Saturday, April 14, 2012

How to Make Perfect Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies


One of the best ways to introduce your family to eating more whole wheat is to start with dessert.  Everyone loves a cookie (we all know that I especially love cookies) and chances are when you offer your 5 year old, or your 30 year old husband,  a delicious whole wheat cookie he will gobble it up, and ask for more.   

The only problem is sometime whole wheat cookies can be dry and heavy.  Sueann Allen, from Suzie’s Sweet Wheat, is here today to teach us how to make wonderful light and gooey whole wheat chocolate chip cookies.  

Take it away Sueann.  

Before you begin making cookies with whole wheat flour, there are a few items that I need to address to increase your chance of success.

Three Tricks to Making Whole Wheat Cookies

      1.     ALWAYS use hard white wheat for my desserts. Hard white wheat has a more subtle flavor than hard red wheat and has a much nicer texture.  Many people believe that hard red wheat is more nutritious than hard white wheat, but actually, hard white wheat is slightly more nutritious, making it my very favorite wheat to use in baking.

      2.     Always use either freshly ground whole wheat flour that was ground on the finest setting, or sift your previously-ground flour, or your cookies will be too dry and puffy. If your cookies seem too dry, you may need to decrease the flour by a couple of tablespoons. If they seem too moist, increase the flour by a couple of tablespoons. Try adding the flour amount in a recipe minus 1⁄2 C of flour and then work your way up by tablespoon until you get the exact right consistency. You may want to bake one sample cookie and then bake the rest.
Baking cookies with whole wheat can be a little more difficult than white flour because, if not done correctly, they can be heavier...but when you get it down just right...no one can tell there is wheat in them!

      3.      The key to soft cookies is to bake them just until they are soft and then let them cool on the cookie sheet or baking stone...they will bake while they cool. Do not transfer them until they have cooled for at least 15 minutes.

To Convert Your Cookie Recipe to Whole Wheat
If you have recipes of your own that you would like to convert to whole wheat, use these guidelines:
When converting white flour to whole wheat flour:
o   For every 1 cup of white flour the recipe calls for use 1 cup minus 2 T whole wheat.
o   I generally use, or 3/4 C plus 2 T whole wheat flour in place of 1 cup white flour. 
o   Unless it is freshly ground and then I can usually substitute straight across.
o   If you are using soft white wheat flour it can be substituted straight across.

This chocolate chip cookie recipe is the very best recipe for whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. They are soft, gooey, and in a word, amazing. Not one person who has ever eaten them has known they are whole wheat. I’ve actually had many people ask for the recipe, and they are surprised to find out that they are, in fact, whole wheat. I have one friend who adamantly protests against eating whole wheat. She hates whole wheat in all forms and refuses to eat anything whose ingredient list contains “whole wheat”. When she ate these cookies, she did not believe for one second that they were whole wheat. She loved them. So, if you are looking for a fabulous whole wheat chocolate chip cookie that doesn’t scream “whole wheat!” these are the cookies for you!



Grandma Pattyʼs Gooey Whole Wheat
Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 1⁄2 C whole wheat flour (make sure it is sifted or freshly and finely ground)
3⁄4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 C butter, softened
1 C packed brown sugar
3⁄4 C white sugar
1 T vanilla extract
2 eggs
11⁄2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugars and butter together. Add vanilla extract and eggs.
Beat for three minutes. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by heaping teaspoonful’s onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool before transferring.

Makes 3-4 dozen, depending on the size of the cookies.

The trick is to take them out when they are just barely solid and let them sit on the hot cookie sheet...this will cook them just a little longer. YUM!!!!

Sueann Allen is an average American mom, just trying to make it from day to day with four small children. Due to health concerns, she had to get her children on a high-fiber diet.  She began experimenting with wheat about three years ago and has completely removed white flour from her family’s diet.  Her children are no longer on medicine and my whole family is living a happier, healthier lifestyle.  You can read more about Sueann on her blog:  Suzie’s Sweet Wheat. You can check out her book which contain 250 whole wheat recipes:  Suzie’s Sweet Wheat