Thursday, August 26, 2010

White vs. Wheat....

Chocolate chip cookies, that is.

I recently performed a side by side comparison with my homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Before we get to the results, let me explain a few things.  I am not a health food extremist who refuses to buy anything unless it is natural and organic.  We do not grow our own wheat and grind it fresh on the farm, although if I had a wheat grinder I would consider grinding my own flour (hint, hint).  I do prefer to make most of our food fresh at home rather than buying large amounts of processed foods.  That is not to say, however, that you won't ever find me feeding my kids Sonic corndogs and tater tots.  The purpose of this blog is not to criticize or demean anyone's eating habits or practices, but simply share my own experiences.

Last year for Christmas my husband bought me a bread machine and since then I have been experimenting with different homemade breads and flours.  By no means am I proclaiming to be an expert about any home breadmaking.  We do like my homemade wheat sandwich bread and french bread, that I usually turn into croutons after a  day or two.  Because I have been buying wheat flour for my breadmaking and I have seen other blogging moms discuss whole wheat pancakes, muffins, etc, I decided to give it a try...

Ok, back to the cookies....

My husband much prefers my homemade cookies to any store bought cookies, whether packaged or from the bakery (the only exception might be Oreos, although I have never attempted to make them at home).  I can almost see him cringe if he notices that I've bought cookies from the store, although it doesn't stop him from eating them.  Thus, the homemade cookies.  Without even thinking, I made the first batch of cookies like I always do....Similar to the Tollhouse Original Chocolate Chip Cookies, with a few of my own little tweaks.  I was planning on making two batches of cookies anyway when I noticed the wheat flour in the pantry, so I decided to have a little experiment....it must be the homeschool mom in me.

In the second batch of cookies I substituted 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour....I didn't want to send my family into a complete whole wheat shock.  I left everything else in the recipe the same.

The result?  A slightly darker cookie and possibly a little more dense but it had the same chewy consistency.  It may have been just a bit less sweet, but with a mouthful of chocolate chips it was difficult to conclude.  Overall, it was a very tasty cookie and my 4 year old said that she like the wheat cookies better (although she did not know the difference in flour).  Unless you knew the switch had been made, I honestly don't think anyone would immediately say, "hmm, there's something different about this cookie."  I'm planning on doing a blind taste test with my husband to see if he can even taste any difference, without letting him know that they are different.


I think I will stick with the wheat flour in the recipe and maybe next time I will try using all wheat.  If I can make chocolate chip cookies a little bit more healthy and just as tasty for my family, then it's a success and maybe I'll feel just a little bit less guilty about feeding my children cookies for breakfast....

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