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Chocolate Chip Wheat Germ Cookies

Chocolate Chip Wheat Germ Cookies
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 115.

These cookies were a pleasant surprise and I absolutely love them. They are crisp and chewy and I like them even better than the Positively-The-Absolute-Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are very large and flat (you measure them out with a 1/4 measuring cup and I'm not exactly sure if they have to made this large. Maida Heatter credits Esther Starbuck, a high-school teacher from Buena Vista, Colorado for this recipe.

3/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour 
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 lb (1 stick) sweet butter (softened)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant) oatmeal
3/4 cup untoasted wheat germ
2/3 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels


Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with foil and set aside.


Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.


Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat in the vanilla and two sugars. Add the egg and beat well. On low speed add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl and beating only until mixed. Mix in the oatmeal, wheat germ and coconut. Stir in the morsels.






Spread out a piece of wax paper. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to measure out the dough for each cookie. Form mounds (this will make about 9 or 10) on the wax paper.
Wet your hands with cold water and roll a mound of dough into a large ball for each cookie. Place about 5 inches apart on the foil-lined cookie sheets. 


Press the dough balls with the tines of a fork in all directions to flatten them to 1/2 inch thickness. (If the dough cracks around the edges, press them back together).


Bake two sheets at a time for 12 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven), reversing the sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through baking. When they are done, the cookies will be lightly colored and the tops will spring back when lightly pressed. Do not under bake - make sure they are crisp on the edges and bottom when cool. The cookies will spread out 4-5 inches when done. (If baking only one sheet at a time, use the upper rack).


Let cool on the foil briefly before transferring to a cooling rack with a metal spatula. When cool, store airtight.
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