Low Calorie Cookies With Only 20 Calories!
What if I told you that you could bake delicious dark chocolate cookies with only 22 calories each?
If you’re trying to lose weight for any reason, you know that calories are a precious thing. With these cookies having just over 20 calories each and only 1.5g net carbs, you can have your dessert and eat it too!
These are , free, , but far from flavor-free.
Whether or not you’re counting calories, you can enjoy these low calorie cookies on absolutely any diet.
And even if you’re not trying to lose weight, these cookies absolutely deliver on flavor.
If you like dark chocolate, you’re going to love these.
Do low calorie cookies actually taste like regular cookies?
It’s a very fair question, so let’s address this.
If somebody placed a plate of fresh-baked cookies in front of you and asked you to do a blind taste test between those and my low-calorie cookies, you’d be able to tell the difference every single time.
I’m not going to try to fool you into thinking these are as tasty as Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.
But for 20 calories each, they are damn good.
These cookies are soft with a nice chew to them, and the flavor reminds me very much of dark chocolate. If you like dark chocolate brownies, there’s no reason you wouldn’t love these cookies.
Considering we’re using low-calorie ingredients that you typically don’t find in regular cookies, the texture is slightly different. These cookies almost dissolve in your mouth, but I find that to be a good thing.
Long story short: no, these won’t fool you into thinking you’re eating a batch of famous homemade cookies. But if you need to eat low calorie or low carb for any reason and you’re craving chocolate, I promise these cookies will not disappoint you.
Ingredients Needed For Low Calorie Cookies
These have only 22 calories each, and the secret lies in the ingredients we are using.
The main ingredients we need for these cookies are:
- Unsweetened
- Canned Pumpkin
- Creamy (or other )
- Substitute
- Egg White
Many recipes you’ll come across will require some kind of (often almond or ), but we are able to make these without any at all (also making them totally ).
Most of my cookie recipes utilize oat flour for an authentic cookie flavor, but the cocoa powder here eliminates the need for that and keeps these incredibly low in calories.
The canned pumpkin is the secret ingredient here, and it’s my go-to ingredient when I want to make baked goods soft without adding a ton of extra calories (like with my Low Calorie or Protein ).
Pumpkin is a magical ingredient that will stay soft when baked, and is very mild in flavor. In this , it replaces the need for that you’d find in most other recipes.
If you do not have access to canned pumpkin, I’ve heard that pureed sweet potato is a good substitute, but I’m unaware of any good substitutes.
Unsweetened applesauce is a popular low-calorie ingredient, but it would not give these cookies the structure we need. You can check out my Nutella Cookies if you do not have canned pumpkin since that one DOES use applesauce!
These are on the slightly bitter side, which makes them similar to a dark flavor. I don’t love , but I really enjoy these cookies! To me, they have the perfect sweetness.
If you wanted them to be sweeter, you can always add additional sweetener.
I use substitute to sweeten these cookies. If you only have regular , you can definitely use that, but these cookies will be much higher calorie in that case.
When I first developed this recipe, I used only brown sugar. Since revisiting this recipe, I testing swapping out some of the brown sugar for powdered sugar. Honestly, I think the results are mostly the same, so feel free to go with either route.
Update: Thanks to reader feedback, I’ve also added one egg white to this recipe which I’ve found helps the structure immensely.
How To Make Low-Calorie Cookies
The process of making low-calorie cookies is extremely simple.
Add all of the cookie ingredients to a large bowl and mix it up with a silicone spatula until chocolate cookie dough forms. No need to separate the wet and dry ingredients in this one!
Since the dough is going to be slightly sticky, we’re going to refrigerate it for one hour.
I used to skip this step, but since slightly tweaking the ingredients and adding egg white, the dough is pretty sticky if you stick the chilling.
Once the cookie dough has chilled for one hour, use a small scoop to create your balls.
A small scoop is roughly equal to 2 teaspoons, so if you do not have a scoop, you can measure it that way. All in all, you should be able to create about 30 balls from your .
Gently roll each cookie dough ball in your hands to smooth them out.
Since the dough will be a little bit sticky, there are two things you can do to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands too much:
- Wet your hands with a little bit of cold water
- Dust your hands with some additional cocoa powder
Both methods work well and won’t affect the final cookies. You can expect the dough to stick to your hands a little bit because that’s the nature of this low-calorie cookie dough, but using either of these methods will help a ton.
Gently press each cookie dough ball down into a disc, then sprinkle a little coarse salt on top (this is optional, but salt and chocolate go together very well).
