Chocolate Chip Cookies

These might have been the first thing I ever learned how to make (it was either these or pancakes... I'm not sure). I remember asking my grandmother to send me the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies. I might have been around 9 when I had requested the recipe and have never stopped making them since. I can remember going away to summer camp for the summer (my mom was the camp nurse which is why we went all summer) and I would bake a few batches of these cookies for my dad whom would be all on his own for the summer. He would put the cookies into the freezer and carefully ration them until I returned to make more. These are my favorite chocolate chip cookies, they are loaded with oats which I love, and they are crispy after they come out of the oven, but they soften over time and become a little more chewy but they are equally as good. Even if you don't normally bake with whole wheat pastry flour, I encourage you to go to the grocery store and pick some up. I usually find it in the bulk bins in the health food section. The whole wheat is great in these cookies, it doesn't feel like a compromise but rather a preference. I think the whole wheat flavor matches the oats and chocolate so well, not to mention it offers some added health benefits, although all the butter and sugar would kind of cancel that out.

Chocolate Chip Cookies makes about 48 cookies

1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips or your favorite chocolate chopped into small pieces


Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cream together the butter and sugars, if mixing by hand cream until light and fluffy, at least 8 minutes. If using an electric mixer, use paddle attachment on medium speed and cream for 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the first is completely incorporated before adding the second. You can add the vanilla along with the eggs. Take two cups of the oats and put them into a blender or food processor to grind them to a flour. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, including the 1/2 cup of whole oats and mix everything together. Stir into the butter mixture, adding the chocolate chips/ pieces before the flour gets completely mixed in. Scoop into rounded tablespoon fulls and put onto a greased or parchment lined sheet pan. Gently flatten the cookies slightly so they spread properly. Bake for 12-15 minutes rotating the pan half way through baking. Bake until the cookies are a golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack and then store in an air tight container.