Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies. My husband loves chocolate chip cookies. And the kids - they LOVE chocolate chip cookies! We especially love the Toll House recipe that is printed on the chocolate chip package. The problem is, once you eat a cookie, you want another. And another. Before you know it, almost the entire batch is gone!

So I came up with a healthier version of the Toll House recipe. And believe it or not, they last longer. The whole wheat flour makes them more satisfying so we don't eat as many in one sitting. There's less sugar, too. So the kids aren't bouncing off the walls. As much.

Here's what I do. I cut down the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup each white and brown. The Toll House recipe calls for 3/4 cup of each. So I've eliminated 1/3 of the sugar.

I use one cup of white flour and one cup of whole wheat flour. If you want to use whole wheat pastry flour, which is finer than regular whole wheat, you can do so. But I like the graininess of the whole wheat in this recipe. I also mix in 1/4 cup wheat germ. The Toll House recipe uses 2 1/4 cup white flour.

As much as I love chocolate, there's really no need to use the entire bag of chips like the Toll House recipe says. I use only half the package and the cookies have plenty of chocolate. Milk chocolate chips taste sweeter, so use those in place of semi-sweet for more of a sweet chocolate taste.

My recipe looks like this:

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teas vanilla

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

In another bowl, mix 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1 teas baking soda, and 1 teas salt. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired.

Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Eating healthier chocolate chip cookies definitely Works for Me!