Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Last night my dad and grandparents passed through on their way back to NY from Florida.  My dad drives them down right after the New Year each year, and they come back around this time each year.  They were going to be passing through right around dinner time and we are literally just off their route, so they stopped in for dinner.  I made a nice little meal... fresh baked bread, pasta fagioli, baked eggplant and these cookies.

I have not made a simple cookie in what feels like ages!  I was on a peanut butter kick for a bit and have not been doing as much baking as normal.  These cookies were wonderful!  I loved that they were whole wheat and oatmeal... although I use about half whole wheat in almost all my baking now.  I mix oat flour, whole wheat flour and unbleached in my canister, so without even thinking about it, I am using them.    I used to forget to use part whole wheat flour.  This is a great way to incorporate whole grains into your baking without even thinking about it.   

I am pretty sure you could eat these cookies for breakfast because of the oatmeal... and make a nutella sandwich with them for lunch... and eat some veggies for dinner, because we want to have a balanced diet.  Then have about 5 of these for dessert.  Gotta balance all those veggies you just ate.  And like our friend Tom says, cocoa beans come from a plant, so isn't chocolate a vegetable?

WHOLE WHEAT CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

Adapted from: twopeasandtheirpod.com

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 T milk (I used skim)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment or silicone liners.Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.  With a mixer, cream the sugars with the softened butter until smooth and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, and milk.  Mix well. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, with the mixer on low. Mix just until flour disappears. Don’t over mix. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand.  Using a cookie scoop or two spoons, form rounded cookie dough balls, using about 1 TBSP of dough and place on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes to finish cooking and firm up, then carefully move to a cooking rack. Makes around 2 dozen cookies.