These cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with flavor. Using freshly milled soft white wheat will give you the most tender result, but hard white wheat will also work well.
Yields: About 2 dozen cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour
Bake time: 12-15 minutes
Ingredients
2 .5 cups (300g) freshly milled Soft White Wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
.5 teaspoon ground ginger
.25 teaspoon ground cloves
.25 teaspoon salt
.5 (113g) salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
.5 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 cup (225g) pumpkin puree (canned, not pie filling)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 cups (255g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Prepare the Flour: Mill your wheat berries to get a fine flour. Measure out 2.5 cups (300g).
Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the freshly milled flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and all the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves). Set aside.
Cream Butter and Sugars: In a large bowl using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
Add Wet Ingredients: Beat in the pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined. The mixture may look a little separated, which is normal.
Combine Wet and Dry: With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Fold in Chocolate Chips: Gently fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
Chill the Dough (Crucial Step): The dough will be very soft. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days. Chilling prevents the cookies from spreading too much and deepens the flavor.
Preheat and Prepare: When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees f. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop and Bake: Scoop rounded tablespoons of the chilled dough (about 1.5 tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheets, placing them about 2 inches apart.
Bake: Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are set and lightly browned. The centers will still look soft.
Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips for Success with Freshly Milled Flour
Flour Choice: Soft white wheat is ideal for a tender, cake-like cookie. Hard white wheat will also work, but the cookies might be slightly denser and chewier.
Moisture Content: Freshly milled flour is "thirstier" than store-bought flour. This recipe is balanced for that, but the chill time is essential to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
Pumpkin Puree: For a chewier, less cakey cookie, you can blot the pumpkin puree before adding it. Simply spread it on a plate lined with a few paper towels and let it sit for a few minutes to absorb excess water.
Enjoy your homemade cookies!
These are marvelous! Beware, you WILL eat more than one :-) To be fair, I do need to say that I used baked butternut squash instead of canned pumpkin because that's what I had. I also used a blend of white wheat and farro. Those two changes shouldn't make much difference and they are yummy! Oh, I did cut the sugar a little (cut 1/4 cup). I think they're still plenty sweet and will cut the sugar more next time because I have diabetics in the house and those of us who aren't, don't need the extra sugar anyway :-)
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