Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate Shard Cookies

There are dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies recipes on blogs, food-related websites, and cookbooks. So who needs another one? Well, I do. I wouldn't bring you a chocolate chip cookie recipe if it wasn't absolutely amazing. My loyal readers will know that one of my favourite cookbooks is Good to the Grain. This whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe is straight from the book, and perfect, just the way it is. As a recipe developer, it's really part of my nature to want to tweak recipes when I feel that they could be more flavourful or have better texture. These were really just right and besides taking out a couple teaspoons of white sugar, I can't think of a way to make these better.

I really love experimenting with different types of flour. Flour is a necessary component of a lot of baked goods but while flour really does not have much intrinsic flavour. Baking with whole wheat, buckwheat or barley flour really adds a special, more interesting flavour to what you are baking and often means that you don't need to add as much sugar. These cookies really benefit from the whole wheat flour, which gives them a more complex and interesting texture. I also love using shards of dark chocolate as opposed to chocolate chips when making cookies. The shards break beautifully into different sizes of rich chocolate and make for a more rustic cookie, full of specks of chocolate as well as larger melted chunks. It doesn't get much better than that, don't you think?

Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate Shard Cookies
Adapted from Good to the Grain

Dry Mix:
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Wet Mix:
2 stick of cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces chocolate, chopped into shards

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl pouring back into the bowl any bits of grain or other ingredients that may remain in the sifter. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on low speed until the butter and sugar are just blended, about 2 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients in two batches until just combined. Finally, fold in the chocolate shards making sure they are evenly distributed in the batter.

Scoop balls of dough that are approximately 3 tablespoons worth and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between them, or about 6 per sheet. Bake for 16-20 minutes, rotating the pans half-way through.

Once the cookies are baked, let them cool for a few minutes and transfer them to a cooling rack. These are best eaten warm from the oven or later the same day but they will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Enjoy!