Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you're anything like me, you're on a continual quest for "THE BEST" recipe for many of life's staples: mac 'n cheese, apple pie, and of course, chocolate chip cookies.  I've made many that I thought were the best, but somehow I still find myself questioning if I can tweak or find a better recipe.  Honestly, this drives hubby absolutely nuts since my scatter-brained brain often forgets these tweaks and the "best" is lost in history.

Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies

Though these cookies are different than your average chocolate chip cookie, I must say they're some of my favorites. After receiving a delicious box of the new granola from Special K, I set off on a quest to use the granola in a recipe other than my usual fruit and yogurt parfaits. I happened upon this Granola Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe at one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites and could barely contain my excitement.  Granola? check.  Butter? check.  Chocolate? check.  I'm in.

Equally crisp yet chewy, the granola adds a nice crunch and a hint of saltiness that sends these cookies over the edge for me.  The granola I used wasn't too chunky, but if you have one full of clusters, try and chop up the pieces so that the cookies aren't overburdened by the granola.  Go forth and bake.  Just try not to eat the whole batch like me!

Recipe here @ Baking Bites. 
Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies
slightly adapted from Baking Bites
 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup granola, small pieces (I used Special K which is a honey/nut type of granola)
1/2 cup chocolate chips


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and both sugars until well combined. In a small bowl, whisk together cooled butter (room temp), egg and vanilla extract. Pour into flour mixture and stir well to combine.

3. Stir in granola and chocolate chips until all are well-distributed in the dough.  The dough will be a little dry, but don't fret!  Roll dough into 1-inch round balls (this is most easily done by hand) and place on baking sheet. Press each gently to flatten.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies just begin to take on a light golden brown color.
Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.
 
 

23 comments:

Maris said...

Ooh these sound good! Awesome way to use up some leftover granola!

Snooky doodle said...

adding granola with these cookies look delicious :)

Jennelle said...

Oh my goodness, those sound AMAZING!

Meghan said...

These look great!!! I too want to find ' the best' of things, but then I end up forgetting how good the last batch was. It's hard to do without a side-by-side comparison, and that's a lot of cookies!

I keep seeing commercials for the new Special K granola but as of Sunday our store doesn't have it yet. I love coming up with other uses for cereal!

La Bella Cooks said...

I love the use of granola in these scrumptious little cookies. I always think you can't make chocolate chip anymore perfect than they already are, but I am proven wrong with each new recipe. This definitely will be one I will try.

grace said...

well, these look excellent! it seems i always have an abundance of granola on hand and this is an ideal way to dispose of it!

noble pig said...

Great idea, I love using up stuff in cookies!

Katie said...

Those look so good!

Sarah said...

Ooo yum, granola and chocolate! What a winning combination, I love chocolate chip cookies with a little something extra. Plain ones are good, but embellishments like coffee or granola or oatmeal make them great!

Maria said...

I am always on the hunt for the best ccc. I will have to try these next!

Sophie said...

Crunch and chocolate, yum! The texture on these looks right on.

I know what you mean about searching for the best, or even trying to tweak things. I usually never make the same thing the same way twice, so frustrating :P!!

ARUNA said...

simply delish!

vanillasugarblog said...

so now they are healthy right and we can eat more? fabulous! lol

BrittWilk said...

ooohhh. these look so yummy. and i'm with dawn - granola makes them healthy, right??

Joanne said...

I love sweet and salty - that flavor combo is the key to so many good things. I am constantly on the search for "best" recipes as well. It doesn't hurt that the taste testing part is so much fun!

These look fantastic!

The Blonde Duck said...

I share your mac and cheese quest! Think these would be ok with PB chips?

Sharon said...

OMG, yes they'd be great with pb chips or a combo of chocolate & pb chips. Next time I'd like to experiment with a granola that contains more nuts or maybe even fruit. The possibilities are endless! :)

pigpigscorner said...

Love this combo! Looks so good!

Emily said...

Yum. These look delicious! I'm eager to try the new Special K Granola. I'm sure I will love it.

Pam said...

I love the look and sound of this cookie - adding granola is a great idea.

Darius T. Williams said...

Hmm - not bad. I could totally get with this!

Laura said...

Hmmm, I wonder how my homemade sweet/salty peanut butter granola would work in these? I think I might have to find out....

Anonymous said...

Oh, my! I just put the last batch of these cookies in the oven and the rest are so delicious!

I made the recipe without the cinnamon because I'm not a big fan. They are just the right amount of sweet and you can taste cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds... They are great.

Thanks for the post!