. I believe that this is more cautious way to proceed.
Enough digressing on oats; let’s start baking...


We start with oats, and oat bran. If you don’t have oat bran at home, you can use only oats, not a big deal.
When it comes to the fat content, you can choose between coconut oil, butter, or vegetable shortening (non hydrogenated though!). I used butter because that was the only thing I had. But other subs will work just as well.
You need to use egg whites; there’s no replacing them with whole egg, or flax eggs. Sorry about this. They just won’t work. We need to get a whipped mixture; only egg whites will do the trick. That’s food chemistry, nothing we could about it.



The recipe instructs to coarsely chop the chocolate. My advice is to leave a good amount of sizable chunks of chocolate. They become big, melty, chocolate gold mines in the cookies. One of the most amazing things on the planet.



Do not over bake these cookies, or you’ll end up with billiard balls that you might as well bring with you next time you’re playing snooker with your friends.



Protein Chocolate Chunk Cookies Print this Recipe!
Inspired by, and adapted from Dashing Dish

Ingredients
Make 24 cookies

¾ cup / 4 oz / 112 gr oat bran
1 cup /  2.3 oz / 65 gr oats
¼ cup / 0.9 oz / 25 gr protein powder (unflavored is best, but vanilla works too)¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
½ cup / 3.2 oz / 90 gr brown sugar (or baking stevia, or baking Splenda)
6 tbsp butter, melted (or coconut oil, or vegetable shortening)
½ cup / 3.2 oz / 90 gr coarsely chopped +70% dark chocolate (you can use chocolate chips)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place the oats in a food processor, and grind until oats are ground into small bits.
In one bowl, mix together the oat flour, oat bran, protein powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.  
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla.
Add the egg whites. Using a mixer, fitted with whisk attachment, whip the mixture until soft peaks start to become visible (when the whisk is lifted). It should resemble a bit to a meringue mixture.
Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped mixture in the sifted ingredients until blended. Finally, stir in the chocolate chunks.
Using a tablespoon drop cookie dough at a time on the prepared cookie sheet. The cookies don’t spread much, so don’t worry leaving a lot of space between them.
Bake cookies for 8 minute, until cookies are are set and firm, and only lightly colored. Make sure to not over bake them.
Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition facts

Each cookie scores the following nutrition facts: 90 calories, 5 grams of fat, 12 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fiber.

The Iron You