Chocolate Chip Cookies with Whole Wheat(atta) and Jaggery(gur)

Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Probably the commonest thing available the other side of the world...but here in India...the authentic taste is just not there until you bake them yourself...

And when you do, you actually realise how ...not so healthy these wonderful cookies are. After all, these cookies have the tendency to turn any one into THE COOKIE MONSTER!

Sweet Child had been badgering me with demands for the chocolate chip cookies ,but the authentic ones ever since we came back from Delhi. He wanted the real ones...not the healthy stuff I keep trying to stuff down his throat.

Challenge!

No refined flour...less butter... less sugar....

Not Easy!

Less or not,the quantity of fat almost remained the same, but where I succeeded- I used whole wheat flour and Jaggery. At least its a lot less refined and wholesome.

And he loved them!

Not just him,friend Kanchan's kids loved them too!

I steamrolled Kanchan into baking them for her kids...didn't want Sweet child to demolish all the cookies by himself.

PS her kids are thinner than mine is.

And when he went all Oliver Twist-ty I knew I had WON!

Bingo!

you too can try these on poor unsuspecting children,they'll never know. Sweet Child vowed that these cookies were better than the ones available at the Cafe Coffee Day Outlets. Yay!

I found this recipe here  and made minor alterations. You can use Brown Sugar, but as that is not available in Ranchi, I used Jaggery. This will yield 12 cookies.

for the

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Whole Wheat(atta) and Jaggery(gur)...

you need

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour/atta

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup/113 gms butter(we were short of butter, so we used half butter and half vegetable shortening)

1/2 cup Brown Sugar/ grated Jaggery(gur)

2 tsp granulated sugar(regular)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

125 gms chocolate chips/bittersweet chocolate roughly chopped

Butter always seems to be in short supply,where ever there are children. Even a 500 gm slab of butter never seems to last till the time its needed...by mums!

No choice,had to use shortening as refined vegetable oil in cookies is a no go!

That's the fat...not at all cold.

That's the flour and the baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Didn't bother to sift it. Just a teeny bit of mixing.

The grated Jaggery(gur) and the sugar.I took off about a teaspoon of the jaggery.

Into the bowl...

And whisked with a balloon whisk. Technically you must whisk the butter first and then add the sugar...but whatever rules here.

To this add the egg and the vanilla.

All mixed....just a few turns will do.

The chocolate,which we cut into chunks. We were just short of 25 gms of chocolate...just like unplanned pregnancies...you never know...

Add the dry stuff into the wet...just make a pretense of bringing it all together. Get rid of the whisk ,a large spoon is good now.

This picture should have been up before...Substitute...25 gms/2 tablespoons of roasted salted peanuts! To make up for the lacking weight of the chocolate.And the kids are not too fond of salt and sweet...but then that was a risk we took.

Into the cookie dough.

Uniformity ,we were looking at. And as neither of us have a cookie scoop,we used an ice cream scoop.One scoop,one ball...slightly flattened...on the tray. The idea was to get the same size cookies so that they would bake evenly.
At this stage the cookie dough looks like ice cream...full of chocolate...if it is warm and your dough feels a little loose,just pop it in the fridge to chill 5 minutes.

The tray does not need to be greased of floured. 6 on the tray. Switch on the oven at this stage...175C/350F.
See,6 to a tray...So baking two times.

Tip, just flatten them slightly....And keep a check on them...they were ready in 13 minutes.Lightly browned from the top and soft to the touch...they firm up on cooling. They smelt terrific...the whole corridor was full of vanilla and chocolate...

The first cookie was downed just alone...the second ,with a glass of cold milk.

You can drizzle the cookies with melted chocolate if you want to add to the goodness...or maybe substitute some of the bittersweet chocolate with while chocolate...add walnuts and peanuts or just walnuts....whatever...the possibilities are Endless!

But they all end up in the tummy.

Make them,even if your kids have flown the nest...or if you don't have any.
These cookies took less time to make than bake...
And they were heavenly!

Treat  yourself once in a while....

So what are you baking today???