Healthy Cookie Dough

Cookie dough can produce some delicious cookies, but they're not always healthy. Cookies usually contain saturated fat and refined flour, along with sugary ingredients. Healthy cookie dough features whole grains, unsaturated fats, dried fruits and nuts. With a few substitutions, you can make a healthy version of cookie dough, for baking -- and for eating raw.

Whole Grains

A healthy cookie dough uses primarily whole grains, such as whole wheat flour or oats, instead of white, refined flour. Whole grains provide more nutrients and fiber. In addition, whole grains help you feel full for longer -- so your cookie dough may satisfy you with smaller servings and you will eat fewer calories overall.

Unsaturated Fats

Many cookie dough recipes call for butter, margarine or shortening, all of which contain saturated or trans fats. These types of fats can increase your cholesterol levels and, thus, your risk of developing heart disease. Make a healthy cookie dough using unsaturated fats, such as nut butters or canola oil. Unsaturated fats, when used instead of saturated fats, may actually help reduce your risk of heart disease.

Eggs

Healthy cookie dough can contain eggs, which provide texture and leavening to baked goods; just make sure you purchase pasteurized versions if you're in the habit of eating raw cookie dough. Pasteurization destroys salmonella bacteria in eggs, making them safe for uncooked consumption. They are available in many major supermarkets.

Additional Ingredients

Adding ingredients such as raisins and dates ups the fiber content of your cookie dough. Dark chocolate chips, rather than milk or white chocolate, contain antioxidants that scavenge disease-causing free radicals in the body. Nuts are another addition to healthy cookie dough that provide protein, magnesium, vitamin E and unsaturated fats.

Recipe

To prepare a healthy cookie dough, blend together 1 cup of almond butter, ¾ cup of sucanat -- an unrefined sugar -- and one pasteurized egg. Stir in ½ tsp. of baking soda and ¼ tsp. of salt. Blend in 3 oz. of chopped dark chocolate and ¼ cup chopped toasted almonds. Add ¼ cup raisins, if you like. Indulge in the dough raw, or bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes; cool before serving. The recipe makes 24 cookies, each containing about 110 calories and 8 g of fat, with only 1.5 g of saturated fat.