I’m obsessed with chocolate chip cookies. I may harbor lurking suspicions about the humanity of those who aren’t. But I’m not much of a purist – I like mine with rich molasses-y flavor and a hint of salt. Okay, maybe more than what some people consider a hint. I also like a nutty flavor, which I prefer to get from flax seed. Plus plenty of chocolate. Put all that together and you’ve got these bad boys – a health food by no means, but they do have some redeeming characteristics with whole wheat, oats and flax seed. I make this batch of dough and then bake only 12 or so at a time, refrigerating the rest in an air-proof container for a couple days ‘til they’re all used up.

Salty Sweet Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oats & Flax Seed

Recipe by Once & Future Home

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter, softened (I use salted butter, because I really do like the salty-sweet combo)
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• ¾ cup Demerera or Turbinado sugar (you can sub in white, but try the Demerera!)
  
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 eggs, room temperature (use pasteurized eggs if you’d like to munch on the dough)
  
• 1 tsp salt (if this is too salty for you, go down to ¾ tsp)
  
• ¾ tsp baking soda
  
• ½ cup flax seeds
  
• ½ cup Irish-style or steel-cut oats
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 cup all-purpose or bread flour, plus extra as needed to make all 4 flours equal three cups
  
• 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor, pulse flax seeds and oat flour until coarsely ground. Some whole flax seeds and oats are fine. Measure the ground seeds and oats into a measuring cup. Add one cup to a large mixing bowl. If less than 1 full cup, add all-purpose flour to make up the difference.

3. Add whole wheat and all-purpose flours to flax and oat flours, along with salt and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl (or the bowl of a mixer) cream sugars and butter. Add in eggs and vanilla.

5. Slowly add flours until combined.

6. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

7. Refrigerate dough for 25 minutes before shaping into balls. You can portion out only as much dough as you’d like to bake now, and save the rest in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

8. Shape dough into 2 tablespoon-sized balls and place evenly spaced on a cookie sheet. I find it works best to make six or eight per sheet.

9. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to sit on the cookie tray for another minute or two, to finish cooking. Remove to rack to cool.