Whipping up desserts is inevitable when you have kids, so why not add unexpected healthy ingredients to their sweet treats?This recipe offers a surprising twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie with the addition of kale!  Chopped vitamin-rich kale leaves are added to the cookie dough, and believe it or not, the kids will never know!

Kale is most in season in fall, when the kids have returned to school. So, this is the best time to make these green-infused chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of light brown sugar (or you can opt for Turbinado, or unprocessed cane sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped, fresh kale (Other leafy greens, such as spinach and collards, can also be substituted.)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined. Hand chop the leafy greens until fine and pack them into the cup. Add the leafy greens to the mixer along with the chocolate chips, and mix until all of the coarse ingredients are evenly distributed. Chill the dough for an hour before baking.

After an hour, the dough should be cold, which helps keep the cookies from flattening out too much during baking. Line one or two cookie sheets with parchment (depending on the size of your oven), and roll out ping-pong-ball-sized cookies in the palm of your hands. Space them evenly on the cookie sheet(s), leaving about two inches between cookies. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. A shorter baking time will yield softer cookies and longer time crunchier cookies.