You do not need to completely flatten the cookies, but they will not spread a ton once baked, so if we left them as dough balls we would not have cookies at the end.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and let them cool completely, about 30 minutes.
If you were to try to eat one of these directly out of the oven, it will likely fall apart on you because they will be quite soft. By letting the cookies cool completely, you are also allowing them time to set and firm up inside.
Don’t worry if they feel underbaked out of the oven, trust the process and watch how they firm up!
If you have leftover cookies, these can be stored in an airtight container and enjoyed throughout the week.
I kept mine in the fridge, although that isn’t necessary, and these cookies remained fresh for 5 full days.
More Healthy Cookie Recipes To Enjoy
Whether you’re in search of more , high protein cookies, or no-bake cookies, there’s a here on my blog for you. Here are some of my favorites:
- Keto-Friendly
- Low-Calorie Cinnamon Roll Cookies (Protein-Packed)
- 4 Ingredient Nutella
- No-Bake Protein Cookies
- Low-Calorie
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Low Calorie Cookies With Only 20 Calories Each
If you're on a diet and calories are at a premium, this recipe is going to be your diet savior. With only 22 calories each, these dark chocolate cookies are soft, decadent, and packed with flavor.
Ingredients
- 200g Canned Pumpkin
- 90g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 200g (1 Packed Cup) Brown Sugar Substitute
- 1 Egg White (about 2 Tbsp) - Can be omitted for vegan cookies
- 64g (1/4 Cup) Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- Pinch of Salt
- Optional: Sea Salt for Topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add all of your ingredients together. Use a silicone spatula to mix everything up until cookie dough forms.
- The dough will be sticky at this stage. Refrigerate the cookie dough for one hour to make it significantly easier to work with.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Using a small cookie scoop (about 2 teaspoons if you do not have a cookie scoop) scoop out cookies onto a baking sheet. Using a small cookie scoop, I was able to create exactly 30 cookies, but it may vary slightly for you.
- Roll each cookie dough ball in your palms to smooth them out, then lightly press them down into discs. The dough will be slightly sticky but not so much that you cannot work with it. To prevent the dough from sticking to your hands too much, you can either wet your hands with a little bit of cold water or dust your hands with additional cocoa powder (both work well).
- Optional: top with some coarse sea salt before baking if you enjoy the salty + sweet combo as I do.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes. These cookies will be delicate right out of the oven, but they will firm up as they cool. You can let them cool even longer if you feel the cookies are still too soft, but 30 minutes should be perfect.
- If you need some added sweetness, sprinkle powdered sugar on top of these cookies once cooled.
- Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container to keep them soft & fresh for up to one week.
Notes
- ***This recipe has been updated since the original recipe was posted thanks to reader feedback. What changed: I added egg white and bumped the baking time up from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. I also tested a batch replacing 75g of brown sugar with powdered sugar, and it worked great, but there isn't much difference in the results.
- If you leave these cookies out, they tend to dry out, so make sure you leave leftover cookies in an airtight container to keep the moisture sealed in.
- The egg white can be left out if you need to make these vegan, but it helps a lot with the structure of these cookies.
- If you do not have access to canned pumpkin, a reader told me that pureed sweet potato also worked. The canned pumpkin is the secret ingredient that keeps these cookies soft and is very low calorie, so you'll want to find something similar as a substitute. I'd recommend making my Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies as a simple cookie recipe if you do not have pumpkin.
- Note that I typically do not count sugar substitute in my carb totals because it contains 0 calories, but I included them for this recipe. The net carbs for each cookie are only 1.5g taking the sugar substitute into account.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 30 Serving Size 1 Small CookieAmount Per Serving Calories 22Total Fat 1.5gCarbohydrates 8gNet Carbohydrates 1.5gFiber 1.5gSugar 0.5gProtein 1g
I just made these with stevia and baking powder. I added 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract and a little extra cocoa powder to make up for the added liquid. They really hit the spot for my pastry cravings lately. Thank you so much for this!
Awesome, really glad you enjoyed them!
is there any way that i don’t use peanut butter? i hate peanut butter with all my heart!
Unfortunately not for these! You could maayyybbee use regular butter in its place, but I’m not confident they will turn out quite the same.
