Sprouted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last month, my son got baptized and we hosted a large group of family to celebrate.  I made my crowd pleasing Sourdough Spelt Pizza, GAPS Meatzza, these cookies and GAPS Coconut Macaroons, so we had option.  I talked with the kids about what would be available and what would be their choices.  It ended in our first meal of cheats, but it was not too bad as it was real food and very modest amounts.

At the event, the cookies were a big hit and I was reminded that I needed to get these delicious confections posted.  I can't keep this from you any longer.  I worked and work on this recipe, and perfected it before we started GAPS.  Then, it got buried in a stack of more current recipes. So here it is with all of my quirky, cookie-developing processes.

 I am hard to please in the cookie department.  I like them slightly brown and crisp around the edges and nice and chewy in the center.  Never cakey, crumbly, hard or cracker like.  I like a lot of flavor too, which means natural sugars, whole grains and butterJ.  I am mighty proud about this recipe; The farm fresh eggs, pastured butter, extra virgin coconut oil and sprouted flour are super healthy!  Still, I can’t get away from the high amount of sugar, the carmelization of which adds THE BEST flavor.  Then there are the chocolate chips, where I just do what I can to get a nice quality with more real chocolate than sugar.

I started experimenting with sprouted flour cookie recipes when I learned that whole grains have anti nutrients and need to be properly prepared for maximum benefit.  Soaked and sour dough recipes always yielded cakey, again, not my thing.  But I found sprouted flour so hard to work with because it crumbles and doesn’t absorb the fats and liquids easily.  My biggest problem was figuring out the right amount of flour to use in the dough.  I have baked too many cookies with my old, delicious recipe with instant pudding and was always trying to get the same texture in the dough.

I found the balance; 2 eggs, less one white and ¾ cup butter or 1 stick plus ¼ cup coconut oil (the oil makes a little thinner cookie, which is pictured).  Coconut sugar has a much better texture in these than sucanat and a less over powering flavor and maple syrup add a more complex flavor while giving the sprouted flour the liquid it needs to hydrate.  My most life altering discovery was the refrigeration time, which is nothing new to cookies, but not common for the chip kind.  The dough is almost batter like after mixing, letting it spend time in the fridge gives the flour time to absorb the moisture it needs and sets up the melted coconut oil and butter, thus, a beautiful cookie dough is born!

1/2 cup pastured butter, melted but not hot
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sprouted flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Place butter, oil, sugar and syrup in a mixing bowl and beat on high until smooth and lightens in color.  Add egg, salt and vanilla and mix well. Dump in all flour and sprinkle baking soda on top, take care to break up any clumps. Pulse until flour is moistened, add chips and mix until evenly distributed.  Place in a covered bowl and place in the fridge for 2 -6 hours. You may refrigerate longer, but dough will need to warm up for an hour before it can be easily scooped out again.

The exact baking makes or breaks this cookie.  For medium sized cookies (2 tablespoons of dough) I bake at 325 degrees on convection for 8 minutes.  When I remove them from the oven they are puffed up and fall as they cool.  The edges are barely golden and the middle is entirely doughy.  Let cool completely on pan before serving or storing.  This is when they set up, otherwise they will fall apart.  If you don't have convection, I would bake at 350 degrees and check them at 8 minutes, but they may not be ready until 10 minutes.