Recipe Trend: Deceptively Delicious Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

No, I’m not trying to push health food on you. These cookies are anything but. Recipe #2 on the Savour recipe trend list, this was probably the recipe I was most looking forward to trying. Food bloggers touted their surprisingly nutty flavor, and many claimed it was the best chocolate chip cookie they’ve ever tasted. This was now their go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, they said. With press like that, how can you not be intrigued?

Yes, the only flour they contain is whole wheat (many other baked-goods recipes that incorporate whole-wheat flour usually only replace about 25% or so of the white flour with whole wheat). But that’s not necessarily to make them healthy. Look, you’re still putting in a cup of butter and two cups of sugar, not to mention eight ounces of chocolate, although it is the healthier dark chocolate. Face it, these cookies are more decadent than healthy any day.

As the other bloggers have said, the cookies are nutty, soft, chewy, and delicious. Additionally, I think they have the perfect height and texture. I’ve had some trouble with chocolate chip cookies lately, while I’ve been searching for the perfect recipe; most of mine have turned out too thin and crisp, even when I’ve used recipes claiming to produce the perfect thick and chewy cookie I was looking for. I was not expecting these whole-wheat babies to be a contender in my quest, but so far they’ve produced the ideal specimen when compared to other recipes.

If you still have an aversion to the term “whole wheat” in this recipe and nothing I’ve said so far has persuaded you otherwise, let me share one more tidbit. Even my husband, who can sometimes be reluctant when it comes to things like whole wheat, vegetables, organic, and/or anything that sounds like food hippies might eat, was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. “They just taste like a really good chocolate chip cookie,” he claimed. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I usually try to trick him into trying things like this, not revealing the secret ingredient until after he tells me whether he liked the item, but he went into this particular taste test with the full knowledge of its theoretically wholesome ingredient.

A few quick recipe notes: The recipe calls for cold butter, which supposedly will allow you to bake the cookies right away rather than allowing for a few hours of chilling time in the fridge. I used the cold butter as instructed, but after mixing the dough, I thought it looked a little dry, so I decided to let it rest in the fridge anyway. Resting cookie dough overnight or for 24 hours is a strategy many professional bakers use and one I’ve learned of only recently, so I like to use it whenever I can. Just like when you rest a pie crust dough before rolling it out, a cookie dough rest for a few hours allows the flour to better absorb the moisture in the batter, resulting in a better textured cookie. And a longer rest permits the flavors to blend and develop, so overnight or up to 24 hours is a good rule of thumb.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Modified from 101 Cookbooks, who got it from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain

3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into half-inch pieces
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and stir well.

Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for about 2 minutes or until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is combined. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and blend on low speed until the flour is barely combined, about 30 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just incorporated.

Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are slightly browned and starting to dry out. Let cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.