A healthy treat for diabetes & kidney disease!
These chocolate chip pumpkin cookies hit the spot for Fall! Here’s what makes them a healthier choice if you have diabetes or kidney disease:
- They are low in added sugar AND don’t contain artificial sweeteners. Each cookie contains 3 grams of added sugar (coming from maple syrup and dark chocolate chips). But also contains 3.5 grams of fiber to offset the added sugar!
- The phosphorus is minimally absorbed. Each cookie contains 100 mg phosphorus. But since it is entirely from plant sources, only 10-50% is actually absorbed. So that’s roughly 10-50 mg phosphorus. The recipe uses baking soda instead of baking powder, so there are no phosphorus additives either!
- These chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are negative PRAL (potential renal acid load)!
- Despite containing pumpkin and dark chocolate chips, these cookies are lower potassium! At 171 mg potassium per cookie, they are a kidney friendly dessert for all stages of Chronic Kidney Disease!
Overall, you don’t have to feel guilty enjoying this healthy, sweet treat if you have diabetes or kidney disease 🙂
How to make them
It’s very simple! Add all your wet ingredients (canned pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla extract) to a mixing bowl. Then add your dry ingredients (oats, chia seed, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking soda) to the bowl. Mix together and then add the dark chocolate chips.
Form ~ 9 balls and place them on a baking sheet. Press the cookies down ~ 1 inch thick and then bake in the oven (at 375 degrees) for 10-12 minutes.
I got this recipe idea from the Plant You Cookbook. She has delicious “breakfast cookie” recipes in there. I tweaked several things and came up with these healthy chocolate chip pumpkin cookies 🙂
How many can you eat?
Technically one cookie = one serving. But, since these are a healthier version of a cookie, it will depend on your individual nutrient needs!
If you ate two cookies, it would still only be 6 grams of added sugar. This is WAY lower than any store bought cookie you will find. Eating two cookies will provide 342 mg potassium though. So if you have kidney disease and need to be mindful of how much potassium you are eating, I would stick to one serving (one cookie).
The good news is, they will last in your fridge for 3-5 days. Since they don’t contain eggs, they don’t go bad as quickly 🙂 You can also freeze them if you want them to last for several months. But let’s be real, you’re going to eat them before that time! 🙂
Healthy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned pumpkin pumpkin should be the only ingredient
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups whole rolled oats
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Add the wet ingredients (canned pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla extract) to a mixing bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients (oats, chia seed, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, baking soda) to the wet ingredients. Stir in the dark chocolate chips.
- Form 9 balls and lay them out on a sheet pan (on parchment paper or greased).
- Press the cookies down with a fork or your fingers until they are ~ 1 inch thick.
- Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool before storing in the fridge.
love, love, love this recipe. It’s healthy for me and relatively few ingredients. Thank you for sharing!