Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Total Time: 38 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 18 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 cup ground oats (use a spice or coffee grinder)
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5/8 cup unbleached cane sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature, beaten in a small bowl
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2-1 teaspoon instant coffee (you might want to use decaffeinated) (optional)
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Recipe

• 1 if you are making this without refrigerating the dough : preheat oven to 300°f and grease some cookie sheets, or line them with parchment paper if they aren't non-stick.
• 2 in a small bowl, sift together the whole wheat flour, tapioca, baking powder, soda, salt and allspice, then add the ground oats and whisk to combine.
• 3 the butter must hold its shape, but not be hard or mushy. if hard, let it sit on the counter a while longer, if mushy, refrigirate it, checking the texture every few minutes. then, in a large bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon.
• 4 beat the butter and the sugar together using an electric mixer on medium speed approximately 30 seconds. the mixture must become light and airy. if it becomes soggy, put it back in the fridge and try again in a couple minutes.
• 5 a trick to bring the egg at room temperature quickly is to put it in a bowl of lukewarm water a couple minutes. carefully beat the egg in the butter mixture, 1 tbsp at a time, and finish by adding the vanilla extract and beating another 30 seconds.
• 6 with a rubber spatula, add the dry ingredients and mix them until almost blended. you will finish mixing at the next step.
• 7 add your choice of chips and sprinkle the instant coffee, and mix only until combined.
• 8 at this step, you have some choices to make : you can either use the dough as is and drop it on your cookie sheet to bake immediately, or chill the dough about 2 hours, or until it doesn't stick much anymore and then roll balls with your hands. the first option will make cookies of a more uniform texture while the second will make them crispier on the edges and chewier in the center, while having perfectly uniform sizes and shapes.
• 9 if you decide to refrigerate the dough, now is the time to grease the cookie sheets, and preheat your oven about 15 minutes before cooking the cookies.
• 10 now, choose the size of your cookies : anywhere from teaspoons to 1/3 cups. a "standard" cookie would be about 1/8 cup. do not vary the size on a same sheet, since the cooking time is different for each size. using your measure, drop the cookie dough if it's fresh or roll it between your palms if it's refrigerated and place it onto your cookie sheet. flatten them gently with the back of a spoon, ensuring about 3/4" thickness. keep in mind they need to be 1 to 3 inches apart, depending on their size (they will expand).
• 11 bake for about 15 to 30 minutes depending on their size or until nicely browned around the edges. bake a little less for chewy cookies and a little longer for crispier cookies. the trick here is to experiment and find out what works for you. you can start by cooking only a few at a time until you get them just how you like.
• 12 let the cookies sit 1 or 2 minutes on the sheets and transfer to cooling racks. wait a couple minutes, and enjoy! you can keep the cooled cookies in a jar, with paper towels between the layers (to absorb excess humidity).