Apparently I have been in a dessert baking mode lately. The past weekend I was “surfing the web” and came across this recipe for a “Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza”. Of course the recipe I found was loaded with calories and fat – I challenged myself to make a healthier version of the recipe. The result of my challenge was a lower calorie sweet treat!
For recipes with cream cheese in the ingredients my standard “go-to” healthier recipe substitution is Greek yogurt. For this recipe I also added TruWhip, a more natural form of Cool Whip, to lighten up the white topping. Additionally I added cocoa powder to low fat vanilla yogurt, in place of using chocolate pudding. A previously posted recipe for low fat chocolate chip cookies was used for the cookie crust.
This specific recipe can be made into a deeper dish pizza crust or a thinner crust depending on your preference. The cookie pizza pictured had a relatively thick crust. For this crust I used two- 10 inch cake pans and pressed the dough to cover the bottom of each pan. If you want a thinner crust I would recommend to use a cookie sheet – roll the dough into a ball and flatten to desired thickness.
The toppings for this cookie pizza are endless. I went with the strawberries as pictured, however various fruits or nuts could be used. In fact several toppings could be used. For the original recipe nuts were sprinkled on the chocolate topping.
Enjoy!
Your family’s dietitian,
Kristen Smith
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar (for a sweeter cookie go with one cup)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar (for a sweeter cookie go with one cup)
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons light buttery spread, softened (ie. Smart Balance light)
- ¼ cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 egg whites
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mini (or standard) chocolate chips
- Non-stick cooking spray
Topping ingredients:
- 2- 6 oz containers of low fat vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1cup TruWhip (or CoolWhip)
- ½ cup low fat vanilla yogurt (can use Greek)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 4 medium strawberries, sliced (or fruit/nut of choice)
Supplies needed:
- 2- 10 inch round cake pans OR larger cookie sheets (for a deeper dish pizza use round cake pans, but for thinner crust use cookie sheets)
Nutrition: