Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Coconut Whole Grain Cookies

The recipe for these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Coconut Whole Grain Cookies comes from my (eons ago) days as a young mother trying to add some nutrition to sweet treats. 

These oatmeal chocolate chip and coconut whole grain cookies are made with 100% whole grains, unsweetened coconut, and walnuts.

When my kids were little, the only chocolate chip cookie recipe any of us made was the one on the package of the chocolate chips. We considered the idea of adding whole grains, especially whole wheat, to a cookie as pretty revolutionary.

This was during the time that red M&Ms were eliminated for 11 years, and crunchy granola was enjoying its hey day.

During the break between Christmas and New Year's Day, I spent some time cleaning out my files, and came across a small stash of (real) recipe cards, including my sister's pasta salad and breakfast casserole, my friend Sue's Chinese chicken salad (with fried rice noodles!), my aunt's red cabbage salad (Northwoods Inn copycat), a well-loved and stained recipe card for chicken tortilla casserole of unknown origin, and my mom's chocolate mint pie (in her handwriting).

I also found this recipe for these oatmeal chocolate chip and coconut whole grain cookies. These brought back such memories with my "mommy-and-me classes" friends Sue and Nancy. All of our kids were exactly the same age, and we all spent so much time together. Sue was the gourmet cook among us, and introduced us to this recipe.

Never mind that these cookies contain a pretty decent amount of butter and sugar. We all felt like we were "healthifying" chocolate chip cookies. After all, they contain wheat germ! Oh, and the butter is salted, because that's all we knew back then.

I re-made these cookies after coming across the recipe, and was flooded with memories. These are as good as I remember, and I'm so glad I get to record them here. My grandsons, kids, and my colleagues all loved them too.

This month, the Fantastical Food Fight is all about oatmeal. After the recipe, be sure to check out the rest of the oatmeal themed recipes.

Yield: 48 cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Coconut Whole Grain Cookies

ingredients:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup wheat germ
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup honey

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. 
2. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. 
3. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture with the paddle attachment on low. Stir in the chocolate chips, oats, walnuts, wheat germ, coconut, and honey. 
4. Drop by tablespoons on the cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. 

http://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/01/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-and-coconut.html

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