whole wheat chocolate chip cookies.

I've been kinda busy these few days hence the drop in posts, and even when I do post, I have to keep it short so please pardon my silence. It's going to be like this for at least two weeks.

I recently bought a pack of whole wheat flour for baking bread but I was wondering what else I could do with it. I thought that since whole wheat flour has a natural nuttiness to it, it would go really well in cookies. I did a search and popular versions, I found, were chocolate chip and peanut butter. I decided on one recipe of each but I made the chocolate chip first since the recipe was more straightforward.

The recipe called for whole wheat pastry flour but what I had was the regular, more gritty kind, so I used half whole wheat and half plain flour instead. I let the dough sit in the fridge for a day even though I could have just baked it straight away. I've not tested the theory of The New York Times, making comparisons between 4-hour, 12-hour, 36-hour doughs and whatnot- I made the cookie dough ahead just to save some time on the actual day I felt like eating the cookies.

I thought the idea of whole wheat cookies is really a winner. Without having to brown any butter, the cookies had a really nice depth of flavour and they didn't give me that sinful feeling. Although, that can be negotiable... However, because the whole wheat flour I used was coarser, the texture was a little rough. Like stone-ground cornmeal in corn muffins. I think it would be good to invest in some whole wheat pastry flour. I can see myself using that for future cookies instead of white.

I felt that the cookies were a little on the sweet side so you might want to cut down the sugar by 1/4. Also, sprinkling a bit of salt right after they've emerged from the oven would not be such a bad idea too.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce
makes about 20

The cold butter keeps the dough cool and less likely to spread in the oven, omitting a chilling step. You can still make the dough ahead, for more, apparently, flavorful cookies. 

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour, or a 50-50 mixture of regular whole wheat flour and plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 cup light brown sugar (I would cut down on the amount of sugar for both kinds)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped or bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in a bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Add in the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined.

Portion out the dough about 3 tablespoons in size each onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Leave to cool. I find that by giving the cookies a chance to cool, the wheat flavour is more noticeable.