My First Foodie Wingman Request!: Cookie Dough Dip

For those just tuning in, the point of this blog is two-fold; to serve as a unique quality control for online recipes that overpopulate Pinterest and also to help you avoid grenades, act as your wingman per say. When there is a recipe you think you want to go after, but don't know how to approach it, I do it for you. I break the ice, and find out if it is worth your while. This blog is fairly new, so my wingman services have not been solicited until now. Needless to say despite my attempts to play it cool, I was super excited.

Carolyn, a friend of mine who ironically also writes a fantastic blog in conjunction with her and her husband's wildly popular photography business, "Paul Francis Photography", contacted me about my foodie blog and was interested to hear my thoughts on "Chocolate Covered Katie." I'll be honest, at first it sounded like some sort of NSFW site, but it actually is just a website run by Katie who creates a lot of healthy, vegan dessert recipes, some involving chocolate. Whether she covers herself in chocolate, I do not know, nor do I really care to find out. Anyway Carolyn had seen her "Cookie Dough Dip" and was wondering if I would try something out from her site and report back.

I was on it like white on rice.

So, Carolyn, and anyone else reading this blog, here is the skinny on this healthier dessert dip. But, before I give my thoughts, here is the recipe:

Hers. Photo from "chocolatecoveredkatie.com)

Mine. Note the color is different because of the peanut butter. 

Cookie Dough Dip

§  1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained) (250g)

§  1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt

§  tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda

§  2 tsp pure vanilla extract

§  1/4 cup nut butter (You can get away with using only 3 T. If you use peanut butter, it’ll have a very-slight “pb cookie dough” taste, so if you don’t want this, you can sub oil.) (*I used Peanut Butter-this will change the color of the dip!)

§  up to 1/4 cup milk of choice (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)

§  Sweetener (see note below, for amount)

§  1/3 cup chocolate chips (or Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips) (*Psh I obviously used the real thing) 

§  2 to 3 T oats (or flaxmeal) (You can omit, but also omit the milk if you do) (*I used oats) 

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.

Sweetener Notes: I used 2/3 cup brown sugar when I first made this for the party. Liquid sweeteners (agave, maple, etc.) are fine as well, as is evaporated cane juice. You can easily get away with less sugar– some people will be perfectly fine with just 3 T for the whole recipe! And if you don’t want any sugar, be sure to check out the “no-sugar” version linked above. (You can also use stevia, if you like the taste of stevia-sweetened desserts. Try 2-3 packets of NuNaturals stevia, and add more sweetener if needed. I wouldn’t recommend serving an all-stevia version to party guests, though.)

It definitely looks more edible when you make it with the nut butter

So is this recipe worth trying?

I'd say for all the hype on her website (it is literally posted all over the site how this is her big OMG amazing recipe), it's really just ok. I think it's the fact that it's made with chickpeas that makes it super impressive because who would think to put chickpeas in a dessert recipe!? It's madness! But besides the gimmick, it fails to live up to all the hype. Is it good? Yes. Is it to die for, gotta have it? No. Would I make it again? Possibly. To give you a better idea of its pros and cons, here's my normal breakdown of the recipe:

Pros: This recipe is quick and easy to make. I made it while dinner was in the oven and finished it in under 10 minutes. Also, although not out of this world, it is tasty and it was fun playing around with what worked best to dip in it (we found teddy grahams and chocolate graham crackers to be the best dipping tools). 

Teddy bath!

Cons: I think poor advertising is to blame for this one. I really expected it to be outrageously awesome. A 10 if you will. It just fell flat of my expectations. Also, my issue is that unless you eat super freaky healthy all the time, you are going to have to purchase a lot of the ingredients for this recipe, a many that you may never use again. It may be a personal pet peeve, but I hate wasting money on something that I know I'll only use a TBSP of and will end up collecting dust in my pantry for eons. 

Revisions: I wrote these in the recipe, but just to reiterate, I did go the route where I used oats and milk, and I used peanut butter instead of nut butter. (The peanut butter is a LOT stronger in taste than what she implies it will be if you use that substitute). I also used regular chocolate chips and brown sugar, which are one of the options she gives you although certainly not the healthiest option. If I were to make it again I would definitely use less milk because mine was a bit more watery than hers. It firmed up a bit though after some time in the fridge. 

I'll give it this, it tastes better than it looks. 

Here's my issue with healthy dessert recipes like this one; I think it's mostly popular for the fact that it is made with chickpeas and somewhat tasty, but what makes it tasty is the addition of the brown sugar and real chocolate chips. I'm not sure if it would really taste all that good without what makes it unhealthy. I'm all about trying to eat healthy and cook good, well-balanced meals for my family, but when it comes to dessert, that's the time where you can be bad. That's when you can use a stick of butter and feel ok about it. Dessert is a luxury and I feel like when you have it, you might as well have the real thing, not some watered down healthier version. Because quite honestly, after using peanut butter instead of nut butter and real chocolate chips instead of sugar free and brown sugar instead of the other liquid alternatives, how good is it for you really? I would have rather had a "S'mores Brownie" from last week any day over this. 

So Carolyn, after trying out this recipe, I'd say approach at your own risk. It might be worth it to try it out for yourself, but keep your expectations low. It is not nearly as "amazing" as it sounds. Definitely take out the "S'Mores Brownie" recipe instead ;)