Weigh In - Low fat, Vegan Fudge Cookies

I did my weigh in a day early because I didn't want the weigh in hanging over my head during my birthday dinner. So I lost 3 pounds this week. Yay! So far I have lost 10 poundsin 4 weeks. I am really happy about that. So I want to lose another 7 pounds or so. I know I can do it.

For my birthday dinner I made a vegan version of mac-n-cheese that I will post next week and a green salad with basil vinaigrette and these fudge cookies. The original recipe comes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

One cookie is only 1 weight watcher point - if you care to know.

Balsamic Fudge Cookies
These fudgy cookies have three chocolate enhancers: cinnamon, prunes, and balsamic vinegar. You probably won’t be able to detect any of them in the finished product, but they lend the cookies a deeper, more chocolaty taste.

1 cup white wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup prune puree (see note)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix the flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt together and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the prune puree with the sugar and cocoa and stir to combine. Add the yogurt, vanilla extract, and balsamic and stir until mixed. Finally, add the flour mixture and stir just until it’s combined—don’t over-mix.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheets about 1 1/2-inches apart. Using the back of a spoon, flatten each cookie slightly and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Place them in the oven. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes—be careful not to burn the bottoms!

Remove from the oven and lift the parchment paper or silicone mats onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely. These taste best cold and somehow even better the next day. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

* I used baby food pureed prunes.

** The original recipe said these were fat free but they also used soy yogurt, which I guess is fat free. I uses low fat plain yogurt instead because I am not a fan of soy.

We ate these with peanut butter ice cream and with a chocolate sauce on top. It was really rich and I ate too much.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

2 cups almond milk
6 frozen bananas
2 huge scoops of natural peanut butter

Blend up.

Chocolate Sauce

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Mix oil and syrup in small pot over low heat. Once combined and thin, remove from heat and mix in cocoa till smooth.