Salted Flourless Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe

salted flourless chocolate chunk cookies | pamela salzman

I swore I wouldn’t post this recipe, but I gave in to persistent begging.  I didn’t know the world needed another chocolate chip cookie recipe!  But apparently many people could not live without this one.  I will admit, these are quite, quite delicious and you can’t always say that about a grain-free, flourless cookie.

salted flourless chocolate chunk cookies | pamela salzman

The reason I was reluctant to post this is because it is a very finicky recipe.  I probably made these cookies 20-24 times and I had a couple of fails.  Not inedible fails, but they didn’t look like the pictures you see here.  Again, these are totally delicious in every way.  Big chunks of melty dark chocolate and crispy flakes of sea salt are always a win in my book.  The fact that these are also grain-free/flourless is just an added bonus, especially for all my GF and Paleo students, who seem to be growing in numbers.  Although that might just be the post-holiday detox trend.  I digress.

 

salted flourless chocolate chunk cookies | pamela salzman

The two ingredients that affect the outcome of these cookies are the almond butter and the sugar.  You cannot use a runny almond butter or one that is very oily.  Once during a class, I had a new jar of room temperature Maranatha almond butter which I may not have stirred properly to incorporate the oil on top.  I had oil dripping down my arms while I was rolling out the dough.  I knew the cookies were going to be a disaster and they kind of were — very flat, oily and crumbly at the edges.  Thankfully, this batter is a snap to make, so I just made another batch quickly with almond butter I had in the fridge.  The next round was perfect.

These cookies are slightly softer than traditional chocolate chip cookies, unless you use brown sugar and then they do get a little crispy around the edges.  The flavor is spot-on with just the right amount of sweetness.  After 2 days, I store them in the fridge.  They also freeze well.

salted flourless chocolate chunk cookies | pamela salzman

salted flourless chocolate chunk cookies | pamela salzman

Instead of giving you a blow-by-blow of all cookie escapades, let me summarize here:

  • use cold, refrigerated almond butter;
  • thicker almond butter is better than thinner;
  • if your nut butter is thinner, you can add 1 1/2 Tablespoons coconut flour to the batter;
  • you can make these with sunflower butter, but there will be a reaction between the sunflower butter and the baking soda which will tint the cookies green;
  • mix by hand (with a wooden spoon) not a mixer;
  • brown sugar, although a refined and not Pamela-approved sweetener, gave the best results — slightly crispy and chewy;
  • muscovado sugar was the second best and coconut sugar came in third — see the images in the post to compare;
  • do not use maple syrup, honey or another liquid sweetener;
  • you must allow the cookies to cool completely on the pan, not a cooling rack;
  • I always make 12 cookies, but you can make fewer and just make them bigger.

Ok, that’s all she wrote.  Hit me with your questions and let me know if you make them!

brown sugar used here
brown sugar (and peppermint bark instead of chocolate chunks)

 

muscovado sugar
muscovado sugar

 

coconut sugar
coconut sugar

Salted Flourless Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Pamela
4.80 from 5 votes
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Servings 12 cookies

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup unsweetened unsalted almond butter (raw or roasted, make sure it is well-blended)*
  • ½ cup coconut sugar brown sugar or muscovado sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon Maldon salt divided
  • ¾ cup chopped dark chocolate about 4 ounces or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • optional add-ins: 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder to make chocolate cookies or ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper.
  • In a large mixing bowl, mix almond butter and sugar until well combined.
  • Stir in baking soda, egg, vanilla and ½ teaspoon flaky salt until well combined.
  • Stir in chocolate.
  • Scoop a heaping tablespoon of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the cookies with remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet before transferring to a rack. To keep longer than one or two days, store in the refrigerator.

