As I awoke this morning to the sound of my daughter’s insulin pump low cartridge alarm going off down the hall in her bedroom while she slept, I got to thinking about low-carb snacking. Yes, I’m a much more relaxed diabetes mom these days. A couple of years ago, I would have flown downstairs in a panic, gathering pump supplies and insulin, waking everyone in the household in the process, terrified of high blood sugar. I’m a little calmer now. But I’m getting off-topic. Back to low-carbohydrate snacks. She is staying up late now that summer holidays are here and snacking late into the night on high-carb junk food. I need to make sure that there are some delicious lower-carb alternatives in the kitchen. And let’s be real. Teenagers aren’t going to choose carrots and celery to snack on late at night.

Years ago, I baked. A lot. After the diabetes diagnosis I didn’t bake so much. But I have been experimenting with Splenda in my baking to lower the sugar content and thus the total amount of carbohydrate, which is important for people managing diabetes. Splenda is an artificial sweetener. There are pros and cons to consuming artificial sweeteners. That’s a whole other topic. However, for our purposes here,  Splenda is my preferred choice for low-sugar baking when necessary.

Today I am going to share with you my original, full-sugar chocolate chip cookie recipe, along with my Splenda, reduced-sugar recipe. My original recipe contains a cup of sugar plus a cup of chocolate chips and makes 26 cookies. My Splenda recipe makes 22 cookies with half a cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar and half a cup of chocolate chips. I challenge you to make both and see what you think. I’m not going to try to convince you that they taste exactly the same. They are different. But I think you’ll be surprised. I’m also not going to pretend that I always make the lower-sugar recipe at my house. Sometimes I ‘live on the wild side’ and make the original recipe. Life is all about balance, right?

My Original Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit (or 350 convection).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter (or margarine), softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter, sugars, vanilla, and egg. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheep. Bake 10 minutes.

*Total amount of carbohydrate in recipe: 468 grams.  Makes 26 cookies.  Carbs per cookie: 18.

 My Splenda Reduced-Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit (or 350 convection).

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 2 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (contains real brown sugar)
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter (or margarine), softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter, sugar, Splenda, vanilla, and egg. Stir in dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheep. Flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. Bake 10 minutes.

*Total amount of carbohydrate in recipe: 255.  Makes 22 cookies.  Carbs per cookie: 11.

* All of my recipes include carbohydrate amounts. My daughter manages her Type 1 Diabetes with an insulin pump and carb counting. I hope this is helpful to you if you count carbs too.

Michelle