Would you try these chewy chocolate chip kale cookies? Defying all logic, the recipe is surprisingly great!
Chocolate chip cookies with kale
Sometimes you do things for the shock value.
After all, how often is it that you come across a recipe idea that not a single other person on the internet has tried before??
So you make the cookies.
But then you are the one who is shocked… because they actually taste really good!
I made chocolate chip kale cookies solely because I wanted to see what would happen (and kind of because I thought it would be funny), NOT because I ever dreamed they’d turn out well.
I had extra kale on hand and figured, “Why not?”
Sometimes I get bored of just making the same old things time and time again, and nothing gives my creative mind more excitement than experimenting in the kitchen and eating the ridiculous results.
And yet, these kale cookies turned out so well that if you didn’t know the kale was in there – i.e. if you closed your eyes and tried one – you would have absolutely no idea!
Plus, the green makes them perfect for Christmas without the use of any artificial colors or sprinkles.
I’m not sure you’ll take my word for it.
You will probably roll your eyes at me and think, “Ugh. There goes another basic influencer taking the kale trend way too far…”
And normally, I would agree with you.
As I wrote in my post for Cauliflower Pizza Crust, I tend to rebel against anything that’s trendy, especially where food is concerned.
Kale is already delicious in its own right, sautéed with garlic and oil or tossed into a salad with ginger-sesame dressing and roasted vegetables.
So why go crazy and put it into ice cream, chocolate cake, soda (yes, kale soda is a thing), or chocolate chip cookies?
Seriously, though, these cookies just taste really good, kale or not!
Sometimes, a recipe can really surprise you.
So try them if you dare!
Chocolate Chip Kale Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt, white, or oat flour, loosely packed (125g)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar (or coconut sugar or xylitol)
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp milk of choice
- 2 tbsp oil or melted butter
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup raw kale or spinach (stems removed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Process kale or dice it extremely fine. Combine all dry ingredients except kale in a medium bowl, then stir in remaining ingredients to form a dough. It will be dry at first, so keep stirring until a cookie-dough texture is achieved. (Add 1 additional tbsp milk of choice only if needed – I didn't need it.) Roll into balls. Place on a cookie tray, and bake 11 minutes. They will look underdone. Remove from the oven anyway, and let them cool 10 minutes, during which time they will firm up. You can also make extra cookie dough balls and freeze them to bake at a later date.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
I found this recipe hard to follow, my cookie balls were too big and never cooked inside or spread out. I wish you had included more detail because it seems these would have been tasty
I’d like to edit my initial comment, these are super tasty’ but mine are super ugly! It sounds like other people had problems with theirs not spreading either…I’ll definirly be making these again and trying to tinker to get them more attractive
Hey Catherine, try just smushing them down with a spoon, either before or after baking! Hopefully that will work!
This is the best thing ever! I have the worst time getting spinach, or any other vegetable besides pumpkin, in my 3 year old! I actually searched for this type of recipe on Pinterest just to see if anyone had been as desperate add me to get healthy things into their kids, lol! This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much for a beautiful cookie recipe that’s super healthy! I just have to use gluten free flour and I’m all set for A’s snack time! Thanks so much! ❤
I make these all the time and love them!!
I don’t know what went wrong for me here. I followed the recipe exactly, but they ended up baking totally flat and spread out. Was excited to find this recipe. Mine turned out nothing like the picture.
Thank thank you for this recipe. My daughter has a full set of braces and expander which has prohibited her from eating many vegetables. She always says they get stuck in the wires. I super finely chop up the kale and she hasn’t noticed a problem. In fact both of my kids say these are their favorite cookies ever! Even over the traditional full sugar chocolate chip cookie. Thank you again!
I modified the recipe and they turned out delicious! My kids, hubby, friends and I can not get enough of them. I am not a kale eater, but I love these cookies with the modifications I made.
1 cup of kale, (packed and measured AFTER I put it through the food processor, lots of wet kale)
Doubled the sugar (added packed brown sugar)
Added enough extra flour so it was cookie consistency about 1 extra cup
Added about three eggs
Added Peppermint and almond
Added LOTS of chocolate chips
They turned out to be delicious, green, somewhat cake-y but still cookie like balls. Mint, Kale, Chocolate cookies, make such a good combo