Crunchy Whole-Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

star rating (37) rate this recipe »
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Crunchy Whole-Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

star rating (37) rate this recipe »
Published prior to 2008

Light and crisp, absolutely packed with chocolate chips, this is the quintessential crunchy chocolate chip cookie. The addition of barley flour to the dough gives the cookies a pleasant, mild taste. To ensure crunchiness, be sure to bake these cookies thoroughly; they should be golden brown all over, without any hint of softness in the center.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole barley flour*
1 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour, Traditional or White Whole Wheat
2 2/3 cups (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

*Or substitute whole wheat flour for the barley flour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugars, vanilla, espresso powder, and salt till smooth. Beat in the vinegar, egg, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the barley flour and whole wheat flour, then the chocolate chips. The dough will appear oily, and because of the quantity of chocolate chips, it won't be completely cohesive; that's OK.

Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the cookies are an even golden brown. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Yield: 33 cookies.

Reviews

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  • star rating 05/03/2012
  • bishjoani from KAF Community
  • These are AWFUL! I am a very experienced baker - I mixed exactly according to the directions and the dough was like wet sand. I could not get the dough to stick together, so I dropped it by T and formed with my hands. Then I called BK and talked to Mary. She suggested adding water. This did not help. What a waste of ingredients!
    I am so sorry that you had trouble with this recipe. It sounds as though there was too much flour in the dough. Here is how we recommend measuring flour by volume: http://bit.ly/iL7FTF ~Amy
  • 03/23/2012
  • cook'n4mybrood from Sunny SoCal
  • I totally love these cookies! I do reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of granulated and 1/4 cup of raw sugar. I add pecans to mine (the rest of my fam-bam don't like nuts). I don't use the espresso. I use 1 cup KAF whole wheat soft white flour (my new fave flour for tortillas too BTW). I love crunchy cookies so this is the best recipe I have found yet!
  • star rating 02/25/2012
  • bakemanjm from KAF Community
  • This is my first whole wheat recipe and I loved them! They came together enough to scoop and I only cooked them for 15 minutes so they were still soft. Soooo good, another winner from KAF!
  • star rating 02/22/2012
  • MelissaFitzpatrick from KAF Community
  • These are quite good. I'm a cookie purist and don't really believe in making decadent things healthy, but I've been going through a whole wheat phase and thought I'd try to get my kids more on board. I'm glad I tried these! I did find that they needed flattening before baking and I also didn't have barley flour, so I subbed 1/2 cup APF and 1/2 cup whole wheat. Finally, I thought my dough was a bit moist (I creamed the butter, egg, sugar mixture until very light and fluffy) so I added 1/8 cup of whole wheat flour at the end. Aside from being a bit oiler than traditional chocolate chip dough, it was very similar in texture & moisture. All around -- excellent recipe! Doesn't suffer at all for being a bit more healthy!
  • star rating 01/07/2012
  • jgabba from KAF Community
  • These are the first cookies I've made here at high altitude (7000 ft) that came out shaped like cookies and not thin pancakes. Very good flavor and texture, although I cut the sugar quite a bit and didn't use any butter. I don't like the taste so added a bit more oil. I would agree that the amount of chocolate chips is over the top, and if they're not distributed evenly you'll have waste at the end. The good part is the batter is very easy to manipulate in your hands, so you can press the chips in before you bake.
  • star rating 11/17/2011
  • aryakia from KAF Community
  • I didn't have barley flour so used unbleached all purpose flour instead. Since we don't like very sweet so reduced the sugar from a total of one and half cups to just 2/3 cup (1/3 cup granulated and 1/3 cup brown sugar). They came out soft and vry delicious. I'll make them again. Thank you, Sara from Hauppauge, NY
  • star rating 10/30/2011
  • cook101texas from KAF Community
  • Have made these 3 times. First time, used whole wheat and white whole wheat flour and substituted some xylitol for about half the white sugar (and cut the white sugar just a bit overall). Second time, did same as above with xylitol but used the barley flour and whole wheat flour as per the recipe. Used decaf instant coffee powder instead of espresso powder also. Third time, used regular sugars, but used spelt flour plus whole wheat. The recipes with xylitol had a slightly chewy texture. Quite crunchy with all regular sugars. All versions tasted delicious!!!
  • star rating 09/29/2011
  • souleham from KAF Community
  • I was very skeptical about these cookies. I am a huge cookie lover, especially choc. chip. I made these as directed & they were WONDERFULL!! Another great job KAF!!
  • star rating 07/24/2011
  • Jen from NJ, USA
  • YUM. I altered the recipe slightly by replacing the brown sugar and half the white sugar with turbinado sugar. Turned out great. Best 'crunchy' chocolate chip cookies I have found yet.
  • star rating 07/18/2011
  • msleelowe from KAF Community
  • I converted it to gluten-free using your gluten-free whole-grain flour mix with a pinch of cinnamon. As others have said, I did reduce the amount of chips. I used your Ghirardelli mini chips (which I really love!). These are really good. In a rush to get them baked during this hot weather, I omitted the vanilla extract, but they were still good!
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