Greek yogurt never ceases to amaze me. As you know, I sort of fell in love with it last year (I’m now daydreaming about the Key Lime Greek Yogurt Pie and Yogurt Mixed Berry Pie…). My kids and I also enjoy Greek yogurt parfaits every morning for breakfast, with a little honey, lowfat granola and pomegranate seeds on top. We seriously can’t get enough of it.
Lately, I’ve become smitten with using Greek yogurt in place of butter, oil and sour cream to lighten up my favorite recipes. It was hard to imagine that Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies would be able to measure up to my idea of a really good cookie, but I was so pleased that they did!
I took the Ghirardelli recipe from the back of their semisweet chocolate chips package, which calls for two sticks of butter, and swapped out one of the sticks for 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt (per the conversion chart below). They come out a little cakier than they might normally, which for many people is a good thing. Best of all, replacing that stick of butter with yogurt cut the amount of fat in the recipe by 87 grams! That translates to about 1.5 fewer grams of fat per cookie, which is pretty awesome considering you’ll hardly miss it, taste-wise.
I’ve bookmarked this helpful little chart from the Chobani website, with so many options for using yogurt to lighten up your cooking and baking:
I can cut down on the fat and the recipe still comes out great? Count me in! Stay tuned to see what other recipe I made a little healthier with yogurt – coming soon…
Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted slightly from the Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe on the Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips package
Prep time: 1 hour 15 minutes (including chilling) | Cook time: 30 minutes | Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Yield: About 5 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, reduced-fat or whole
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
- Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and yogurt with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in nuts (if using) and chocolate chips. Chill dough in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Heat oven to 375ºF.
- Measure out dough with a small 2-teaspoon cookie scoop onto ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Wow! This is amazing!! Can’t wait to try the substitutions! I knew yogurt worked well as a sub for sour cream, but this opens up so many options.
I know, I’ve been having a blast trying it in everything!
great idea Kathy!
Oh my, what a fun twist on an old classic!
I was just planning on baking something with yogurt… never even thought to do chocolate chip cookies!
I love baking with yogurt, but usually I limit myself to muffins and breads. I’ve never thought to put it in cookies–what a great idea!
It’s so versatile. I’ve been making pancakes with it a lot too. The next recipe I’m going to share is yogurt cornbread!
Greek yogurt really is amazing stuff! I made some donuts with it, without an ounce of butter or oil, and they were amazing. Yummy cookies!
Oh wow…yogurt donuts sound perfect!
I love baking with Greek yogurt! I’ve yet to try it with cookies. . .that’ll have to change!
What a smart idea, and great way to use Greek yogurt!
I love that chart Kathy – thanks for sharing. Greek yogurt is one of my favorite low-fat, high protein substitutes in dips and baking. Your cookies look great!
Yogurt in a chocolate chip cookie? Why not! I’m going to try these.
What Temperture??
Oops – sorry for that omission, Eva! It’s 375 – I just went in to update the recipe. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Greek yogurt rocks. I have never made cookies with it!
Just made these and they came out wonderfully! Thanks! What are the calories in them?
I’m so glad you liked them, Rachel! I’m afraid I haven’t calculated the calorie count. But I know it’s lower than with butter. 🙂
Good morning!
I just wanted to say I made these cookies not so long ago. I followed your instructions. My family and I loved them. They did not turn out nearly as attractive as yours, but they were amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Sincerely, Jocelynn 🙂
I’m so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed them, Jocelynn!
Looks so delicious! I’m going to try to see if I can make this without using butter because I’ve had great success making buttermilk pancakes without butter/oil. Thanks for sharing your recipe!!
Good luck! Depending on how you like your cookies, you may find that replacing the butter entirely will result in a rather cakey texture. I prefer a more crumbly, crisper texture, which does require some fat. Fun to experiment though!
Did you use vanilla or plain Greek yogurt? Or do you recommend one over another? Thanks, this recipe looks great!!
Hi Julia — I used plain but you could always use vanilla yogurt and just cut back on the vanilla extract. 🙂 Kathy