Just finished making these. Yes they’re really soft out of the oven and need a good while to firm up (I popped them in the fridge after an hour as they were still too delicate to even get off the cookie sheet), BUT soft or not, they are DELICIOUS! No way you’d believe these are low calorie. Thank you so much for the recipe! 🙂
Thank you Lucy! They definitely need a while to firm up properly, but it’s a small price to pay for the low calories 🙂
Just wanted to add another vegan option – I tried 1/4tsp xanthan gum (and no additional moisture) instead of the egg white and they turned out great! I don’t know how it compares to the egg version but they had a nice chewy outside and very soft inside.
Oh that is awesome, thanks so much!
I made these little gems today. I added one sf chocolate chip to the top of each before baking. The perfect chocolate craving satisfier!! Thank you thank you thank you!!
Can I replace the brown sugar substitute with erythritol?
You SHOULD be able to. I tested this with powdered sugar substitute before and it worked, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Brown sugar creates the best soft texture but I’m thinking it won’t be a huge difference.
@Matt, I used swerve which is erythrotol and they came out delicious!
Absolutely incredible!!! The salt on top makes it *chefs kiss* love the recipe! Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for trying them!
This recipe sucked did not work and I followed exactly!!!!! Basically just made hot mud that never hardened to a cookie. Very disappointed! Ive baked plenty of other cookies/cakes and this has to be the worst recipe on god’s green earth.
Hey Nelson- I’m all for honesty, but this is pretty harsh. I hope you can remember that there is a REAL person on the other side of that computer who is really trying his hardest… not to mention providing free recipes for you to enjoy. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you for whatever reason, but you could have very well asked for some advice rather than going out of your way to let me know that this is the “worst recipe on god’s green earth.” Sorry my recipe ruined your day so badly, I hope things turn around for you!
@Matt, Hey Matt, I apperciate you putting up these recipes, youre only trying to help people meet their nutritional needs. Dont let the haters get to you!
I appreciate that!
This was DELISH!!! My daughter is gluten- and dairy-free, and I am hypersensitive about calorie totals. My husband is a chocolate freak!! When I weighed everything out, it wound up as 1 c pumpkin, 1 1/2 c cocoa powder (the rest of the ingredients, you gave “measurements” as opposed to weights!), and I did use about 1 1/2 t baking POWDER because I had the 1/2 t in before I realized the recipe called for SODA! lol OH – my Splenda brown sugar substitute ratio is 1/2:1, not 1:1, so I did only use 1/2 c of that.
Anyway, with my small scoop, it made 48 cookies, not 30, so working the math, it’s just over 15 calories per cookie! I was a little concerned because at 8 minutes they were SO DARK, but they were actually underdone when they cooled, so I fired the oven back in and put them in for another 6 minutes, total. They are fudgy, rich, and not too sweet! These are staying on the menu!!! My daughter mowed 3 right off the bat, didn’t even wait for them to cool all the way! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing!!!
I’m so glad these worked out!! I’m not sure why the bake time would have been so different BUT I’m just glad they came together! And I very much appreciate the thoughtful comment because it will definitely help others!!
@Matt, I had the same experience. I put them in for ten minutes and they were still so soft I couldn’t pick them up. I let them cool for 20 minutes and they were the same – hadn’t really hardened at all. I put them back in and baked them for an additional 4 minutes, let them cool again, and still couldn’t pick one up without it falling apart. At that point I had to go to sleep so I just scooped them up with a fork the best I could and put them in tupperware.
I’m going to try throwing them into the oven again today for a few more minutes.
For the second batch, I baked them for 13 minutes straight and they were almost done but still not quite. I think Chrissie’s recommendation for baking them for 16 minutes is right and that’s what I’ll do next time.
For reference, I changed out 4tbsp of peanut butter for 4tbsp butter. And I used real brown sugar instead of the substitute. So it really shouldn’t have altered the cook time much. I also have a new convection oven.
Overall though, I really like this recipe! It tasted great. I sprinkled powdered sugar and sea salt on the top. It made 23 cookies for me using a scooper, and with my changes, it comes out to 60 calories a cookie for 23 which is amazing in my opinion.
I think for my next experiment, I’ll try subbing 25% of the sugar with a sugar substitute and see if I can tell the difference. I’m curious how much sugar substitute I can get away with before it tastes like ass LOL
OH hot tip – let the dough cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before trying to scoop it onto a baking sheet. It will make it much easier to work with.
Thx for the recipe 🙂
Hi! Could I use greek yogurt or additional pumpkin instead of the PB? Thank you!
Unfortunately not in this one because we need a little bit of fat. Otherwise, I fear these would be completely inedible.
I am not a big fan of peanut butter or nut butters. do you have a substitute you would recommend?
@nicole, Another fat source should work! Regular butter can likely be used in its place, but I didn’t test it.
