Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

About 2 years ago, my uncle brought these cookies to a family get-together. They were so good...I just had to have the recipe. I have been making chocolate chip cookies using only this recipe ever since.

These cookies do not contain any white, all-purpose flour. Instead, they contain whole-wheat and whole-barley flour. This gives the cookies a bit more of a chew, but they still have plenty of butter, sugar, and chocolate chips in them, so these are not healthy cookies by any means! It just makes me feel better knowing I am giving the kids some whole grains in their diet (about 6 grams per cookie). And you can bet I eat these too...more than I should, but what the heck!

If you cannot find whole-barley flour at your local grocery store, you can substitute white all-purpose flour. Do not use whole-wheat flour for the entire recipe, or your cookies will be dense and hard. So far, I have not found whole-barley flour anywhere close to me (David found some for me at a whole-foods market one day not too far from his office). And I know espresso powder and cider vinegar are unusual ingredients in cookies, but the espresso powder brings out out the flavor of the chocolate, and the vinegar contributes a "barely there" tang.

All righty...are you ready? If you start the dough in the morning, you can bake these up in the afternoon, and make the house smell great. Better yet, bake some just as the kiddos are getting off the bus like I did, and you will be a hero--at least for the day!

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup whole-barley flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, or light brown sugar and 1 tablespoon molasses

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 large egg

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

*NOTE: I made a double batch, so it will look like more ingredients in the pictures. But I had to make enough to send to my brother who now in flight school with the Texas Army National Guard. My kids can scarf down cookies like nobody's business...so I needed to make more than 4 dozen.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugars, and espresso powder. (You'll see I used the light brown sugar and molasses; I don't buy dark brown sugar very often.)

Cream together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in the mixer in about 4 increments, and mix until the flour is all incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Angel Boy must have smelled the chocolate because the minute I opened the bag, he came running. So of course I gave him a few chocolate chips :-).

Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about 2 hours. This will make it easier to scoop out the cookies later. You can bake the cookies right away if you are pressed for time.

Now, take a small ice cream scoop (a must-have tool if you're making drop cookies), and scoop out the dough, placing the balls about 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees. Rotate your cookies halfway through. Once your oven gets nice and hot, you'll likely need to bake the cookies for about 12 minutes (and maybe even only 11 minutes. Oven temps vary greatly, so just keep an eye on them).

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve these with a cold glass of milk, and you might feel like the world's greatest mom! My kids think so, (even after I taught Joshua how to clean his bathroom yesterday). Enjoy!

God bless your table tonight!