Pseudo Healthy Cookies

I've been making these cookies for a few years now but I feel like they've just recently earned their new title of "Pseudo Healthy".
As I mentioned the other day my husband and I are trying to eat a little healthier, drink a little less and exercise a lot more. This goal seems even more important as I just counted that we only have 10 weeks until we'll be lying on a beach in Cuba celebrating the union of some great friends. 10 weeks might sound like a long time, but I think its a realistic time frame to shape up the right way (no fasting or fad diets for us!).

However that being said I am not the kind of woman who can cut out sweets completely. I need balance!  I believe that gently giving in to cravings is better than trying to hold back from something too fiercely and then bingeing later. And by adding healthier ingredients I feel a little bit less guilty when I do give in to those sweet cravings.


But I know what you're thinking, how can we keep a whole batch of cookies around and not eat them all?! Well my friends this is where my freezer comes in handy. I freeze over half of the batch so we really only have less than dozen cookies around at a time.

These cookies are adapted from Smitten Kitchen's "Thick Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies".

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt (I like a nicely balanced not too sweet cookie, if that seems weird to you feel free to only use 1/2 teaspoon)
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup spelt or rye flakes
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chip cookies
1/2 cup chopped sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter with sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. In another large bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, rolled oats, spelt flakes and flax seed. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips, sunflower seeds and walnuts and stir until well combined. Chill cookie dough* (maybe for 10-20 minutes) then form into small balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes (less if they were room temperature going in) or until the edges are just becoming golden and the tops still look under baked.

*You can skip this if you're in a hurry but they won't be quick as thick. This is also the point in which I choose to freeze balls of cookie dough on cookie sheets, which I then pack into freezer bags.