When it comes to baking at home, I’m often surprised by just how much sugar is required to make a sweet treat. Making something at home, instead of splurging on a slice of cake or cookie from a bakery, feels like the more sensible choice.
So, when I saw a recipe that included the words “blood sugar-friendly”, I knew I had to try it out, especially as my mum has type 1 diabetes. I often have to warn her before indulging in a tray of brownies I’ve left behind, knowing that the serious amounts of sugar they require to make them taste as good as they do wouldn’t be so friendly for her blood sugar levels.
Olivia Robertson-Moe posted a video on Instagram with her recipe for blood-sugar-friendly chocolate chip cookies. The nutritional therapy practitioner, who goes by @revolveprimalhealth, said, “If you need a delicious chocolate chip cookie that’s a bit more blood sugar friendly, try this pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.”
Leaving the recipe in the caption, it looked pretty straightforward to follow, even for newbie bakers. While I enjoy making a sweet treat at home, I have yet to try anything too complex and prefer sticking to classic baked goods.
However, I did have to make a few adjustments, which Oliva provided alternatives for, as I didn’t manage to find some ingredients. Nonetheless, they tasted incredible and were just as sweet as I imagined the original recipe would be, but without tonnes of sugar.
Instead, the cookies are “naturally sweetened with just a bit of maple syrup” while the “pumpkin adds some fibre to make it even more blood sugar-friendly.”
I didn’t manage to get my hands on any pumpkins, as it’s far too early in the year for these to be in season, but my local Tesco was stocked with butternut squash, which is similar to pumpkin but slightly sweeter in taste, so it ended up working nicely in the recipe.
Like pumpkins, butternut squash is a great source of fibre, which is what makes the recipe especially great for those with diabetes.
I even got my mum to test her sugar before and 15 minutes after eating a cookie to see if it really was blood-sugar friendly. Before eating the cookie, her glucose was 8.8 mmol/L, and it was only slightly raised to 9.7 mmol/L afterwards, indicating that her blood sugar levels were stable.
I didn’t end up using gluten-free flour as I couldn’t find any, and I had a packet of regular flour I needed to use at home. It’s also not advised for those with diabetes to avoid gluten unless they are allergic.
They took less than 15 minutes in the oven and came out incredibly fluffy, almost like a muffin. The chocolate chips paired with the sweet and spicy flavours of the squash and cinnamon were delicious, and given how easy they were to whip up, I’d definitely make these again to snack on.
Blood sugar-friendly chocolate chip cookie recipe
Ingredients
One egg
Quarter cup melted butter
Quarter cup maple syrup
One cup roasted pumpkin or squash puree
Three-quarter cups flour (use gluten-free if you prefer)
One tablespoon ground pumpkin spice (if you don’t have this, you can easily make it by combining half teaspoon of ground cinnamon and quarter teaspoon of ground cloves)
One teaspoon sea salt
One teaspoon baking powder
One teaspoon baking soda
One cup chocolate chips
Method
Preheat your oven to 200C. Cut your pumpkin or squash in half and scoop out the seeds from inside. Place it skin side up on a tray lined with baking paper and place in the oven for 40 minutes. Depending on the size, you might need to leave it in for longer – you’ll know it’s cooked when the skin on the outside is wrinkly and the inside easily fluffs away with a fork.
Once it’s cooked, let it cool for around 10 to 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170C and leave to warm.
After your pumpkin or squash has cooled, use a blender to mix it to a puree. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add your puree along with the butter, egg, maple syrup and whisk together.
Add the flour, pumpkin spice (or your own mix of spices), sea salt, baking powder, and baking soda, whisking again until evenly combined and free of lumps.
Fold the chocolate chips into the mix and make sure they’re well distributed throughout.
Line a tray with baking paper and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto it, before placing it into the oven and leaving them to bake for 12-14 minutes. Enjoy them immediately or store them in an airtight container. They’ll last for up to four days.
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