Sunday, May 16, 2010

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies



Not be be repetitive or anything, but I have another one for you from Good to the Grain. I can't help it, I love this book. This was actually the first recipe that I marked to make when I received the book - I mean, they're chocolate chip cookies! Plus, they are the first recipe in the book - but I went with slightly more unusual recipes when I started to bake from it. Then I found myself with a little unexpected time on my hands...

I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, so needless to say, I've suffered my fair share of sleep deprivation. It isn't a terribly common occurrence, but every few weeks my younger son decides that sleep just isn't for him and around 2 in the morning he wants to get up and play for a couple of hours. Well, Friday night was one of those nights. After trying all of my tricks to get him back to sleep, I gave up and decided to bake. This recipe immediately came to mind - I had all of the ingredients and it was simple enough that I didn't think I'd be able to screw it up in my half-asleep state. Thankfully, I was right.

I'm a rather harsh critic when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, so I wasn't sure what to expect from these; they use 100% whole wheat flour, which is fairly unusual for most baked goods.

I served these at a class I gave at my store on Saturday afternoon on cloth diapering and baby wearing, and people were crazy for them. Everyone asked for the recipe, and one woman told me they were the best cookies she had ever eaten! They were a hit!

The first thing that surprised me about these cookies, was the fragrance of the dough; it smelled almost like it contained brown butter and had a stronger aroma than any dough I've ever made. They baked up beautifully, and I couldn't wait to take my first bite. Verdict? They are delicious.

The cookies are soft and chewy, generously studded with bittersweet chocolate chunks, and the whole wheat flour adds a sweet, earthy, nutty flavor that is amazingly complementary to the chocolate. I have to say, these chocolate chip cookies are second only to the ones I made a couple months ago that are a hybrid between the Cooks Illustrated and New York Times versions. That is high praise coming from me.


Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Good to the Grain


3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into several pieces
1 cup palm sugar (or dark brown sugar)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate cut into 1/4" - 1/2" pieces


Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugars and butter on low speed until just blended, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients, and mix on low speed until flour is barely combined. Stir in chocolate chunks. Form dough into balls about 1.5 ounces each, place on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the cookies have spread and cracked, the tops are dry and have browned a bit. Cool on baking sheet.

16 comments:

  1. These look wonderful. I will have to make them and compare with the others already done. Thanks for another CCC recipe.

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  2. I've made whole wheat ccc's before and loved
    them, too. I'll have to look at the recipe and see how different they are. Yours look de-lish! Love all the melty chocolate, too.

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  3. Your cookies look perfect Sarah! I was just browsing through this book at Border's last night and thought of you when I saw this recipe. Can't wait to give it a shot! Hope you got some sleep last night :)

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  4. I am trying to use more whole wheat flour in my baking, so I am very interested to try these cookies. It sounds like they were a hit!

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  5. I love that these have whole wheat flour. Will be baking them this week. Thanks!

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  6. This is exactly my favourite kind of cookie. Can't wait to try it.

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  7. I will love to try the whole wheat version! but my palm sugar are in barrels. So I suppose I have to chop them up before creaming it with butter?

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  8. I will try a batch for my girls---with chocolate in the mix, they will never know they are whole wheat!

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  9. Now I have to add this book to my wish list! Love how the chocolate melted and spread on your cookies. What kind of chips do you use?

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  10. Wow, made these last night, and they BLEW. MY. MIND! Thanks, will definitely be posting about these soon. I used a little less salt though, but that's just a matter of personal preference I guess.

    Cheers! Zo.

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  11. Mrs. Ergul - Do you have a food processor? That would do the trick. Grating would probably work as well. I have a couple kinds of palm sugar; I use the granulated variety 99.9% of the time, and the other kind I have is very hard, and I don't think would be creamable if it was only chopped.

    Eliana - I didn't actually use chips... I used 72% Green & Black's chocolate that I chopped.

    twospoons - So glad to hear it! I couldn't believe how fantastic they were... I'll definitely be making them again!

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  12. I've been so tempted to get this book after hearing such great things about it and I think this post just tipped me over the edge! Off to Amazon to start it on its merry way to my kitchen!

    By the way, I love that first shot of your cookies! So wishing I could reach into the screen to grab one!

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  13. I feel a bit obsessive commenting on your blog twice in like 5 minutes. But I just made these this morning and they are incredible!! I love the grainy texture and the nutty taste! These will definitely become my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe!

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  14. Just made these tonight! I think there may be competition for the nieman marcus cookies my mom makes for the family each christmas!

    We took them out of the oven at 14 or 15 minutes instead of keeping them in 16-18 and were in LOVE. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Amazingly easy and really looks delicious. I'm definitely craving for a plate of that right now. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. This is definitely a must do recipe this weekend since I got my Food Safety Certification.

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