Sugar Cookies with Whole Wheat Flour?!
Answers: What do you think about making sugar cookies using whole wheat flour instead of white flour? and brown sugar instead of white sugar? Anybody know of a recipe for this?
Just substitute the flours and the sugars. In fact, I think the moisture of the brown sugar will compensate slightly for the tougher texture of the w/w flour.
The problem with most w/w flours available at the grocery is that they are high protein (gluten), and don't make the best baked goods, other than bread. And w/w flour has a rather tangy and bitter taste that isn't terrible, but isn't what one expects from a sugar cookie. You can counteract this tendency by adding strong flavors to your cookies, such as spices, chocolate, nuts and peanut butter. You might use 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat. But you can use all w/w if you want.
There are other w/w flours available that will produce better results in a cookie. One is whole wheat pastry flour, available mostly at health food stores. It is very soft and light in texture, and makes good cookies, a bit thinner and crisper than all purpose flour, although you can counteract this tendency by adding an additional tablespoon of flour to your cookie recipe.
Another interesting flour is King Arthur Flour brand's "white whole wheat flour." This is a hybrid whole wheat with a pale bran, which creates a pale tan whole wheat flour without the astringency of normal w/w flours.
In the recipe I provide below for my basic drop sugar cookie dough, I change the flours and sugars to create whatever cookie I want. Don't be afraid to experiment. If you want to go brown sugar and w/w flour, that should be fine. I recommend making them like snickerdoodles. I also recommend cutting this recipe in half the first time, so you can decide if you like the version of cookie you make. The full recipe will make about 40 cookies.
2 3/4 c flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
(you can substitute the tartar/soda with 2 tsp baking powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter (16 Tbsp or 2 sticks or 8 oz)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
(for snickerdoodles, roll in 1/4 cup sugar + 4 tsp cinnamon)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Add eggs, one at a time, beating each one until batter is light. Add flour mixture and blend well. Allow batter to sit 15 mins or more in refrigerator before shaping cookies. Scoop dough by tablespoons and then roll into balls.
(Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture in a small bowl, if making snickerdoodles.)
Flatten balls on cookie sheet slightly with palm of hand. Bake 8-11 mins. Cool on sheets 2 mins; transfer to racks to complete cooling.
Other ideas:
Flavor dough with orange peel (finely grated from 1/2 orange) and 1/2 c mini chocolate chips. Or, roll dough balls in finely chopped nuts before baking.
BEST SUGAR COOKIES EVER
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups Whole wheat Flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cream butter add brown sugar; beat one minute. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Slowly add flour and baking soda, then vanilla.
Beat well for three minutes. Bake 10 minutes.
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine flour and salt in bowl. Beat butter and brown sugar in mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, almond extract, and vanilla. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 4 cookie sheets.
Divide dough into quarters. Between 2 sheets of wax paper, roll one quarter 1/8-inch thick, keeping remaining dough refrigerated. Cut with floured 4-inch round cutter.
Bake 8 to 9 minutes, until edges are golden. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
They will not be the correct texture to roll and cut out shapes.
I have almost completely switched to using whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. I have tried making cookies with regular whole wheat...and it changes the taste to much for me. Just use your favorite sugar cookie recipe and just sub the same amount of whole wheat pastry flour as white flour. I would just start with a small batch, so you can tweak it as needed. I usually just use organic white sugar. Whole wheat pastry flour also works good in baking powder biscuits instead of white, just increase the baking powder a little. Anyway, good luck with your cookies :)
WHOLE WHEAT OATMEAL COOKIES
1 c. wheat flour
1 1/4 c. quick oats
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. nuts
Combine dry ingredients. Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and milk. Combine all ingredients. Add raisins and nuts. Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees.