(Healthier) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Most days, I spend most of my time thinking mostly about food.  Buying it. Chopping it. Mixing it. Cooking it.  Eating it.  The bounty of summer makes it easy to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Lately though, I’ve been harboring an irresistible urge to bake something sweet.  I deftly staved it off several times last week by grilling veggies or whipping up a pasta dish or other relatively healthy dinner item.  On Friday, I finally decided that if I was going to succumb to the desire, I was going to make the most of it by attempting to create a slightly healthier version of a baked treat. 

These cookies contain 25% less butter and about 17% less sugar than traditional chocolate chip cookies.  And they’re made with mostly whole grains:  whole wheat flour in place of half of the white flour and a generous amount of oatmeal.  Of course, the true measure of a good cookie is the resulting flavor and texture, and these are not lacking in either.  They boast the ability to satisfy even the most discriminating palate – buttery, sweet, moist, chewy, chocolatey, with a bit of crunch.  Their hearty yet delicate texture is just as good on day 3 as it is fresh out of the oven.  The cookies can easily stand on their own without the addition of chocolate, or they can accommodate any number of other additions, such as dried cranberries or walnuts. 

In a word, they’re perfect.  I like them even better than traditional chocolate chip cookies.

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield 60 2" cookies.

1 cup whole wheat flour (“pastry” flour if you have it, but I used the standard variety)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ⅓ cup rolled oats (not quick-cook)
1 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
optional additions: ½ cup dried cranberries or raisins; ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add the vanilla, eggs, and milk and beat until well combined.

Add the flour and mix until just combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and any other additions.

Using a small cookie scoop or a spoon, distribute dough balls (about the size of a heaping tablespoon) about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden around the edges.  Be careful not to overcook them.  (In  my oven, 8 minutes and 30 seconds was the perfect amount of time.)

Wait about 2 minutes before removing to a rack to cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

The cookies keep well stored in an airtight container for several days.

valentine cookies, pure and simple

I love making sugar cookies.  It’s one of my favorite things and one thing I always regret not doing if I let a holiday go by without them.  For this reason, in the middle of my third week of a new job, after several of the busiest, longest days of the year, and three days before one of the organization’s biggest events of the year, I decided to make my annual Valentine’s Day sugar cookies.  I knew I would be sad if I let February 14 pass without a batch of heart-shaped cookies in varying shades of pink.  I know what you’re thinking.  I’m crazy.  I don’t deny it.  In my defense, I cut out a couple hours of the process by skipping the buttercream piping and sticking with a simple glaze. 

I was particularly looking forward to making the cookies because I’d finally broken down and shelled out the $18 for all-natural food coloring.  I arrived at this point for a number of reasons. First of all, we try to keep our diet free of artificial ingredients, including artificial colors.  Until now my cookies were all-natural and mostly organic—except for the food coloring.  On top of my growing concern with consuming artificial ingredients, at some point during the past year I developed the unfortunate ability to taste the chemicals in my dyed frostings.  This sensitivity became difficult to overlook.  And the more food coloring I used (e.g. to achieve rich colors like red and black), the worse it was.

I was quite pleased with the way this year’s cookies turned out, rushed though they were.  I didn’t go for a full-on red but stuck with shades of pink.  I think the all-natural food coloring was well worth the expense, especially given the fact that it should last me at least 6 months, maybe longer. 

Four drops of all natural red food coloring in one batch of glaze went from this:

To this:

I also experimented with adding raspberry puree to the glaze for some extra oomph. 

I loved the flavor.  Next time I’ll try replacing most of the milk in my glaze recipe with the berry puree for an even deeper shade of pink.

I’m happy to say that the only thing “added” to these cookies is love. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

i heart cookies

It case it wasn’t already obvious, I love any opportunity to make decorated sugar cookies.  Here’s a brief look at Valentine’s Day Cookies 2010.

 

And since I didn’t post the entire thing last time, here’s the recipe for my favorite cutout sugar cookie.

