Recipe: Reduced-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Flax Seed

Do you love chocolate cookies but hate the calories and fat that come with them?

Nutritionist and Troy resident Jaime Sinutko and her 7-year-old son, Ethan, know a way you can sacrifice the fat without sacrificing taste.

"If you want to be healthy, use some flax seed," Ethan recommends.

"What I do is follow any cookie recipe (on the) back of the chocolate chip bag," Sinutko said. "Then, I substitute half the butter – normally one stick – and half the eggs for flax."

Sinutko said 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed is equal to 1 tablespoon of butter, and 1 egg equals 1 tablespoon of ground flax that has been mixed with 3 tablespoons of water and left to sit for two minutes.

Letting the flax seed and water mixture sit helps it "to become gel-like," Sinutko said.

"This cuts your cookies' calories, fat, cholesterol. It still tastes like the original."

Sinutko said she often makes a large batch of the cookies with flax seed, then freezes them for later use.

"My family can't tell the difference," she said.

Do you have a recipe you want to share with other Patch readers? Email editor Jen Anesi at jen.anesi@patch.com and your recipe could be featured on Troy Patch! Original recipes only, please.