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I’ve always preferred soft, chewy cookies to their crunchy counterparts. When I’ve eaten a crunchy cookie, I assumed that it was either overcooked or store-bought. My gauge for a successful cookie recipe has been its balance of soft and chewy, giving crunchy little merit. Everyone feels that way, right? As it turns out, no. Recently I discovered that some people actually PREFER crunchy cookies, my father-in-law included. Can you imagine?!
So I set out to create a delicious, albeit crunchy, cookie recipe.
These cookies are a bit of science project. (Oh, that sounds appetizing. 😉 ) What I mean is that savory dishes like soup and stir-fry are more art than science – you can add a little of this and a little of that to suit your tastes and not destroy the recipe. But with baking, too much of this or too much of that and you have a problem.
Take this cookie recipe for example: I originally posted it in September of 2012 and have made it many times with mixed results. Why? Because I was scooping the flour and eyeballing the amounts of oatmeal and coconut. These cookies should have the texture of tender shortbread, a delicate crunch, but should taste like an oatmeal, coconut and chocolate chip cookie. To attain this consistently, you need to weigh the ingredients. And honestly, the more I bake, the more I prefer recipes that list ingredient weights. (Here is a decent kitchen scale for $15.)
I was after a hearty cookie and, as you know, white whole wheat flour is my favorite base for baked goods (like Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and Whole Wheat Puff Pastry). I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted to add something unusual to these. Toasted coconut would be fun I thought. But fun isn’t how I would describe the result, more like magic. Coarsely grinding it first (like I did for the Toasted Coconut Kettle Corn) adds a subtle, coconutty (pretend that’s a real word 🙂 ) crunch to every bite. These aren’t hard or crispy, they’re delicately crunchy like a good shortbread (like these World Peace Cookies).
I won’t say that I’m a convert to crunchy cookies, but I will say that these are utterly delicious. I hope you think so too.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Coconut
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour (240 grams) I used Bob’s Red Mill Ivory Wheat Whole Grain Flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
- 2 cups dark brown sugar (340 grams) lightly packed
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (144 grams) I used extra-thick
- 3/4 cup toasted coconut (60 grams) coarsely ground (see headnote), 60 grams
- 1 cup coarsely chopped (113 grams) toasted walnuts
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips I used 70%
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Add butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat at low speed until combined; increase speed and beat until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well, making sure to scrape down sides of bowl. Add flour mixture – cover mixer with a kitchen towel to protect your counters from a flour flurry. Start at low speed until combined, then increase to high for about 1 minute more. Add rolled oats, coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips; mix just until combined.
- Scoop dough into walnut sized balls (my favorite cookie scoop) and arrange about 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Wait a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack (cookies will fall apart if you don’t – live and learn, ahem.)
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
