Yesterday was my son's fifth birthday, and I found myself a bit unprepared.
We had celebrated a week early with a big Star Wars party for 24 small children and their accompanying adults.
In addition to cleaning and decorating, I made a homemade coconut flour cake with honey butter cream frosting and some scrumptious but nutritious snacks like bacon wrapped dates, squash soup, wilted kale in butter, grass fed beef hot dogs with homemade cultured ketchup and sweet potatoes fried in coconut oil. Needless to say, it felt like quite a bit of work, so when his actual birthday rolled around, I was planning to keep it simple.
Then, at 9:30am on his birthday, I found out that I was expected to bring a birthday treat for his school party at noon. “Don't worry,” said my ever-supportive husband, “I will just pick something up on the way.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied, milling through my head all of the processed junky treats he could find in the few mile stretch between my house and the school. Not a chance.
So, what's a Real Food obsessed mama going to do when she's got a couple of hours and 12 expectant preschoolers waiting on the other end? Well, make cookies, of course!
Yes, I could have bought some packaged cupcakes or cookies and put them on a pretty plate, but I stand firm in the need for real food, even when it comes to sweets. This wasn't the baking equivalent to brain surgery – but real food ingredients make classic chocolate chip cookies practically nutritious.
Classic chocolate chip cookies, with real food ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups
all-purpose floursprouted wheat flour (where to buy sprouted flours) - 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon
saltCeltic sea salt (where to buy sea salt) - 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (from grass-fed cows)
- 3/4 cup
granulated sugarSkip this sugar – the recipe is great without it! 3/4 cup packed brown sugarUnrefined Cane sugar (I love this Muscavado sugar)- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (handmade from Tahitian vanilla beans)
- 2 large eggs (from local, pasture raised hens)
- 2 cups
NESTLES TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate MorselsSunspire Fair Trade Organic 65% Cacao Chips
Classic chocolate chip cookies method
Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine dry ingredients, set aside; cream together butter and sugars, beat in eggs and add vanilla; blend in flour mixture slowly, fold in chocolate chips.
Drop rounded spoonfuls of batter onto preheated baking sheets; bake 9-12 minutes or until edges are nicely brown. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Why my classic chocolate chip cookies are better than Betty Crocker's
First of all, these cookies don't just taste as good as classic chocolate chip cookies – the sprouted wheat, unrefined sugars and salt, and pastured butter and eggs make these cookies taste SO MUCH BETTER! On the nutrition front:
- Sprouted wheat promotes health. Grains and nuts contain phytic acid, an anti-nutrient which blocks the absorption of minerals. When wheat is sprouted, soaked, or soured, it becomes more digestible, more delicious, and less disruptive to digestion.
- Unrefined sea salt is essential to health, whereas refined salts contribute to health issues.
- Butter, especially from grass-fed cows, is a nutrient-dense superfood. Please don't ever consume margarine or other butter substitutes.
- Sucanat and other unrefined sweeteners have not been stripped and are therefore mineral-rich, whereas refined sugars are like pure crack. Whether refined or not, sugar is still sugar, and should be consumed in moderation only.
- Real vanilla extract (as opposed to imitation) contains only vodka infused with vanilla beans. No fake chemical flavors.
- Eggs from pasture-raised hens are a rich source of saturated fat, cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, E, and choline. Read how to choose the best eggs here.
- Organic fair trade chocolate chips are sustainably grown and harvested and contain no fake additives.
So the bottom line? If you're going to eat sweets, do so in moderation, and make sure to use real food ingredients! Your body, taste buds, and conscience will thank you. And maybe one day your kids will grow up to thank you, too.
Looking for more real food Cookie Recipes?
Grains not on your menu? Check out these Pecan Sandies from Mommypotamus.
This one's not a cookie, but I can't resist sharing Martha Stewart's Chocolate Coconut Pie – only 4 ingredients and lots of goodness.
I’ll have to give these a try and make some this weekend. Keep up the recipe modifications. I really enjoy your amazing concoctions!