Notes

*If your almond butter is thin and runny or very oily, add 1 ½ Tablespoons of coconut flour to the batter.
Please read the suggestions outlined in the post.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

Whole wheat carrot cake oatmeal cookies recipe (GF and vegan versions too!)

whole wheat carrot cake cookies | pamela salzman

I am always so intrigued by new flavor combinations, ingredients and infusions, especially when it comes to dessert.  But classic desserts, like carrot cake, are not only delicious, but have built-in memories for me as well.  When I think carrot cake, I not only think of a dense, moist cake studded with walnuts, raisins, carrots and pineapple, I also think about egg hunts in my new spring coat, sitting down to dinner with my mom’s pastel tablecloth and napkins embroidered with rabbits, and stealing the black jelly beans from my sisters’ Easter baskets.  Carrot cake holds a special place in my heart.

dry mix

But carrot cake is more of a special occasion treat, especially if there’s frosting involved.  Carrot cake cookies, on the other hand, feel like an everyday treat or a more reasonable serving size if you just want a little something for dessert.  I think these wholesome cookies would be as welcome on my Easter dessert table as they would be in a lunchbox or Easter basket.

carrot cake mix-ins

This cookie is just my type– chunky, hearty and substantial, lightly sweet and busting with all the good stuff you’d expect to find in a carrot cake.  Maybe it’s because of the unrefined sugar, or maybe it’s because of the fiber-rich oats and whole wheat flour, but these cookies don’t make me crash and burn like a typical cookie would.  Whereas I am not exactly endorsing these as tomorrow’s breakfast, I do think they are a higher quality sweet treat.

very sticky batter

I am sure there are many ways to adapt the recipe to dietary intolerances.  Drop the walnuts for sunflower seeds to make them nut-free. Use a flax egg in place of the real egg so they become vegan.  Use 1/2 GF oat flour and 1/2 King Arthur Multi-purpose GF flour + 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum for a gluten-free cookie.  I also know that not everyone likes pineapple or raisins, so feel free to drop either of those.  I would just caution against omitting one than one add-in, since you’ll lose some of the support for the cookie.

whole wheat carrot cake cookies | pamela salzman

whole wheat carrot cake cookies | pamela salzman

If you wanted to get fancy, you could drizzle the cookies with a little icing (basically 1 cup powdered sugar  + 1 – 1  1/2 Tbs. water whisked together.)  Or you can take a look at something a little less naughty — my cashew frosting — and use that to frost a little swirl on top.  After all, what’s Easter without a little decadence?  That’s how I remember it.

whole wheat carrot cake cookies | pamela salzman

whole wheat carrot cake cookies | pamela salzman

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

Pamela
5 from 2 votes
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour whole spelt flour would probably work just as well*
  • ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2/3 cup coconut sugar brown sugar or cane sugar
  • ½ cup unrefined coconut oil melted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup shredded or grated carrots about 2 medium
  • 1 cup walnuts chopped
  • ½ cup unsulphured golden raisins or dark raisins if you prefer
  • ½ cup diced dried pineapple

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and sugar.
  • In a medium mixing bowl or blender, combine the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla, and blend until well emulsified.
  • Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the carrots, walnuts, raisins, and pineapple. Mixture will be very crumbly. Use your hands to combine if necessary.
  • Using your hands, take about ¼ cup of the batter and form it into a small disk. Place on baking sheet leaving space between each cookie for them to expand. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden around the edges.

Notes

*For a GF version, sub ½ GF oat flour and ½ King Arthur Multipurpose GF Flour  and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Whole wheat-almond thumbprint cookies recipe (vegan)

vegan whole wheat-almond thumbprint cookies | pamela salzman

I think I might be the only person who owns Gwyneth Paltrow’s book, My Father’s Daughter, to finally be making the recipe called “Lalo’s Cookies.”  The book was published a few years ago and I am just getting around to this recipe.   I was at my friend Alex’s house a few weeks ago and she said to me, “you know what recipe my kids love?”  I was all ears.  “Lalo’s Cookies from Gwyneth’s book.”

“Why have I never tried those?”

