Like so many other bakeries featured in this years list, we really care about the provenance and quality of the grains we bake with.
Wholemeal and stone-milled flours, while richer in flavour and nutrition, are often overlooked for their baking qualities in favour of the more universally appealing, fluffy, roller-milled white flours.
As such, we really wanted wholegrains to be a staple in our pastry offering, so it made sense for us to utilise the eternally crowd-pleasing choc chip cookie as our vehicle. We’ve been baking these every week since we opened, and are happy to report that they’ve done wonders for wholegrain PR here in west Somerset.
A note on flour: we’re currently using a beautiful organic wholemeal spelt flour from Gilchesters which is available online - but have had great success baking these cookies with a number of different wholemeal flours. We prefer flours with finer bran for this recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 15 cookies
-
190g organic unsalted butter, room temperature
- 325g organic caster sugar
- 100g organic eggs (about two medium-sized eggs)
- 340g Gilchesters Wholemeal Spelt flour
- 7g fine salt
- 3.5g or ¾ tsp baking powder
- 140g organic Fairtrade milk chocolate
- 140g organic Fairtrade dark chocolate
METHOD
In a bowl or a stand-mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, salt and sugar together until completely homogenous.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between additions until fully combined.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until no lumps or streaks of flour are visible.
Lastly, add the chocolate chips (or chopped chunks) and mix until just dispersed evenly throughout the dough- don’t overmix.
Portion the dough into 80g balls and chill overnight, or they’ll sit happily in an air-tight container in your freezer for up to 3 months. We’re really sorry to anybody who feels that delayed gratification is torturous, but letting this dough rest really does make them extra delicious- we promise!
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C fan / 200°C and place the cookie balls onto lined baking sheets (generously spaced as these will spread) and bake for 14-17 minutes. You’re looking for the edges of the cookies to become slightly caramelised, and the centres to be just risen, this will result in a cookie with a delicious soft centre.
As with any cookie, these are best enjoyed still warm. Will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