Cutout Sugar Cookies 
printable recipe
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 ½ tsp almond extract
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp milk
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 ½ cups flour
Colored sugar, glaze, or frosting for decorating (optional)
Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, milk, and almond extract. Beat until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Add flour and baking powder. Beat on low speed until well mixed.
Divide dough into quarters. Wrap quarters in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (preferably 3 hours and up to 2 days).
When dough has chilled preheat oven to 400°F. Working with one piece of dough at a time on a floured surface, roll to desired thickness (1/8” to 1/4”) with a floured rolling pin. Cut with cookie cutters and place 1” apart on a cookie sheet (use parchment paper, if desired).
Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.
Decorating:  You can use one or both of the frostings below. If using both, let the glaze dry before decorating with the buttercream.
Glaze 
printable recipe
3 cups Powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract (or to taste)
1 tsp Almond extract (or to taste)
Food coloring, if desired
Add milk until desired consistency is reached. Glaze should be thin enough that you can drizzle it over the cookies, but not too thin or it will just run off or make the cookies soggy.
I’ve discovered that the neatest and easiest way to apply the glaze is using a pastry brush. (I use a different one for each color). You can also drizzle it over the cookies or pour the glaze onto a plate and dip the tops of the cookies in it.
Also, feel free to add other extracts to flavor the glaze (orange and lemon are both good).

Buttercream Frosting 
printable recipe
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 tsp Almond extract (optional)
Food coloring
Blend first two ingredients; then add the vanilla and milk. Separate frosting into smaller bowls and mix in food coloring. Put frosting in decorating bags and pipe onto cookies!
(Add more or less milk for desired consistency – a slightly stiffer frosting is better for piping.)

P.S.  Check out my other Valentine's Day project on cueriosity.

Christmas Cutout Cookies

In my Thanksgiving post, I mentioned trying a couple of new recipes in search of the perfect cutout cookie recipe.   I initially thought that they were too much like shortbread for my liking, but one of the recipes in particular grew on me and I’ve since used it for 3 batches of Christmas cookies.   It’s a pretty simple recipe.  The only flavoring it calls for is almond extract.  I tried adding some vanilla and salt, but decided that I prefer the recipe in its original form.

    

The question is: why do these cookies hold their shape so much better than those made with my old sugar cookie recipe?  Is it that one uses baking soda and baking powder and the other only baking powder, or is it that one recipe calls for two eggs, while the other only calls for one.  Maybe it has something to do with the absence of salt in the new recipe.  I suspect that it is related to the leavening and/or eggs.  Once again, my knowledge of food science falls far short of my culinary aspirations.

I hope that this won’t always be the case, however.  I've had my eye out for a book on the subject and came across one at the library a couple of months ago.  I didn’t get to spend near enough time with it, though.  I got about one quarter of the way through a fascinating chapter on the historical significance and chemical behavior of dairy products before I had to return the book.  It’s on my Christmas wish list, and I hope that soon I’ll be one step closer to at least attempting to answer the cutout cookie question and others. 

All of the cookies in this picture were made using the same cookie cutter.  Some of them actually look like pumpkins and others are just orange blobs.

In addition to its shape-holding power, the new dough is much easier to roll out and cut.   An added bonus is that it doesn’t call for corn syrup like my old recipe does.   Below are their ingredients for comparison.  The old recipe is baked at 350, and the new one at 400:

Old Sugar Cookie Recipe 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar  1 cup butter     2 eggs  1 tablespoon vanilla  1-2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)  ¼ cup light corn syrup    3 cups all-purpose flour ¾ teaspoon baking teaspoon powder   ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ to 1 teaspoon salt

New Cutout Sugar Cookie Recipe 1 cup sugar  1 cup butter  1 egg                                                                    1 ½ teaspoons almond extract  2 tablespoons milk 2 ½ cups flour  1 teaspoon baking powder

Believe it or not, I don’t spend all my time wondering about the science behind everything I cook.  Sometimes I just enjoy it (not that I don’t enjoy the science part).

This week I even had a friend to bake with!