Healthy and Delicious Wholemeal Wheat Chocolate and Oatmeal Biscuits and Cookies

 

Even though this is one of the healthiest biscuits I have ever baked, it is also one of the most delicious. I wanted a biscuit that I could take away with us on a road trip, to nibble while driving in the car, to stop and have with a cuppa for morning or afternoon tea, to eat for dessert if necessary with some ice cream, or even to eat for breakfast  if we needed to get back on the road quickly in the morning. I know that sounds like a tall order for a humble biscuit, but it totally lived up to those expectations without compromising on flavour, quality or crispness. I refuse to compromise with biscuits or cakes, they must still taste amazing, regardless of any other criteria they need to fill. Then the second batch, quickly  made with chocolate chips, has just been a marvellous standby to have in the biscuit tin at home, know what I mean? I first saw this recipe @Smitten Kitchen ages ago, and I have been wanting to make them ever since. This is my variation of the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons (25 grams) raw sugar

1/2 cup (95 grams) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter chopped into chunks

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 large egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup (95 grams) whole grain flour

1/4 cup finely chopped very fresh walnuts or pecans,  or you can use wheat germ, or oat bran

1 1/2 cups (120 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips, 

Flaky sea salt to finish off (optional)

Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal biscuits

Method:

Heat oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F and line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugars, the butter, and the salt together until fluffy. 

Add the vanilla and the egg to the bowl, and beat until all mixed together.

Sprinkle the baking powder and the bicarb soda over the batter and beat until the mixture is very well combined, scraping down the bowl as well to include all the mixture.

Add the flour, walnuts, oats and chocolate chips and mix until flour just disappears.

Using an ice cream scoop,  place mounds equivalent to 3 tablespoons, on the baking paper, about 8 centimetres or 3 inches apart,  and sprinkle with a couple of flakes of sea salt if you wish. 

Looks good enough to eat before baking

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until golden brown all over. At this point they will still be slightly soft so transfer the tray to a cooling rack and allow to cool. Remove the baking tray from the cooling rack onto a cutting board, and place the biscuits carefully back onto the cooling rack to really crisp up.

Store in an airtight container.

Cook's notes:

• Unless I start baking  early, the days are very warm when I am cooking now. The heat is here. If you are baking biscuits in the Aussie Summer, the butter will soften enough in about 15 minutes to beat with the sugars. There's no need to leave it out overnight to soften.
• Because the biscuit mixture was very soft after I had finished mixing it and gooey to handle, I placed the whole bowl of biscuit mixture in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes, and then it was really easy to work with. Using the ice cream scoop to place chilled mounds of biscuit mixture onto the baking paper was a fast, effective and easy process. If you are working in Winter temperatures, you don't need to chill the biscuit mixture, however it does stop the biscuits from spreading on the tray. This is a personal preference.
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• Extra dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days, and even longer if you freeze it for later. Freeze the biscuit scoops onto a tray, and when solid, pack them tightly in a freezer bag. Cooking them straight from the freezer, only takes 1 to 2 minutes longer, and they won't spread as much. Crispy on the outside and softer in the middle is the result. However allowing them to spread on the tray, results in a crispier biscuit. 
• Check out my Anzac biscuit recipe, which is also oaty and delicious and I chill this mixture in the frig as well.
• I used roughly chopped dark chocolate in the first batch of these I made, which was delicious and resulted in larger threads of melted chocolate throughout the biscuit. Then I used dark chocolate chips in the next batch, chilled the dough as well, resulting in a neater looking more uniform biscuit. However it really doesn't matter, choose the look and style you want. I promise you though they will still taste delicious.That's the wonderful thing about making these biscuits they  are very versatile.

Warm wishes

Pauline