My family and I have found that, in addition to the excellent modifications you have made, the cookies are even better with only half the amount of total sugar. I get excellent results with 3/4 cup of rapadura or sucanat.
Thanks, Nancy. You’re right. Since your comment, I’ve been halving the sugar in all of the ‘standard’ recipes (cookies, muffins, and the like) and they turn out great! I am modifying this recipe to call for half the sugar.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! And what an awesome blog! Can’t wait to read more.
Love the cookie recipe! Let me know if you want my GF recipe.
Robin
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I love your article and what you did for your sons birthday and how you were able to wing something healthy in a nick of time. I am currently working on a Sprouted Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and will be posting one soon to my blog. Yours looks amazing. Go Mom!!!!
It is great to know there are more like minded Moms out there so passionate about feeding their family Real Food!!! Blessings and keep up the good work! Ester
Thanks, Ester! Looking forward to checking out your recipe. 🙂
What is your blog? I am always looking for GF recipes.
How many cookies does this recipe make?
Thank you for this recipe – yay! FYI: I doubled the vanilla – yummm! I learned the beautiful trick of doubling awhile back from a friend . . . great way to add flavor, esp if you’re decreasing sugar or other anti-nutrients: always double vanilla, cinnamon and garlic. Exceptions: true ethnic recipes that already include a healthy dose 🙂 I’m sure there are other great candidates for the doubling trick?
Thanks, Julie! What a great tip!
This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for. Thank you!!!
Thanks for the great recipe! I’ve been switching over more and more of my pantry/fridge to real foods…and one of the last things to go has been the Nestle Chocolate chips. I was just wondering today what I could sub them out with. I was pretty much thinking a chopped up fair trade candy bar. Good to have another option.
How long does sprouted flour keep? I don’t use alot of flour generally, usually for an occassional batch of cookies, so I usually put the grocery store kind in a container and keep in the freezer. Will sprouted flour keep in the freezer? Thanks for all of the fantatic information you provide. 🙂
Hi Donna, thanks for the question! I don’t bake that often either, and I buy 5# bags of sprouted flour and store them in the freezer for months. It always tastes perfectly fine when I use it.
I have been making our chocolate chip cookies with spelt flour, but I cannot wait to try it with sprouted flour! Thank you!
Hi! Love your website, been following you for a while! This recipe is perfect, love that you halve the sugar. I’ve only made sprouted flour cookies one other time and I have a question about the flavor of the sprouted flour. I got my flour from Whole Foods and it’s the first time I’ve ever dealt with it but does it have a different flavor that regular flour? My cookies both times have almost a cod liver oil flavor, strange I know and I’m not sure why. Just wondering if anyone else notices the flavor?
Hi Kristen, thanks for your question. My cookies have a slightly differently texture, but they definitely don’t taste like fish oil. It sounds like your flour may have gone rancid. Sprouted flour has a short shelf life and should be stored in the freezer to keep fresh. I hope that helps!
Tried this recipe tonight. Without the sugar, tastes more like a biscuit.
Added some honey, tasted a better, but still not that classic chocolate chip cookie taste.
Super good if you can accept the difference! And way the heck better for ya! 🙂
Hi!
These cookies look scrumptious!
I have one question though, I’m suffering from a severe eczema outbreak and it is advised I don’t eat wheat. Would you by any chance know if sprouted wheat is to be avoided too? If so, I guess I could just replace it with another type of sprouted flour but since I have never worked with sprouted flour, I thought I’d ask.¸
Thanks in advance!
Hi Aryane, if you can’t normally eat wheat, you won’t be able to eat sprouted wheat. There are plenty alternative flours you could try – let us know if you successfully make them using one of them. We’d love to hear back from you.
with mine I could detect the salt. But it was still yummy. I only had the whole wheat flour I use for soaked pancakes on hand so I couldn’t use sprouted flour. Maybe I should use 1/2 tsp of salt.
I was wondering about rice flour…he’s anyone tried to bake with that? My daughter’s skins looks beautiful after we’ve worked long and hard eliminating gluten and dairy from her diet due to her eczema. I’m not ready to introduce gluten yet.