“I don’t know, but they’re so easy my kids can make them!”

ingredients

What I should have done that day was go straight home and do laundry, pay some bills, respond to my emails, work on my book proposal, prep dinner and take the dog for a walk.  Instead, I went straight to Whole Foods to buy barley flour (an ingredient in the recipe) and then went home to make the aforementioned cookies.  I was obsessed and nothing else seemed to matter.  Mr. Picky would just have to wear his soccer jersey a second time, emails would wait until tomorrow and we could eat cookies for dinner!

cookie dough

Alex was right — the cookies were delicious and super easy (ONE BOWL!!)  Because they’re egg-less, they have a shortbread-like quality to them and the perfect subtle, nutty sweetness.  They are slightly crumbly, without falling apart and I really loved the texture.  I love the look of a thumbprint cookie, too.  There’s something so homey and old- fashioned about them.  I used some no sugar-added jam in some, and a Hershey’s kiss in others since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  So cute, don’t you think???

make a thumbprint!

I think this is among the more healthful cookie recipes I have seen, but I couldn’t help but make a few tweaks which, please don’t tell Gwyneth, I have to say made the cookies even better, both taste-wise and nutrition-wise.

fill with jam

Gwyneth’s recipe uses barley flour, like I mentioned.  But who in the heck has barley flour laying around?  Random ingredients is one of the biggest pet peeves of my cooking class students.  Not that there’s anything wrong with barley flour — it’s actually amazing and really high in fiber and protein, but it’s just not an ingredient I have ever seen in anyone’s pantry.  Except Alex’s, of course.  I used whole wheat pastry flour instead.  I also subbed unrefined, virgin coconut oil for the canola oil, which is a big no in my book since it’s always refined and almost always GMO (i.e. it’s a big bottle of free radicals and inflammation.)  I love coconut oil in baked goods.  I think it enhances the sweetness and I really can’t detect any coconut taste.  Then I decided to use almond meal instead of using the food processor to grind almonds, only because I thought it would easier not to break out the food processor.

thumbprint cookies!

 

thumbprint cookies with a kiss!

The difference in the two batches seen here is barley flour and ground almonds with Hershey kisses vs. whole wheat pastry and almond meal with jam.  My family and I preferred the cookie that had the whole wheat pastry flour-almond meal, but loved the chocolate kiss element of the other.  I know there are a lot of nut-free schools, so I think you could probably make these with ground sunflower seeds, but I can’t be 100% sure.  To make these GF, I would try a good GF flour blend like King Arthur Multipurpose GF Flour and add a pinch of xanthan gum.

vegan thumbprint cookies with a kiss! | pamela salzman

All I can say is that these would be perfecto to make with your kiddos on Valentine’s Day!  Spread some cookie love!

vegan whole wheat-almond thumbprint cookies | pamela salzman

Whole Wheat-Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Pamela, adapted from "My Father's Daughter" by Gwyneth Paltrow
5 from 3 votes
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Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or barley flour
  • 1 ½ cups whole raw almonds crushed in a food processor or 1 ½ cups almond meal or flour
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup unrefined coconut oil melted
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup Grade A or Grade B
  • No sugar-added jam such as raspberry, strawberry or blueberry or 25 unwrapped Hershey’s kisses

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
  • Combine all ingredients except for the jam/kisses in a large bowl with a spoon.
  • Take a tablespoon of the dough and shape into a ball.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough.
  • Using your finger, make a dent in the center of each cookie.  Fill with a small bit of jam.  If you want to use Hershey’s kisses, do not add to cookie until after baking.
  • Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.  If you want to use the chocolate kisses, when the cookies come out of the oven, place the piece of chocolate in the indentation and allow to cool.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Gingerbread biscotti recipe (gluten-free version, too!)

