Deep Dish Cookie Pie - bleh

...not so much

Let me start this post by explaining that I love- LOVE to bake. I like baking, cooking, creating, eating, all of that. I know I'll be able to lose weight and continue making my breads and pies and goodies...but I wanted to find a lower calorie "cheat". I know most of us have been there. That cookie monster in all of us, pouring through our cupboards and pantries, searching for *something* that will satisfy that craving. I mean really, who doesn't love a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.

In my search, I came across the famous "Deep Dish Cookie Pie" by Chocolate Covered Katie. For those of you not really familiar with Chocolate Covered Katie's blog, it's mostly dessert recipes which cut calories and fat by using healthy alternatives to the usual flour, eggs, and butter. After reading the rave reviews, and considering that it might taste like yuck, curiosity got me in the end.

A deep dish cookie pie that gets rave reviews, is made out of garbanzo beans/chick peas, and tastes, as Katie writes on her blog, "naughty", sounded too good to be true, and as it turns out, it is.

While it's packed full of fibre, iron, protein, and kind of tastes like a cookie, it is actually a bean cake masquerading around as a giant chocolate chip cookie. In the end, it doesn't pass my chocolate chip cookie test, and I wouldn't even try tricking my family into thinking there was nothing peculiar about this deep dish cookie pie. In short, the batter tastes like sweet chick peas, and after baking, tastes like soy milk. Which, considering that soy milk is from soy beans, makes sense. The pie slices into 10 servings, and will cost you about 339 calories a slice (katie's blog says 200 calories, and, according to MFP, it's actually 339). For me, I'd rather have a real chocolate chip cookie for 309 calories.

I know that my chocolate chip cookie won't be full of protien and fibre and iron, but I can get those from everything else I eat during my days. When I want a chocolate chip cookie, I want exactly that, not something that tastes like soy milk.

For those of you who are interested in the deep dish cookie pie from Chocolate Covered Katie:
2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (500g total, once drained)
1 cup quick oats (or certified-gf quick oats)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp oil (canola, veg, or coconut)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Put all ingredients in a food processor except for chocolate chips, blend well. Mix in chocolate chips by hand, pour into a pie dish, bake for 35-45 min at 350F.

Don't come crying to me when it doesn't taste like chocolate chip cookie. Instead, try this one:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Mix wet ingredients, combine with dry, and bake for 15 min at 325F.