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 like how the cookies have flecks of green for Christmas… now what could be added to get a non-artificial fleck of red in there too? That would be perfect!
I am thinking of adding dried cranberries!
Once again another super delicious idea. I think the cookies look so cute with the green flecks and they taste great.
I made these last night and they were so good. We ate them all. Thanks for the great idea.
I was very excited about this recipe until I actually made the cookies. I put my Kale and spinach into the food processor until I got 2 cups, (I think the recipe needs to specify that you need to measure the kale prior to putting it into the food processor). This made the the batter way too runny. When I took my cookies out of the oven they were oozing kale juice. The cookies did harden up. The response I got from my children after a few bites was “Mommy these cookies make me want to puke.” My husband ” They aren’t bad but don’t make them again.” Most of my co-workers agreed they were not the worst cookies they have ever had but really a bite is all they could stand to take. Others responded with “I made a mistake and took a second bite and now I need to throw it away because I just can’t stop myself from making the same mistake. On a more positive note some of my other co-workers (mostly the vegans and health nuts) love them and said the cookies were delicious. I wish there was a place to post a picture of what my co-worker has re-named the Green Monster Cookies, they are very green.
Hi, you mentioned using 2 cups kale, but the recipe only calls for 1 cup. And it says 1 cup raw, which means before processing it should be measured… so it sounds like you used about 4 times the amount of kale called for in the recipe. No wonder they were so awful and green LOL! Definitely worth trying the recipe again 😉
I had doubled the recipe. But your right since I measured out processed kale it was 4x’s the amount of kale.
Now I’m thinking it would be super fun to do a REALLY christmas-y version, with the kale plus some cranberries and subbing white choc chips for the dark so you end up with red, green and white! 😀
Made these with silk unsweetened coconut milk, coconut oil, unbleached all-purpose flour, and a mix of light brown & regular cane sugar (ran out of coconut sugar yesterday). They’re delicious!! Super duper soft cookies, almost fluffy but not cakey. I love them. However, that being said, I chopped the kale in the vitamix instead of by hand. It wasn’t liquidy at all, definitely still defined pieces, so I assumed that they’d look like hers. Nope! These cookies are super green — think avocado green!! Also, wouldn’t recommend eating them before they’ve cooled because while you can’t taste the kale, you can still smell it at that point. Overall great cookie regardless.
What is unrefined sugar?
Hi Miss Katie! I just made these chocolate chip kale cookies and they are oh-so-good. My parents and my healthy-skeptic brother all tried them and they said they were very good! Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.
Only thing though… My batter was runny. Also, after baking and cooling, they were still soft and underdone. I used the amount of kale (even less actually) and squeezed out the water. I think maybe it is because instead of using sugar, I used a mix of maple syrup and honey? Is there a way to avoid runny batter without putting in sugar? Maybe add more flour?
Thank you so much for another tasty recipe.
I decided to make cookies today and saw that you put kale in these and thought, why not! I subbed almond flour, honey & added in 1 tablespoon more almond milk, more vanilla, cinnamon & a plant-based protein powder and they are so good! Would never have thought to put kale in cookies before but OMG! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂 the texture came out a bit differently as they were more fluffed up looking, but the end result is delicious, Definitely will make again and again.
Dear Katie,
I just made these Kale chocolate chip cookies yesterday and they were delicious! Haha for sure not the taste I was expecting. I used Oat flour and followed the rest of the recipe. My Dad and Brother ( who are not into healthy foods like I am) came by and tried one and with shocked expressions said they were good! They proceeded to help me eat the rest of the batch. 😀
Thanks for this recipe! It was fun to try something unexpected.
How might you adjust the recipe for using dry kale powder?
I made these today for a friend’s birthday because she asked me to. I thought they smelled and tasted awful. I took one bite and spit it out. My friend thought they were good though she said you could tell there was kale in them. She makes smoothies with kale, so she’s used to the taste.
There are only a few vegetables I don’t like. Kale can now be added to the list. I guess if you like kale, you might like these cookies. Me, I’ll stick to the Toll House recipe.
I’d try some of her other healthy chocolate chip cookie recipes that don’t have any strange ingredients! (I can’t vouch for her chocolate chip cookies, but her gooey chocolate chip pumpkin bars, crazy ingredient chocolate cake, and chocolate chip peanut butter bars are DIVINE.) Probably because any unusual ingredients serve a specific purpose in the texture of the goodie, rather than these where the kale is just added in. Have served these on multiple occasions & they are devoured. Literally no one has guessed that the pumpkin bars have kidney beans & the crazy ingredient cake has cauliflower (makes it SO soft!).
One of the best cookies I have ever eaten. Holy cow! Thank you for this recipe.
These are SO YUMMY and super easy to make (like, incredibly easy). I did slightly less than a half cup of sugar and added some brown sugar just cuz. I also used a vanilla flavored coconut oil in addition to the vanilla, which, I think, complemented the brown sugar nicely. I also did hefty shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg. I did end up using about 1 ½ tbsp extra of almond milk. The only thing odd about the cookies was that they didn’t flatten out at all and they also didn’t really harden up, but I loved them and they reminded me of a breakfast cookie. We sprinkled coarse sea salt for added yum after taking them out of the oven!
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! ❤