These low-fat vegan chocolate chip cookies use only a third of the sugar called for in most conventional cookie recipes, and butter is replaced with applesauce and just a smidgen of oil—that’s the magic. From their smooth texture, you’d never think that these cookies are whole grain, made with whole wheat pastry flour. Your family and guests will love you for it! Photos by Hannah Kaminsky.
Makes about 16 to 18 cookies
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry or spelt flour (see gluten-free variation)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup natural granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds, optional
- 1/2 cup applesauce (or a bit more to make a smooth and slightly stiff batter)
- 1 tablespoon safflower oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 to 1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the first 4 (dry) ingredients plus the optional flaxseeds in a mixing bowl and stir together.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the applesauce, oil, and vanilla. Stir together until the wet and dry ingredients are completely mixed.
Stir in the chocolate chips and optional walnuts. Drop the batter onto parchment-lined or nonstick baking sheets in slightly rounded tablespoonfuls. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the bottoms are just starting to brown lightly. Let stand for a minute or two, then carefully remove with a spatula to a rack or plates to cool.
Gluten-free variation: Simply replace the flour, baking powder, and baking soda with a gluten-free flour mix, like Bob’s Red Mill. Eliminate the baking powder and soda.
- Explore more of VegKitchen’s Vegan Cookies and Bars.
40 Comments
Diana
January 9, 2014 at 8:29 pmThis looks amazing!! A few quick questions:
1) can I substitute oat flour for wheat flour?
2) can I substitute regular vegetable oil for safflower oil?
3) where did you buy the vegan semi sweet chocolate chips?
Thanks in advance for your time!!
Nava
January 9, 2014 at 10:45 pmHi Diana — you can sub any kind of mild oil. Most semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan; I get mine at a small natural foods store because I also like to buy Fair Trade chocolate. I’ve never tried these with oat flour, but I’d say there’s a very good chance it would be just fine. Enjoy!
Natalie
January 9, 2014 at 11:21 pmWhat would be a kind of natural sugar? Examples, please?
Nava
January 9, 2014 at 11:29 pmOrganic cane sugar, coconut sugar, sucanat, date sugar — these would all work.
Mari
January 10, 2014 at 3:36 amCan I substitute apple sauce with homemade apple jam, which is quite thick? Or should I add some water to make the jam thinner?
Nava
January 10, 2014 at 7:38 amNo guarantee, but it should work; do thin to consistency of applesauce!
Dennis
January 12, 2014 at 12:19 amThis was a great and easy recipe., and I made it a few times. I added half a tsp of vanilla extract which added a both to the taste and baking aroma. The vanilla extract (alcohol free) from Trader Joes. Is this vanilla consider vegan?
Nava
January 12, 2014 at 8:42 amHi Dennis — I can’t think of anything that would make vanilla non-vegan. In fact, it’s a great idea and I’ll add it to the recipe’s ingredient list!
Cheryl
February 11, 2014 at 7:42 amDennis is my brother and he made a batch for my non-vegan family. They LOVED the cookies. Thanks Nava for the great recipe!
Ophee
April 14, 2014 at 11:56 amI am interested in making these as a low fat vegan with a craving for cookies ;), but I have one question: are these crunchy, cakey, or chewy? My favorite is chewy and I am not totally sure what to change about a recipe to convert them from one to another. Thanks!
Nava
April 14, 2014 at 11:57 amOphee, these are definitely not crunchy (usually the crunch is provided by a higher quantity of added fat!). I would say these are chewy. I hope you like them!
Shannon
July 8, 2014 at 10:37 pmIs there any way to substitute something for the oil?
Nava
July 9, 2014 at 9:48 amShannon, you can just use some extra applesauce; or a couple of tablespoons of nut butter or tahini that are nice and runny and not too thick.
Shawna
November 8, 2014 at 4:01 pmi can’t get whole wheat pastry flour where I live. What is a healthy substitute?
Nava
November 8, 2014 at 5:06 pmYou can use unableached flour, though it isn’t as healthy; or you can order whole wheat pastry flour online. Light spelt flour is good, too.
Shawna
November 9, 2014 at 1:10 pmYIKES! My cookies did NOT turn out like your cookies! The batter was very runny and the cookies spread to twice their sizes. They are also dark brown unlike your white-ish cookies. Did you use the flaxseed in yours? Do you know what I did wrong?
Nava
November 9, 2014 at 7:33 pmHi Shawna, I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you! I can’t imagine what went wrong. I’ve made these dozens of times and so have other VK readers. I rarely use the flaxseed in mine. I can only theorize that perhaps you may have used double the amount of the wet ingredients as suggested? Other than having been with you as you were making these, I can’t really say. Again, so sorry. I wonder if the type of flour you used might have been a problem as well?
Amanda
November 30, 2014 at 9:49 amI made a few changes, added cacao powder and berries jam with a little bit of water in the place of apple sauce, and didn’t put the vanilla extract or any oil.. and OMG these are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten !! Thank you for this recipe.
Nava
December 1, 2014 at 7:47 pmGlad you enjoyed these, Amanda — I love the sound of the tweaks you did!
