A lighter take on a classic favorite featuring dark chocolate, reduced sugar, and gluten-free ingredients.

Key Changes

Butter ↓ → partial swap with applesauce (moisture, less fat)

Sugar ↓ → blend with coconut sugar + reduced quantity

Flour → gluten-free 1:1 blend

Chocolate → dark chocolate (lower sugar)

Ingredients

½ cup butter (1 cube), + 1 Tbsp, softened

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar (packed) 2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 ¼ cups gluten-free (GF) 1:1 flour blend (with xanthan gum)

1 tsp baking soda

1½ cups dark chocolate chips (70% cacao)

½ cup nuts (optional)

Recipe

1. Cream butter + sugars + applesauce

2. Add eggs and vanilla

3. Mix dry ingredients separately, then combine

4. Fold in chocolate + nuts

5. Chill 3 hours (critical for structure with GF flour)

6. Bake at 350°F for ~12–15 min (slightly shorter due to less fat)

Nutrition Facts (Estimated)

These are per cookie estimates, assuming ~24 cookies per batch.

Per cookie:

Calories: ~140

Fat: 7g

Carbohydrates: 18g

Sugar: 9g (reduced from ~14–16g typical)

Protein: 2g

Fiber: 2g

Highlights:

• ~35–40% less sugar than traditional

• Higher fiber due to dark chocolate + GF flour

Cooking Tip:

Lightly flatten the dough before baking using a flat-bottomed glass + parchment

paper, which will probably give you the best, most consistent results.