Gingerbread Biscotti | Pamela Salzman

Gingerbread Biscotti | Pamela Salzman

I have been offered A LOT of biscotti in my life.  When everyone you are related to is Italian, biscotti appear more often than Oreos.  They’re called “biscotti” because they literally translate to “twice baked.”  You bake them in logs first, then you slice up the logs and bake them again. They have this tell-tale shape you see here and they are a bit dry and crunchy and not overly sweet.  There are infinite flavor combinations ranging from lemon to almond to chocolate chip to raisin to you name it.  I remember my parents and all the other grown-ups dunking them in espresso or, if they were really feeling festive, dipping the cookies in a sweet Italian liqueur called Vin Santo.

dry ingredients

chopping crystallized ginger

Now that sounds dreamy to me for sure, but when I was a kid, all I wanted was a normal chocolate chip cookie for goodness sake!  Or one with M&M’s or some other junk.  I’m all grown-up now and I much prefer homemade cookies, especially ones that don’t contain M&M’s and lots of sugar.  Even though I try not to indulge in sweets very often, I do like to bake cookies for the holidays.  My favorite holiday “flavor” is gingerbread.  Every year in my December classes I teach some sort of gingerbread dessert, two of which have been posted on my site.  These gingerbread biscotti might very well be my favorite so far!  One of my complaints about the biscotti of my youth is that they were B-O-R-I-N-G.  What kid gets excited about orange zest in a cookie or fennel seed?  Yaaaaawwwwnnnn.  That’s not a dessert.  But gingerbread biscotti are something else.  These pack a spicy punch from both crystallized ginger and powered ginger and a double crunch from the whole almonds.  Even Mr. Picky loves these.  He just walked by the computer and said, “isn’t it about time we make those gingerbread biscotti again?”  I absolutely swear he just said that!

bake the logs first

slice the baked logs

Biscotti are fantastic to make for the holidays because they last a good long time (a week or more?) without getting stale, so they’re perfect for gift-giving!  If you need to accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan folks, read through both recipes because there are options.  If you’re not sure how to do this, please leave me a comment below and I will help you out.  I’ll tell you the truth — I like the gluten-free biscotti better than the wheat flour ones.  I think they’re lighter and crispier, although both have that great gingerbread flavor.  I love the extra boost from crystallized ginger, but if you can’t find it, don’t worry about it.  And if you’re feeling extra naughty, you can go right ahead and dip these cuties in some melted white chocolate and let them harden before you store them or wrap them up.  Are you feeling the holiday spirit now??

gingerbread biscotti | pamela salzman

Gingerbread Biscotti

Pamela
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 3 Tablespoons coconut oil or room temperature unsalted butter
  • ½ cup cane sugar
  • ½ cup muscovado or firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs or ½ cup unsweetened smooth applesauce
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry or all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup whole raw almonds or chopped if desired
  • ½ cup crystallized ginger chopped (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat coconut oil and sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy.  Beat in eggs, combine well.
  • Combine flour and next 5 ingredients; add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Stir in almonds and crystallized ginger.
  • Divide dough in half.  Using floured hands, shape each portion into a log 3-inches wide and 1-inch high.  Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
  • Bake 25 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet; remove to a wire rack, and set aside until cool to the touch.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
  • Cut each log crosswise into ½-inch slices with a serrated knife. Place slices on the same parchment-lined cookie sheet.  If you want long cookies, cut on the diagonal.
  • Bake 7-8 minutes; turn cookies over, and bake 7-8 more minutes.  If you cut them thick, you will probably have to bake them a little longer.  Cool completely on wire racks.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

gluten-free gingerbread biscotti

makes about 24

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup cane sugar

½ cup muscovado or firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs or ½ cup unsweetened smooth applesauce

½ cup almond flour

¼ cup sorghum flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup potato starch

¼ cup sweet rice flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup whole raw almonds or chopped, if desired

½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped (optional)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy.  Beat in eggs, combine well.
  2. Sift all dry ingredients together and add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Stir in almonds and crystallized ginger.
  3. Dough will be very sticky so you can refrigerate it for 15-20 minutes and/or flour your hands while you split the dough into two logs, about 1 inch high and 2 inches wide.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on the edges and just slightly soft in the middle.  Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet and remove to a wire rack.  Set aside until cool to the touch, about 30 minutes.
  5. Cut each log crosswise into half-inch slices with a serrated knife.  Place slices on the same parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies Recipe (gluten-free)