Ruth Mahalia
February 6, 2015 at 7:17 pmI just made these but replaced the apple sauce, oil and sugar with a puree (done in a Vitamix) using one unpeeled diced apple, 5 Sunsweet dried plums, and 1/3 cup water. The cookies came out tasting great. My 9 year old loved them!
Nava
February 12, 2015 at 5:06 pmThanks, Ruth! I love your tweaks, and am glad these were a hit with your 9-year-old.
Susanne
February 21, 2015 at 5:15 pmI’ve made these cookies countless times (no substitutions) and they are always a hit around our house. Best lowfat cookie I’ve tried. Thank you, Nava!
Nava
February 23, 2015 at 10:17 amThanks so much, Susanne! So glad this is such a staple in your home.
Gloria
February 28, 2015 at 8:03 amMy granddaughter and I made these last week. They are amazing. They are definitely going to be our go to chocolate chip cookie.
Nava
March 2, 2015 at 5:59 pmHow great, Gloria! Glad you enjoyed these and thanks for your comment.
Aiko
May 17, 2015 at 5:07 pmI am probably the least careful baker out there, but I tried out a really loose version of this in which I replaced half the wheat flour with oat flour and replaced the apple sauce with apple puree. This ended up making the batter too runny so I poured it into a pan and baked it like a brownie. It was still amazingly delicious.
Kim
July 5, 2015 at 11:19 amHi! First time making anything from your blog. These cookies were amazeballs the next day! The texture of a soft sugar cookie but the taste of a chocolate chip cookie! Not having any pastry flour, I subbed AP/Cake flour in a 2:1 ratio. Getting WW pastry flour on my next trip to Whole Foods. Thanks again!
Nava
July 6, 2015 at 8:16 amSo glad you enjoyed these, Kim. I love the word “amazeballs” …
Rose
September 8, 2015 at 12:46 pmI am using Cafe. Gluten free. All-Purpose Flour instead!! You can follow me on Facebook page under RicoCuliana!
Beth
September 8, 2015 at 2:32 pmHi Nava, I’ve never posted a comment on a website before, but these cookies are so perfect, I couldn’t resist. I doubled the recipe (found I needed to add more flour for a semi-stiff dough) and love them. I am a yoga teacher and healthy is important to me. But, I’ve made them for the local fire department to thank them for their hard work here in the Northwest with the recent fires. They are sure to LOVE them!
Rachel
October 24, 2015 at 5:58 amHi! These cookies look amazing & I want to try them out to eat with friends. I was wondering if it’s possible to swap our the sugar for a zero calorie sweetener like stevia or equal?
Nava
October 26, 2015 at 8:55 pmRachel, I’m afraid I can’t answer that question with any confidence — often, it’s the sweetener, wet or dry, that adds not only flavor but also a certain texture to baked goods. That said, these cookies have relatively little sugar, so it could be interesting to add stevia. Not Equal, though. Not a big fan of artificial sweeteners!
Hannah
December 25, 2015 at 4:31 pmThey turned out crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Not really what I was expecting but still they are amazing!! Great recipe!!
Nava
December 28, 2015 at 6:01 pmGlad you liked these Hannah. Baking results can vary according to the humidity in the air, how accurate the oven temp is, etc. But as long as you liked the result, that’s what matters!
Natalie
February 17, 2016 at 3:25 pmI made these cookings with the gluten free 1:1 baking flour by Red Mill. They tasted good, but the texture was off. The inside was fluffy, while the edges and bottom were tough. Not crunchy or burned, just tough like jerky. I have no idea what would cause this. Should I take it out earlier? Anyone know whats causing this? Help is really appreciated, as I’m new to gluten free and vegan baking.
Amber
February 29, 2016 at 5:35 pmMy cookies didn’t bake down at all. I was so sad. I saw your picture and I thought they looked wonderful. But my cookies spread and plumped up just like every other applesauce baked cookie I’ve tried. I was bummed because I was hopeful that the 1T of oil was really magic, but it wasn’t.
noon
June 14, 2016 at 11:32 pmomg!!! omfg that was a total hit!!
i am IN LOVE <3<3
soo i made alil twist instead a cup flour i did half flour half rolled oats n i added 1 tbsp peanut butter and 1 tbsp almond milk instead of oil.but turned out just perfect 🙂
thank you ..
xoxo
Stephanie
December 14, 2016 at 7:54 pmThese are awesome!!! We used spelt flour, apple butter instead of applesauce, ghee instead of oil, date palm sugar. and added rolled oats. I guess that’s a lot of substitutions, but they were so good!
Nannette
May 24, 2017 at 1:26 pmThank you so much! After looking through 3 of my vegan cookbooks and not finding what I wanted I gave up and asked Siri to look for “lowfat vegan chocolate chip cookies”. Yours were first up, and after reading the reviews, I made them exactly as written. They are wonderful! My guys are going to be so happy I have finally found a “legal” chocolate chip cookie recipe! We will definitely enjoy them in celebration after my kiddo’s band concert tonight.
Nava
May 24, 2017 at 1:54 pmHow fun that Siri helped you find these! I hope your guys like them.