Tag Archives: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kim Boyce’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last year pastry chef Kim Boyce published Good to the Grain, a cookbook about baking with whole grains. Since the cookbook’s release food bloggers have been singing the praises of Boyce’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies. When I saw a picture on 101 Cookbooks of the Whole Wheat Chocolate Cookies cooked in a cast iron skillet, my resolution to bake fewer cookies and sweets this year suddenly vanished. Rereading a post—“I am Sold”—on Orangette about the same Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies sealed the deal: these were going to be the next cookies into my oven.

The cookies deserve every single commendation they’ve received. They are nutty, chewy and oh-so-tasty. More than once I’ve decided to eat just half a cookie, but discovered it was near impossible to neglect the other half. If you’re skeptical and think the texture of the cookie might be off because they’re 100% whole wheat, fuh-get about it. Just try ‘em. I promise the texture is just as good—maybe even better—than traditional white flour chocolate chip cookies. Go make some cookies and share the whole wheat love.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies 2

To make these cookies pizzookie-style in a skillet, check out Heidi’s post on 101 Cookbooks. If you’re curious about using white whole wheat flour or storing the dough in the fridge, read Molly’s notes on Orangette.

Kim Boyce’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe via Orangette

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

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

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. (I made smaller cookies; about 1 inch balls of dough.)

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield: about 20 big cookies  or 36 smaller cookies

Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Pecans, Dried Apricots and Dried Sour Cherries

chocolate chunk cherry pecan apricot cookieI am grateful for cookies.

I am grateful for cookies not just because they taste good but because it was cookies that drew me into the kitchen when I was a child. On the weekends my sisters and I baked cookies: oatmeal, chocolate chip, almond thins, chocolate crinkle. I grew to love baking, and soon that love for baking turned into a love for cooking.

Cookies were a staple of my childhood, but I haven’t baked many cookies recently. When I set out to make two batches of cookies yesterday, I felt giddy. Cookies! Warm, homemade cookies! Dipped in a glass of cold milk! I was a kid again.

These cookies are a jazzed-up version of the classic chocolate chip cookie. Dark chocolate chunks replace the traditional chips, and a combination of sour cherries, apricots and pecans simultaneously add sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy flavors and textures. I especially love the combination of sour cherries and dark chocolate chunks. If you don’t have the exact mix-ins, bake them anyway with whatever you have on hand—you can’t go wrong.

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks (½ pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
9 ounces good bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch pieces
¾ cup (4½ ounces) quartered dried apricots
1 cup (5 ounces) dried sour cherries
1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely chopped pecans

Preparation:

Put racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture at low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate, apricots, cherries, and pecans.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 12 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool.

Recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook (p 662).