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

Have you made my vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?   If you’re new here, do not hesitate.  They are fantastic!  They’re a staple around here and definitely one of the more healthful (less bad for you?) cookies I’ve tried.  I love that recipe so much I decided to tinker with it and make a fall version with pumpkin puree and delicious spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.  Amazing!  It’s like pumpkin pie meets an oatmeal cookie.  And as much I love these cookies fresh out of the oven, they are just as delicious raw.  That’s right, as in cookie dough.  And I’m not the only one who thinks so.  After I posted my secret pumpkin oatmeal cookie dough addiction on Instagram, my students started stealing the bowl out from under my nose during class and having a taste themselves!  The benefits of a vegan dough.

raw cookie dough

I thought I would sneak this recipe in today before you start baking treats for Halloween.  Of course, these are perfect during the entire season of fall and beyond.  They’re a snap to make and like many cookie recipes, you can prepare the dough in advance and bake as many or as few cookies as you need.  I like these best the day they’re made and even the next day.  Because there’s pumpkin in them, they get a little soft after a day.

pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

This recipe ended up being more flexible than I imagined.  I had to try it with a nut other than walnuts one day for a student with a walnut allergy and pecans worked great.  I haven’t tried this recipe with sunflower seeds, but I think it would work if you need to go nut-free.  The sunflower seeds just might react with the baking soda, however, and cause the cookies to have a green-ish color to the them.  Might be kind of cool for Halloween!  I know many of you will want to sub chocolate chips for the raisins and I say go for it!  Pumpkin + chocolate + spices isn’t my thing, but that doesn’t mean you won’t love it.  I was serving these in my classes plain and simple, but I found a recipe for a fun sweet potato-cream cheese frosting that was delicious as a filling if you wanted to make a sort of oatmeal cookie whoopie pie.  Just for kicks.

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies with sweet potato cream cheese frosting | pamela salzman

However, like I always say, just because these cookies are higher quality and not made with junk and chemicals doesn’t mean you can eat them all day long.  Concentrated sweeteners can still raise your blood sugar and will still feed yeast and fungus in your system and will keep you addicted to sugar.  So with the beginning of the season of sweets, which I say starts on Halloween and ends on New Years Day, I try to be conscientious about not going crazy when I am offered candy and treats galore.  But before we start thinking about 2014, we’ve got lots of fun in store.  Thanksgiving is indeed four weeks from Halloween which means you and I are going into planning mode pronto.  See you all back here on Thursday!

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies

Pamela
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cups oat flour see Step #2 (use certified gluten-free oat flour if you are gluten-free)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1 ¾ cups raw walnuts or pecans
  • 6 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil it doesn’t need to be melted
  • ¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup grade A or B
  • 10 Tablespoons ½ cup + 2 Tbs. coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling (anywhere between ½ -1 cup works)
  • 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats use certified gluten-free rolled oats if you are gluten-free
  • 1 cup unsulphured raisins or chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
  • Place oat flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
  • Place walnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and pumpkin and process until mixture has the consistency of natural nut butter.
  • Stir walnut mixture into flour mixture. Fold in 2 cups rolled oats and the raisins.
  • Use a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper to form dough into balls, and place on baking sheets. You can fit 12 on a sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a damp hand. Bake 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry.
  • Cool a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

SWEET POTATO-CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
(adapted from "Feeding the Whole Family")
1 cup mashed baked sweet potatoes
¼ cup softened cream cheese or soft tofu (2 ounces)
1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon or orange juice
Cream together all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or with a mixer until smooth and spreadable.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

(A more healthful) chocolate chip cookie recipe

(a more healthful) chocolate chip cookie by Pamela Salzman

One of my students asked me the other day if I had a good chocolate chip cookie recipe and I instinctively said, “Sure, just check my website.”  To which she replied, “I did.  But all you have on there is your Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.”  And then it hit me.  I have neither taught in a class nor posted my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Gasp!  Coincidentally, Mr. Picky had been asking if we could make homemade ice cream sandwiches, so I got to work lickety split!