@nicole, I made these tonight and am also not a big peanut butter fan. My daughter IS a HUGE pb fan! She couldn’t taste it at all and suggested that next time we try adding peanut butter! Hope that helps!! 🙂
@nicole, I used butter and it worked fine! I didn’t try it with peanut butter so I can’t officially compare but I have a feeling the butter version tastes better.
I just made these and thought I had pumpkin but did not, so……I used sweet potato instead and it turned out great! Of course my nutritional values changed but it was a quick fix. Next time I’ll use canned pumpkin.
@Selina, did you use an entire can or just a cup? Recipe says 210 grams which I estimate to be half the can.
Could you use this as an edible cookie dough?
@Selina, absolutely!! The big thing with raw cookie dough is the risk that comes with eating raw eggs!! My daughter was eating this by the spoonful as I was trying to get the cookies on the baking sheet! 🙂
Made these last week, the taste and texture are great, very soft and delicious. I did a half batch and made them bigger which ended up with 8 normal sized cookies at about 50cals a piece. Now I did let mine cool for a long time on the pan and then put them in the fridge overnight but they were still extremely delicate. 1 fell apart a little while removing from the pan even after cooling for a couple hours. I packed them for a camping trip and only 3 made it wholly intact. I’m thinking I may have just made them too big and shaped them a little too thin to start with. I will definitely be making these again but I think I’ll have to make them smaller and thicker. I also wonder if just a splash of egg whites might help them structurally, I think I’ll try adding just a tablespoon or so.
I also agree with the other commenter, the dough is very sticky to work with. I’ll be refrigerating before shaping next time.
Thank you for the feedback! Indeed they are very delicate, so making them larger is tough in terms of having them hold up. Smaller definitely makes things easier, and you can just have more of ’em! If you do try the egg whites, let me know if it makes any kind of difference- I’d love to be able to provide a possible solution to anyone else experiencing that
@Matt, Ok, I finally got around to trying this again. I did another half batch but made them smaller this time so I ended up with 14 cookies and I added 15g of egg whites and they. are. perfect. 1000% more stable, a nice little crusty outside, and a perfectly soft inside. I added some Lily’s dark chocolate chips and the gooey chocolate inside was excellent. 10/10. Will be making these all the time.
Amaaaazing, thank you!! I’m going to have to give this a try for myself to see but that really does sound perfect.
Hey Matt- I know it’s been quite a while, but I revisited this recipe and wanted to let you know that I used egg whites this time around and you were absolutely right- these are significantly improved!
This is the first time I’m actually ever commenting on a recipe I found on a blog! I am on a diet right now and I was craving chocolate so I googled a ‘healthier’ cookie and I came across this.
I know that sugar-substitute is technically not “healthy” according to people but in a CICO calorie counting diet that’s fine with me.
Letting the cookies cool COMPLETELY is key to this. They WILL fall apart easily if you don’t let them rest. I let them rest about an hour and they were able to be removed from the pan. Letting them rest overnight made them so they can be held without breaking apart.
The texture of the cookies is nice, to be honest. They’re very soft. They remind me of like the center of a fudgy brownie. But these cookies are **very bitter** imo. It’s like eating a 99% dark cocoa chocolate bar. There needs to be some kind of sweetness to offset that bitterness. I think next time I’ll add a bit of splenda into the mixture too to give it a sweetness.
But for this batch I dusted a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar over the top of the 30 cookies and that gave it the PERFECT amount of sweetness and made the cookies pretty good! The powdered sugar only adds a few calories per cookie since it’s a light dusting so it’s worth it to me.
PS: This did make exactly 30 cookies and they all fit on one big cookie sheet of mine because they don’t spread very much (if at all) when cooking.
The dough is VERY VERY STICKY! I don’t know if maybe refrigerating the dough for a few hours before making the balls makes it easier to work with but yes, my hands were FILTHY when done but everything washed off easy enough.
Thank you! Going to be bookmarking this to make these again in the future. Bringing them to a family dinner tonight to see what the rest of the family thinks about them.
@Jett, Wow, thank you for the detailed review!! I really appreciate it. When something is super low calorie like this, expectations need to be tempered a bit (too many people compare them to the real thing) and your assessment is very fair. They are definitely not overly sweet, so your solution of adding powdered sugar was very smart.
Refrigerating the dough would definitely help with the stickiness if needed in the future! For a lot of my recipes I refrigerate dough for about an hour and it helps significantly.
Thank you again for the awesome feedback.