These are a lower sugar cookie, and because of this, I find they will go soft after a few days, so they aren’t your "keep around forever" cookies. My family does not have a problem with eating cookies within a few days, and I appreciate them being a lower sugar treat.
What is soft wheat vs hard wheat? My best simple explanation is hard wheat is for anything requiring yeast, be that the granulated type or wild yeast aka sourdough. Bread, buns, bagels. Soft wheat is for anything you use baking powder or baking soda for. Cookies, cakes, muffins, pancakes, biscuits. Soft wheat is lower in protein and thus lower in gluten and so trying to bake bread with it will be disappointing.
It's easy to end up with a lot of different grains to grind into flour…it's fun to experiment! However, for wheat, I’ve ended up settling on hard red spring wheat (way cheaper than hard red fife for me!) and soft white wheat. Many use hard white wheat but it's not economical for me as well as einkorn and khorasan/kamut…they would be lovely, but it ain't in the cards!
The bran in whole wheat *literally* cuts the bubbles, which is what makes it denser and less fluffy. Lucky for us, cookies don't really have bubbles to them, and fresh ground wheat adds a really delightful nutty taste!
The trick to whole wheat baking being less dense is letting the dough or batter rest for 20-30 minutes. This is called an autolyze and whether you’re making cookies, pancakes, or bread (the autolyze with bread is after mixing but before kneading) it will make a huge difference in your end product!
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh Ground Soft White Wheat
Ingredients
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 cup soft butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 cups fresh ground soft white wheat*
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips 1.5 cups if using mini
Instructions
- Beat sugar and butter in a stand mixer or bowl with hand mixer. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Measure the flour on top of the wet mix, but don't mix it in. Measure baking soda and salt on top of the flour, gently mix into the flour with your finger or measuring spoon. Mix until just combined.
- Gently mix in chocolate chips. Let dough sit on counter or in fridge for 20-30 minutes. You could scoop balls onto a tray and let sit instead. Get your oven preheating.
- On silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets, I like to use an ice cream scoop, aka portion scoop, 2 tablespoon size, and make balls. I offset them so I can fit 15 to a half sheet pan.
- Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
- You could use a hard red but they will but much more “whole wheaty.” Soft white wheat is a very delicate flour.
Sara
Made a half batch of these using coconut sugar. I do wish the flour was measured by weight, as all wheat berries tend to be a little different and my 2 cups (for the halved recipe) resulted in a cookie that did not spread. However, I just made sure to take them out a bit earlier to prevent them from drying out, pressed them down a bit, and they were delicious. I'll just add a little less soft white wheat next time.
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Maybe one day we'll convert the recipe to weights but good job on making it work for you!!
Melanie Carr
I made the dough before work, so I subbed the baking soda for baking powder. When I returned the dough was pretty tough even after letting it rest outside the fridge.
So, I added some butter and milk until it was the a wetter consistency and let it sit for a few more minutes. The cookies baked 15 minutes at 350 and I did 2 tbsp cookie scoops.
These were light, fluffy and delicious! I for sure winner!