Saturday, December 20, 2008

whole wheat snickerdoodles.


Over the past few years we have switched over to using only whole wheat flours. For bread we often grind our own flour, but we use whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat white flour for baking everything from cookies to scones. My boys actually like the rich chewiness that whole wheat flour adds to recipes. I often will take traditional recipes and just substitute the whole wheat flour - but with some things (like cookies) it is good to tweak the recipe a little to compensate for how much moisture the whole wheat flour absorbs. In this recipe I used organic stone ground whole wheat pastry flour, turbinado sugar, and have a non-traditional ingredient in the mix too...coconut. It doesn't add much actual coconut flavor, but gives a nice texture and keeps the cookies from getting dry, I think.

::whole wheat snickerdoodles::


ingredients::
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups white whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup organic UN-sweetened dry coconut flakes
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

to roll the cookies in
2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp turbinado sugar

directions::
-Preheat the oven to 375 ºF
-Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper
-In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Put aside.
-In a mixer, beat sugar with butter until light and creamy - about a minute or two.
-Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
-Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time until combined...

-In a small bowl, combine the 2 tsp cinnamon and 3 Tbsp sugar
-Roll bits of dough into balls (about 1 1/2 Tbsp per ball) and then roll in the cinnamon mixture to coat.
-Put the cookies about 2-3 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
-Bake for about 10 minutes...cookies should be light and golden.
-Let the cookies cool for a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack.



ingredient tip::

The health benefits from whole grains comes from the nutrients and fiber found in the grain kernel, including the germ and bran. So, whole grains contain the good stuff such as dietary fiber, starch, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, lignans, and phenolic compounds that have been linked to reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so perfect! We are planning on making snickerdoodles tomorrow! Yummy! Thanks!

Bunnie said...

I just baked these using the recipe but tweaking it slightly. I wanted to try also to use a white sugar substitute, so I used maple syrup (3/4 syrup for each 1 cup sugar, so 3/4 and about 3/4 of 1/3, so nearly a cup total). The result was a very cakey (totally tasty!!) cookie that didn't spread quite as much, which I personally like (I ate 4 in one sitting!), but is not what a snickerdoodle is in most of my family's minds. They like really crisp cookies. That being said, when I made the last batch, I used a fork to do a criss cross on them and make them fairly flat, and that seemed to help a fair bit. LOVE the recipe, and I will definitely be making these again!!

denise said...

Bunnie - Oh yum, sounds good! I love baking with maple syrup - it gives so much unique flavor!

Leanne Pizio said...

Love the idea of whole wheat cookies and I can't wait to try both recipes...the one with sugar and the one with syrup. Thanks for posting the recipes!
Merry Christmas to you,
Leanne

shayndel said...

Wow. You make such beautiful choices, and I know it's not easy. Finally this year, after living 9 years in Japan,I have switched completely to brown rice.
Recently my daughter has even started to request whole wheat breads.
How happy it makes me.

I feel so nourished just reading your blog.
I look forward to visit again.
Delayed 'Thanks', and happy holidays!
Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Snickerdoodles! I'm making them just for the name. Might try chortledoodles too.

denise said...

humble - Then don't forget the guffawdoodles.

leanne - thanks! you too.

JGY - thank you! we love brown rice here too, and find the nutty richness so warming.

Anonymous said...

I just got around to making these, and they turned out INCREDIBLE. We only made a 1/2 batch as we wanted just a taste. And all we had was sweetened coconut. But they were so nice and moist - the way I like cookies!