Today, I began a journey. A journey to figure out the best possible way to bake chocolate chip cookies with some healthy substitutions. Part One? Switching out the butter with some organic, unpressed, unrefined coconut oil.
Here’s the final recipe, and I referred to the guidelines from both Nestle and this recipe courtesy of Averie Cookies.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unrefined, organic coconut oil, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
- 1 cup chopped nuts (optional — I didn’t have any)
Recipe:
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
- Beat oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. It won’t get as fluffy as butter will, but it should mix well and look creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Gradually beat in flour mixture.The dough will look somewhat “Play-Doh”-esque at this point, but as long as it has both an oily and dry consistency, it should be fine. Once I started adding the flour, I could no longer use a mechanical beater; I used my hands to mix the flour in (which were really soft afterwards). And, you can feel how soft and moist the dough is, despite the dryness.
- Add morsels and nuts. Again, ditch the spoon and use your hands. Trust me, it’s fun!
- Refrigerate overnight (well, at least 3 hours). Averie Cookies suggested shaping the cookies before refrigerating, but I was in a rush and shoved the dough in the fridge before heading out for the night. I’ll be sure to try shaping first next time!
- [After X amount of hours…] Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, drop the dough by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet (leaving an inch or two in between), and bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
- NOTE: I baked one batch at 375 for 9 minutes, and a second batch at 350 for about 12 minutes. Both came out quite nice!
- Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
THE RESULTS: This recipe yielded about 48 cookies that were just the right amount chewy, just the right amount stiff. The softness lasted a full 4 to 5 days in an airtight container!
MY THOUGHT PROCESS:
I started with the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. With the help of this blog that tried the Nestle recipe with coconut oil, this blog (Averie Cookies) that offers a delicious-looking recipe and tips for baking with coconut oil, and these coconut-oil guidelines, I made the following changes.
1 cup of softened butter replaced by 3/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 cup packed brown sugar replaced by 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
[In case you’re wondering why: I used less coconut oil despite the 1-to-1 replacement guideline, because the wonderful person who used coconut oil in the Nestle recipe said the cookies came out greasy (but still good), and the recipe that uses coconut oil from the get-go used 3/4 oil for 2 cups of flour. So, I figured 3/4 cup of oil for 2 1/4 cups of flour should work okay. I used less than the total 1 1/2 cups of sugar after reading that coconut oil will lend the cookies extra sweetness, and because I admittedly didn’t have the brown sugar the recipe called for.]
I refrigerated overnight, to allow the coconut oil to harden again. [The why: without refrigeration, the greasiness of the oil will cause the cookies to flatten, harden, and be, well, greasy.]
a fine frenzy 