Whole Wheat Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

This weekend I had the pleasure of teaching a healthy cooking class for a women's conference back in my home town. Because it was one of my first formal presentations on healthy cooking for a large group I was a bit nervous, but the women were great and I enjoyed sharing about one of my favorite topics.

Rewind to earlier this week, when I was putting together my Power Point presentation and was finding it hard to focus, so what's a foodie to do? Bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies of course! But since I was in healthy eating mode, I gave these cookies a healthy twist. What was sacrificed? White flour. What wasn't? Taste.

These little delights, an adaptation from a recipe by the lovely Deb of the Smitten Kitchen, are delightful - both chewy and crispy all at once and packed with antioxidant-rich dark chocolate. The whole wheat flour takes nicely to this recipe, so much so that you would hardly notice any difference from cookies made with all-purpose, and instant oats impart lightness not normally found in cookies made with old-fashioned oats. Worth making again? Most certainly....since they are already gone.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from "Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies" via Smitten Kitchen
 
Ingredients:
*1/2 cup sugar
*1/2 cup brown sugar
*8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
*1 large egg
*1 tsp. vanilla extract
*1/2 tsp. baking soda
*1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
*1/2 tsp. salt
*1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (may substitute milk or semi-sweet if desired)
*1/2 cup instant oats

Instructions:
*Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
*Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.
*Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and oats.
*Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
*Bake cookies for 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely on wire racks.

Happy Baking!

Madison