Chocolate Chip Cookies With Farro Flour & Coconut Oil

I seem to bake a lot when I am in Umbria six months each year, as I am always baking for our farmhouse guests, or making something to serve folks along with a cup of coffee when they stop by our house. Having workmen in and out all season long, we end up with lots of visitors! In my attempt to improve many of my recipes by using healthier ingredients, there is often a lot of experimentation going on in my kitchen. Sometimes my test baking works out extremely well with the first attempt, while other times it takes two or three tries to get a recipe just where I want it. When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, when you make too many changes you end up with a cookie that may taste good, but hardly resembles what we expect from a “real” chocolate chip cookie. I have been playing around with the ingredients for this cookie for a while now, and feel this recipe, while healthier than the traditional version, will please even the most ardent chocolate chip cookie lover.

In place of butter in this recipe, extra virgin coconut oil is used. Although coconut oil actually contains more saturated fat than butter, extra virgin coconut oil has some positive nutritional properties not found in butter. Coconut oil has a saturated fat called lauric acid, a medium chain saturated fatty acid, that has been shown to increase the good HDL cholesterol in the blood to help improve cholesterol ratio levels. There are also other studies showing that extra virgin coconut oil does everything from helping to control type 2 diabetes, to boosting metabolism, but like any saturated fat, it should be used in moderation. Along with lauric acid, coconut oil contains caprylic acid and capric acid which contain antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral prosperities to boost the immune system. I have been using farro flour, both white farro (also sold as spelt flour) and whole grain farro in my baking with really good results. In this recipe I used the white variety to add nutritional value without changing the appearance of the cookie too much. I have also made these cookies with whole wheat pastry flour which worked out well, although the cookies were much darker in appearance.

These cookies have a crisp exterior and a slightly chewier interior, which is everything I want in a good chocolate chip cookie. Although the coconut oil does add a very subtle coconut flavor, I find it delicious, and feel it adds to the taste of this cookie. I used mini dark chocolate chips, but you can use any chocolate chip or chunk chocolate you prefer. Purists may prefer these cookies nut less, but I did add some chopped walnuts to my version. The addition of nuts is certainly optional!

• Extra virgin coconut oil contains healthy medium chain fatty acids with immune boosting and cholesterol lowering properties.
• Farro flour adds whole grain goodness to these traditional cookies including added fiber and protein. Farro flour is rich in vitamins B and E, fiber, and in magnesium.
• Dark chocolate is a potent antioxidant and antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.