Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Olive Oil

 I hope I didn't lose you at olive oil.  Last week I wanted to try something new, so I scanned the pantry and scribbled down a list of ingredients that became this recipe.  I had a fresh bag of white whole wheat flour, and it just seemed right to try it out with the olive oil that was sitting on the same shelf.  I don't know about you, but when I buy something new (especially a baking item), I am eager to use it.  Even though we pretty much always have white whole wheat flour on hand, I felt propelled forward by the sealed bag and the opportunity to free up some shelf space by using some of the flour and transferring the rest of the bag to its usual, but empty, canister. 

Anyway, enough about my pantry already!  You're reading this because you can't wait to make cookies with olive oil in them, right?  I should forewarn you - these cookies are highly addictive!  The olive oil-oat-coconut combination gives them the right amount of crispy-chewiness and the chocolate makes them a real treat.  I swear that you won't even miss the butter, or notice that they are made with whole wheat.  

Notes:
If you chop up a dark chocolate bar for these cookies like I did, try to chop the majority of the pieces so that they are the size of chocolate chips or smaller.  Having a lot of huge hunks of chocolate, while tasty, can make it a little bit more difficult to shape the cookies.  If you don't have white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour should work, although I haven't tried using it in this recipe.  Also, for years I just used instant coffee when a recipe called for espresso powder, so if you don't have espresso powder, but you have instant coffee, use that instead, or just leave it out. 

Ingredients:
1½ cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ salt
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cups semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate)

Yields 2.5-3 dozen cookies.

Mix:
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line 2 cookie sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper.  In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the white whole wheat flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, coconut, and espresso powder, and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat together the olive oil and brown sugar.  Add the egg and the vanilla, and beat until they are incorporated.  The mixture will be very wet looking and will not be fluffy.  Add the flour/oat mixture all at once, and beat until combined.  Then stir in the chocolate chips.

Shape and Bake:
Using a medium-sized cookie scoop (the equivalent of about two tablespoons-worth of dough), shape the dough into balls.  Use your palms to compress the dough balls slightly to make sure that they stay together during baking.  Place the dough balls on the prepared cookie sheet, and bake the cookies at 350°F, for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.  Allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, or until they are set, then transfer them to a wire rack to finishing cooling.  Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container.

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