All-Bran Chocolate Chip Cookies are from a recipe adapted from the back of the cereal box. They have a little more flour and a little less butter than the usual Toll House recipe, and the recipe includes ½ cup of softened bran which bulks up the cookies and lowers the calorie count ounce per ounce. Not that these are low calorie cookies (especially my version -- I doubled the chocolate!), but they have less fat, ounce per ounce, than most chocolate chip cookies and an interesting flavor from the bran. No one around here thinks they taste "healthy". They're just less rich.
I have made a similar version before, but this time I made a few small changes which resulted in a big difference in texture. While the others were slightly cakey, this batch was denser and firmer and a little crunchier. I think it's because I used grapeseed oil in place of some of the butter and used a bit more flour. Flour amounts are variable depending on whether you sift and how you scoop, and this time I didn't sift. I just stirred the flour and aerated it as usual. All in all, these are better than the last batch and I love the fact that the grapeseed oil cut some of the saturated fat and improved the texture. Like coconut oil, it's an interesting fat to experiment with in baking. hope some of the health claims are true.
Update: Just made a batch of All-Bran Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bran Buds and am not crazy about the results. The Buds don't break down like regular All Bran so you get little nuggets of cereal in the cookie. I recommend making these with regular All Bran rather than All Bran Buds.
Recipe
All-Bran Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Cereal Box
Ingredients
- ½ cup All-Bran cereal or 1 cup Bran flakes crushed to make ½ cup
- ¼ cup hot water
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 regular size stick
- ¼ cup vegetable oil preferably grapeseed oil
- ¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar 150 grams
- ¾ cup granulated sugar 150 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 313 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt or ¼ tsp if using salted butter
- 2 cups extra dark chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup toasted and chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil.
- In a small bowl, combine the bran cereal and water. Set aside and allow bran to soften.
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, oil and both sugars until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla.
- Stir the softened bran into the batter.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, and gradually add the flour mixture to the batter, stirring by hand or using lowest speed of mixer.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
- Using a level tablespoon, shape dough into balls and arrange about 2 ½ inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake cookies for 10 to 13 minutes on center rack (they should be golden brown and appear set).
- Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Fuzz says
These cookies are great, and super easy to make! I'm living on my own right now, and my kitchen equipment stock leaves something to be desired. Still, I was able to make these for my housemates with no problem at all, and use up some of our All-Bran too!
Anna says
Birth Control Cookies is a much more interesting name than All Bran Cereal Box Cookies. I should change it. Thank you for the story!
Patti says
These have been my chocolate chip cookies since the 80’s.. yes 80’s and they have a great story that goes with them. My neighbor, Tom and his little daughter Allison loved these cookies. So one Sat. I made some and took them next door. It was about 6:30 pm. To my surprise, Tom answered the door in his navy blue velvet robe. He smiled and his eyes widened when he saw the cookies . His words were “oh boy!”.. thanks !!”. I snickered because I knew what was going on . I left the cookies with a happy Tom and that was that. The next day I see Kathy, Tom’s wife. Her first words were, “Thanks a lot”. I said, “Uh Oh.. what did I do?”. Kathy, a nurse, went on to explain that I knew they were trying to have a second child. She had her ‘best time’ of the month planned etc. for success. Allison was spending the weekend with her grandparents. Well., Tom, In his navy blue robe, ate all of the cookies with milk and promptly fell asleep fir the whole night ! Plans thwarted for this month .. we’ll try next month. They eventually had success and Kathy gave birth to a beautiful boy. My cookies have since been lovingly referred to as ‘birth control cookies’ .
For almost 40 years now these cookies have been my go to chocolate chip cookie. Everyone LOVES them and requests them. From the first time my
Mother made them for me, they have been my favorite and few compare. Plus, the extra fiber is healthy.
Gloria says
Just pulled these out of the oven-I made them into bars instead of cookies in a 9 x 13 pan. I made a few changes, but I can't help myself! This recipe is forgiving and allows for a few changes without compromising the health benefits and flavor!
Erin says
Yum! I want to make these because I have a box of All Bran in my cupboard right now
Noemi - Baci di Dama says
Yummy!! I love chocolate Chips Cookies!! 🙂
i really like your version. Your blog is very nice...! I often pass here. Bye!!
Noemi
An italian food blogger