beat butter and sugars until smooth, then add eggs, baking soda and vanilla

In my defense, there are good reasons I haven’t posted my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  First of all, I do use refined white sugar because it just makes the best cookie.  But it isn’t exactly clean and healthful and I want this site to be your destination for high quality recipes.  However, even with the white and brown sugars, I use whole grain flours and everything is organic so these will be waaaaaaay better for you than bakery cookies or packaged (really now?) ones.  It’s all about balance and moderation!

next add the flours, baking powder and salt

The other issue is that I keep changing my recipe when I learn something new to make them even better than the last time.  And this has happened often.  Many of you are so in the know about food trends that you might think my ah-ha chocolate chip moments are sooooo 2005, but I never said I was an early adopter.  Let me first make it clear what kind of chocolate chip cookie I love, because that’s what you’re getting here — my favorite.  If you love the thin and crispy kind, hmmmm, today’s not your day.  Cakey?  Yeah, not me.  Milk chocolate?  Don’t waste my time!  Friends, I like a cookie with some heft and substance, something that you can sink your teeth into.  But I also don’t want a greasy cookie which makes me feel like I’m sucking on butter.  Slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with chunks of semisweet or dark chocolate is the way I roll.  Sometimes I’m feeling fancy and I’ll add a pinch of flaky sea salt on on the tops and that is just heaven.

chop chocolate from a bar for nice chunky pieces

Something I learned to achieve my perfect cookie is to use cold butter instead of room temperature, which is a trick I learned from Mrs. Fields (not that I met her, but that’s how she makes her cookies.)  The combination of cold butter and  a low oven temperature help to keep the cookie from spreading out too thin and too fast.  I also started adding a little oat flour after I saw this Neiman Marcus cookie recipe which I found out later was not the official recipe but the oat flour stayed in mine.  The oat flour makes the cookie a little nuttier and dense.  Ina Garten taught me (via television, of course) that a chocolate bar cut into pieces is much more satisfying than chocolate chips, although I do use those often.  And every fancy restaurant in the last several years has added a pinch of flaky sea salt to the tops of their cookies — a smart and delicious move.

using an ice cream scooper gives you uniform, round cookies

add a pinch of flaky sea salt for a grown-up twist

I grated some of the chocolate into the batter
I grated some of the chocolate into the batter

It may have taken me a while to bring it to you, but I’m sure with certain special occasions coming up, like Father’s Day or end-of-the-year parties, it’s never too late to try a great chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Of course, if you have the latest and greatest twist on chocolate chip cookies, I’m always open to improvement!

freshly baked | Pamela Salzman

(a more healthful) chocolate chip cookie by Pamela Salzman

 

 
 
 

 
 
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A post shared by Pamela Salzman (@pamelasalzman)

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pamela
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup 2 sticks cold unsalted butter or organic Earth Balance, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • ¾ cup cane sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar or Muscovado sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup oat flour you can take a cup of rolled oats and process them in the food processor to make your own oat flour
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 18 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate bars chopped coarsely or use chocolate chips
  • 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts or pecans optional
  • flaky sea salt optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or silicone mats.
  • Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of stand mixer and blend on medium speed until the mixture is smooth.
  • Add the baking soda, eggs and vanilla to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.
  • In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder and sea salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend on low speed until just combined.
  • Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
  • Scoop the dough with a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper onto the prepared baking sheets or use a tablespoon. Space them evenly apart. I was able to get 12 on each sheet.
  • Bake 18-20 minutes or until just set. The cookies will be slightly soft in the center. If you like them crispier, bake them for up to 23 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Notes

Raw cookie dough can be frozen, but it’s a great idea to scoop the dough into balls first and freeze those so you can just pull out as many as you want to bake instead of having to defrost the whole batch of dough.  I have even baked cookies in the toaster oven!
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Gingerbread cookies recipe

Mr. Picky asked me the other day if I would make cookies with him and I was this close to saying “Not today, sweetie.  I’m too busy.”  That would have been absolutely true.  We’re all so busy.  I don’t know anyone whom I have asked lately “How are you?” that hasn’t responded, “Really busy!  How are you?”  It’s not just this time of year either.  I feel like we’re running around at 90 miles an hour all year long.

