Sorta Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you remember me saying that I was going to get through the recent changes in the world by making and eating lots of cookies? I know this isn't really earth-shattering news around these parts because the Dharma Kitchen has an inordinate amount of cookie recipes for a blog of its size. Still, I meant it.

Lately I've been seriously messing around with alterna-flours--you know, anything that's not all-purpose flour. Most of the time these are gluten free, but not always. See last week's experiment with buckwheat and whole wheat flour whereby the chocolate chippers ended up tasting like cardboard. Whole wheat flour, I'm sorry to say, just really isn't meant for a cookie. It doesn't shine there.

With the flour messing comes the sugar messing. I taught a class at the Easton Public Market a week or so ago that was called Tweak Your Sweets, and we looked at coconut palm sugar vs. regular old granulated sugar, and I was shocked by how many fewer calories are in a cup of coconut palm sugar. Go look it up. I'll wait. 

Sorta Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Also sorta gluten free. 

Okay, so no more preamble. These cookies are sorta healthy because they have flaxseed meal, coconut palm sugar, sorghum flour, and local rolled oats. I use only organic butter and local farm fresh eggs in my baking, which often means that there's more liquid than there would be in a more standardized commercial egg---even an organic supermarket one. A large is a large because the USDA grades them. The little guys and gals don't have to do that, and so many of them don't. That's why your carton of eggs from the farmers' market may say "One dozen unclassified eggs." (For more information on why eggs are so confusing, stay tuned for the spring issue of Edible Philly, where I dive into this story head first and emerge with some semblance of coherence!)

I'll also tell you that the oats I used were something between a quick and a rolled. They are from Red Cat farm (purchased at the Easton Public Market) and they are quick cooking but not completely smashed up like lots of quick oats can be. The texture is really cool. So you might have a different liquid absorption situation with your cookies based on the oats. Just saying.  You can see they are variegated in texture. 

Red Cat Farm's oats. Purchased at Easton Public Market

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1 cup rolled oats 
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 12-ounce bag of dark or semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Whisk together the flours through baking soda in a medium bowl. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream together the butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla extract, and the eggs, one at a time, mixing until they're fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly add the dry ingredients while mixing at low speed, until incorporated. Again, you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Finally, add the chips and stir by hand using a wooden spoon.

Scoop out in one rounded teaspoon increments onto a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the tops are ever so slightly browned. You don't want to over bake these. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. However, one caveat: these are delicious when they've cooled slightly and the chocolate is still kind of melty. 

Yield: About 6 dozen.