So whenever the crumby husband and I finally got around to discussing cookie preferences, he not only said that my favorites were old lady grandmaw cookies, but was dumbfounded when I told him I didn't really chocolate chip cookies. He said that was just down right blasphemous--how can someone who loves to bake so much hate chocolate chip cookies? I don't know; I just did. Then my lovely coworker and fellow baker brought in his favorite recipe and I fell in love.

So what makes these chocolate chunk cookies so much better than anything else I've ever had? They aren't super sweet and they bake up oh so soft and chewy. I really love the saltiness of these cookies because they have just the right combination of bam! chocolate with some subtle saltiness to give them great depth. Whole wheat flour, nuts and rolled oats give them good texture and I swear you will not believe their "healthy"--alright so with 10 tablespoons of butter, I wouldn't exactly call these healthy, but in comparison to a standard chocolate chip cookie, you're much better off with these.

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Whole Wheat Cookies
from Keith Brannon

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

10 Tbs butter, room temp

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, room temp

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (Keith suggests Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Chunks)

1/2 cup nuts

Instructions:

1. In medium bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt together. 
2. In a separate bowl, cream butter with mixer at medium speed until soft (1 min or so); add brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy. And egg and vanilla and blend another minute until all is incorporated. Add dry ingredients from bowl and mix until just combined. Add oats, nuts and chocolate and blend together.
3. Spread dough onto wax paper and form a log, wrap the paper around it and twist the edge and refrigerate dough until firm. The dough will keep up to three days in fridge.
4. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Unwrap the log and slice with a very sharp knife. Roll your slice into a ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges.

Crumby Notes:

• Be generous with the chocolate, nuts and oats for an extra punch of flavor. 
• If you're like me and you just can't wait that long to dig into these bad boys, refrigerate the dough for about an hour to firm up. If you actually have enough forethought to do this in advance, its best if you can let them refrigerate overnight.
• The only store in my area that I know of that carries Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks, is not in my immediate neighborhood. Instead of trekking out to the burbs, I had decided to use Baker's Semi-Sweet Morsels instead, but thanks to my own forgetfulness I left the bag of chocolate near the hot stove while I was cooking dinner. I put the bag of melted chocolate in the fridge and then cut the block into chucks. Voila! Chocolate Chunks!
• Yes, if you don't have whole wheat pastry flour, it is worth the trip to the store. Pastry flour has a low protein conten, which makes it excellent for making pastry, pies and cookies. 

~Happy Baking~