In my classes and on my blog, I try to emphasize balance and moderation, yet I’m not so sure I practice what I preach with respect to finding downtime.  And as I had that thought, my daughters came home from school.  That is to say, they pulled into the garage in a car driven by Daughter #1 who turned 16 two months ago.  They walked in and all I could see was a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old.  I used to hate it when people told me kids grow up so fast, but the cliché couldn’t be more true.  It goes by in a nanosecond.  I can’t say my daughters have asked me recently to bake cookies with them, instead they invite their girlfriends over to stay up late and eat the cookie dough I keep in the freezer.  Believe me, I’m thrilled they even hang out at our house!  So last week I skipped writing a post that I thought would get published last Friday and instead baked cookies with my favorite little dude.  Totally worth it.

Mr Picky is a funny kid.  Some people joke with me that a boy who eats lentils and beans cannot be labeled “picky.”  And every year he adds more and more foods to the still narrow “approved” list.  But he doesn’t seem to like what most kids do such as buttered pasta, macaroni and cheese, pizza or sandwiches, not that I’m complaining.  His favorite cookies don’t contain candy or sprinkles, but instead are gingerbread.  And that’s what we decided to make last week.

Gingerbread cut-out cookies are a commitment.  It’s not like make a batter and spooning drops of it onto a baking sheet.  There’s chilling the dough, rolling it out, cutting it into shapes, decorating the cookies.  It’s a fairly simple dough to make and I don’t hold back on the spices.  But these cookies aren’t spicy, they’re just really flavorful.  Whole wheat pastry flour can be substituted with a gluten-free flour blend such as the King Arthur Multi-purpose GF Flour plus the addition of 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour.  Mr. Picky’s favorite part is decorating which I always keep pretty simple with raw sugar, currants or mini-chocolate chips.

We had the best afternoon.  It was so nice to have one-on-one time with him and chat about school, football and his favorite new book.  We also talked about the mystery of Santa and that this was definitely going to be the year that he stayed awake to watch him leave gifts under my parents’ tree.  Sweet.  Spending time in the kitchen with my son was such a gift and a reminder to me that the biggest joys in life don’t come from checking off my to-do list.

Gingerbread Cookies

Pamela
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Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend +1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • a few grinds finely ground black pepper optional
  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup dark natural cane sugar i.e. muscavado, or dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup unsulphured molasses not blackstrap unless you like that bitterness
  • large grain sugar for decorating or mini-chocolate chips or currants

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
  • In a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand), cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix again until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time and then the molasses. Add the flour mixture in two additions either by hand or on low speed. Divide the dough in two pieces, wrap each in plastic and chill for at least an hour.*
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or Silpats.
  • Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop to about 1/8-inch thick and cut with cookie cutters of your choice. ** Reroll the scraps and continue to cut additional cookies. Decorate with sugar crystals, dried fruit or chocolate chips before baking. For softer cookies, roll out a little thicker. Transfer to baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes for 3-4-inch cookies (less for smaller cookies, more for larger.) I like to see a little tinge of golden color around the edges of the cookies. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes and then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

*Dough can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
**If you are not comfortable rolling on your countertop, roll the cookies out on a piece of parchment cut to fit the baking sheet. Remove scraps. Then transfer the parchment and cookies to the sheet and bake.
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Trail Mix Cookies Recipe

Having teenagers is a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, it’s kind of cool that my girls are old enough to have adult conversations and share clothes with me.  On the other hand, it bums me out that they prefer to be with their friends over their parents.  I don’t take it personally, of course.  But if all goes according to plan, Daughter #1 will be going to college in two years and her younger sister two years after that which means I don’t have a lot of time left with them in the house.  This is one reason I encourage them to invite their friends to hang out at our house or spend the night as much as possible.  Not only does it make the house more lively, but I know what they’re up to and sometimes I’ll even overhear some good gossip.  Just recently did I figure out how to make my home the place to be.  It’s called FOOD.

