Soft and Chewy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies made with (or without) freshly milled flour are full of nutty flavor and whole grain goodness, making this a treat you’ll always want to have around!
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies are nutty and delicious and chewy. Before we get into this great recipe, know this. I don’t believe in making something just because it’s healthy. In moderation, I firmly believe that desserts are a treat to be enjoyed to the fullest. If you’re going to have a cookie, get yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of milk and have a really good cookie and savor the moment.
That being said, I feel like I can honestly tell you that these cookies are exceptional and only improved by the use of freshly milled whole wheat flour. The nutty flavors that come out naturally in whole grains are the perfect complement to chocolate chip cookies. Follow these few, easy tips and you will end up with the best chocolate chip cookies with superior taste and a soft, chewy texture similar to a cookie made with white flour.
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Tips for Baking Better Cookies
Cream your fats and sugars for at least 5 minutes.
The first step in this chocolate chip cookie recipe is to cream your butter and sugars. This is such an important step and should not be overlooked. As you blend together the sugar with the butter, you are incorporating air into your batter that will keep your cookies from flattening like pancakes as they bake. Use butter that is room temperature but no warmer. Mix in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment for at least five minutes and you’ll notice that during this time the butter will go from a pale yellow to an almost white color. This is a good sign that your cookies are going to turn out awesome!
Fully incorporate your eggs.
There is a fear when making cookies that you’re going to over beat your eggs and ruin your cookies and, as a result, it is easy to actually under beat the dough at this point. You want your eggs to be fully incorporated and evenly distributed. Let the dough beat for about one minute.
Add your dry ingredients at one time and pulse in until just incorporated.
The moment you add flour into your batter, gluten begins to form. More gluten development equals tougher, dry cookies. In order to have nice soft, tender cookies, only mix your dry ingredients until just blended. You should not be able to see any dry flour in your batter or streaks of dry ingredients.
Use a cookie scoop for even, well baked cookies.
No matter how well you eye-ball it, the only way to get nice and even cookies is to use a cookie scoop. I like to use a cookie scoop to measure out the dough, and then use the palms of my hands to form the dough into a ball. This makes for beautifully round, even cookies that maintain a nice height as they bake and do not flatten out like pancakes 🙂
Ingredients
Butter
Using real butter is so important in this cookie recipe to get the right flavor and height. Use room temperature butter but make sure that it is not too warm. Your butter should not be melty. As you cream together the butter and the sugar, you are actually incorporating air into the butter that will give your cookies good rise and prevent them from flattening. If your butter is too warm, it will not be able to hold as much air and you will end up with flat cookies. I like to get my butter out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to mixing my dough.
Sugar
We are going to use white sugar and brown sugar to sweeten our cookies. I don’t recommend substituting honey or maple syrup in this recipe for two reasons. First, we need the sugar crystals to cut through our butter, whipping it and incorporating air. Honey and maple syrup cannot do this. Also, any type of liquid sweetener can make our cookie dough too soft and will result in flat, crisp cookies.
Eggs
To help hold the cookies together.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder
To help give our cookies more lift.
Flour
This whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for 100% whole wheat flour. I use fresh ground soft white wheat flour, but you can definitely make this with store bought wheat flour. Try to choose a wheat flour with a fine grind, and if grinding your own flour, choose the finest setting on your grain mill. If your family is new to whole grains, you can certainly go with a 50/50 blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. Honestly though, I don’t find this recipe to be overly “wheat-y” and might be a good place to start if you are trying to introduce more whole grains into your diet.
Salt
Coarse salt is excellent in these cookies! Feel free to add a sprinkling on top right before you pop them in the oven! If using table salt, decrease the amount to 1 teaspoon.
Chocolate Chips
Use a semi-sweet chocolate chip or chunk for this recipe, whatever you have on hand or can get easily will work great! However, if you’ve been thinking about diving into the world of fancy chocolate, here is my recommendation! High quality chocolate chips are incredible and you may never be able to go back!
Time
Time is by far the most important ingredient in this recipe! After you make your cookie dough, you will want to store it away in the fridge for 24 hours. I know that this is the hardest part of the recipe, and you’re going to be tempted to go ahead and bake the cookies. Please don’t. Take a bite of dough to treat yourself then place the rest in the fridge. By waiting 24 hours, you give the wheat flour time to absorb the liquid from the dough and to soften and release sugars. I recommend this step with any cookie recipe, but it is especially important with whole wheat cookies. Your finished product will be soft, chewy cookies with a nutty taste and a caramelized, rich flavor that only comes from time.
Why Fresh Milled Flour in Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies?
The most obvious but important reason to cook or bake with fresh flour is that you know exactly what you’re getting. When using a home mill, you take the whole wheat berry and mill a fine flour that retains every component. Grains in their complete form contain many vital nutrients as well as fiber for belly health.
When you purchase white flour from the store, the bran and germ of the wheat kernels have been removed taking much of the fiber and nutrients with them. Even whole wheat flour is often made by taking white flour and adding bran back in. During the commercial milling process, the good oil that is found within the wheat berry is removed in order to extend the shelf life of the flour. Often preservatives are used as well. Just like with anything you make from scratch, there’s security in knowing how food is created from start to finish and milling your own flour gives you this knowledge.
Additionally, fresh milled flour has a complex flavor profile that’s a little sweeter and a little nuttier than the grains you find on a store shelf. Compare freshly ground wheat berries to coffee beans and you start to understand how time can make them a little stale. For the best flavor, it’s best to use milled wheat within 3 days but it can last on a shelf for 7-10 days.
Choosing the Right Grain Berries
When using freshly-milled flour for Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies it’s a good idea to use soft wheat berries. Such as soft white wheat or an ancient grain such a spelt. These grains have a lower protein content and less gluten which makes them a great option for cookie recipes. When making pastry such as cookies, we want to minimize gluten development for a tender and chewy crumb. Although I encourage you to use whatever you have on hand and your cookies will still turn out delicious.
Handy Tools
My Favorite, Most Beautiful Mixing Bowl
More Whole Wheat Recipes
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 sticks of butter room temperature
- 300 grams brown sugar 1 1/2 cups
- 240 grams white sugar 1 1/4 cup
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 500 grams whole wheat flour 4 cups
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add sugars and butter and cream together on medium speed for about 5 minutes. The mixture should lighten in color and look whipped.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix for about another minute until well blended.
- In a separate large bowl add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and whisk until well combined. Add your dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly dispersed in your dough. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no dry ingredients hiding.
- Transfer your dough to an airtight container with a lid and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours, or up to 3 days.
- When ready to bake your cookies, remove the dough from the fridge and preheat your oven to 335 degrees.
- Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out the cookie dough and form it into a ball about the size of a ping pong ball. Position cookies about 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt if desired. Place in the preheated oven and bake cookies for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool and enjoy! I can’t wait for these to become your favorite chocolate chip cookies!