Teenagers are always hungry.  No, I take that back.  They’re always “STAR-ving.”  They don’t even know what the word means.  My daughters complain that they’re starving if they haven’t eaten in two hours.  My point is that if you want to have the house that the kids want to hang out in, other than breaking the law and supplying alcohol (not recommended), you need to have some good eats.  I don’t think my house is considered to have the “best” food by any means.  There are no Cheetos, no soda and no microwave popcorn.  But I do always have tons of fresh fruit, leftovers from dinner, the makings of a quesadilla and lots of homemade cookie dough in the freezer, especially in the fall when the kids are back in school.

These Trail Mix cookies are a new favorite around here.  They’re like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies PLUS.  There are so many goodies in the cookies, it feels like you’re eating a handful of trail mix held together with some oatmeal cookie batter.  In fact, you could use trail mix in this recipe, hence the name.  I’m not sure I’ve made this recipe the same way twice since I’ll often use it as an excuse to clean out the bottom of my nut and dried fruit jars.  Before you get excited about a cookie that sounds like it might be healthful, it’s still a cookie, just maybe a higher quality one.  If you want a cookie that you can eat for breakfast, make these.  This recipe uses whole wheat pastry flour, rolled oats, flakes of unsweetened coconut, and chocolate chips.  My kids love pecans, so I generally use them here, but if I have a handful of walnuts or macadamia nuts, those can go in too.  Same idea with dried fruit — use whatever you’ve got.  The key with these cookies though, is to make sure you don’t decide to just eliminate an entire ingredient without coming up with a substitution.  All the “stuff” helps give your cookies structure and without it, your cookies will go a tad flat.  If you can’t eat nuts, I have used sunflower seeds with success, or you can just add 1/2 cup extra of chocolate chips, dried fruit and coconut to make up for the 1 1/2 cups of nuts.  What I did struggle with was the sugar in the cookies. The quantity is quite a bit less than you would find in a comparable cookie, but I didn’t have as much success substituting coconut sugar or maple syrup for the white and brown sugars.  At the end of the day, it’s still a cookie which we should enjoy in moderation.

If you like to be prepared for weekday school lunches or unexpected playdates, it’s always nice to have some cookie dough on hand.  You can make this batter and keep it refrigerated for a week, baking off as many cookies as you like at any given time.  I also like to scoop the dough onto baking sheets with my ice cream scooper, freeze them raw (the same way you would freeze fruit), and when they are frozen solid, gather them up and put them in a container to freeze for a rainy day or the next sleepover.  And from the empty containers I generally see in the morning, I have also observed that teenagers are at their most STARVING in the middle of the night.

Trail Mix Cookies

Pamela, inspired by epicurious via Smitten Kitchen
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Ingredients
  

  • 8 Tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ½ cup natural cane sugar or coconut sugar
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup rolled oats either old-fashioned or quick-cooking
  • 1 ½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts or macadamia nuts
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • ½ cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes (or use extra pecans)
  • ½ cup dried fruit such as cranberries (or use extra chocolate chips)
  • Or use 3 ½ cups trail mix instead of above add-ins; chop nuts
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and 1 egg at a time until well incorporated.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add half the dry mix to the butter with the mixer on low speed. After the flour has been incorporated, add the remaining flour mixture and stir together.
  • Stir in the remaining ingredients.
  • Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the cookie sheet and bake until golden, 12-15 minutes. (If you bake the dough directly from the fridge, add 3-5 minutes.)
  • Remove from the oven and cool cookies for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
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