Coconut Palm Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies are not-too-sweet cookies made with a blend of all-purpose flour and white whole wheat. They are fat, cakey and in my opinion, should be stuffed with as many chocolate chips or chunks as possible!
The recipe is originally from a reader named Bunny who left a comment saying she'd created the cookies by modifying another Cookie Madness recipe. Her biggest change was to use the coconut palm sugar, which these days is usually referred to as just coconut sugar. Here's a photo I took back when it wasn't such a mainstream ingredient.
Funny story about coconut sugar. The first time I went looking for it, I could only find a Thai type canned coconut sugar. Now it's everywhere and usually in easy-to-measure granulated form. I don't really have a favorite brand at this point, but in the past I've used Sweet Tree.
It's often thought of as a healthy alternative to table sugar, and maybe it is in some ways. However, my opinion the main benefit to coconut palm sugar is its flavor. It has a hint of caramel which blends perfectly with whole wheat flour and toasted nuts. So yes, it really is good in chocolate chip cookies. Wherever you are, Bunny, thanks for this recipe.
Recipe
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies Made With Coconut Palm Sugar
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups 170 grams whole wheat flour (I use ½ ww and ½ AP)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon table salt or Morton Kosher
- 8 tablespoons cold Smart Balance spread cut up
- ¾ cup coconut palm sugar 120 grams
- ⅛ teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips grain sweetened or regular
- ⅔ cup toasted walnuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a couple of ungreased cookie sheets.
- Stir together the whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- Beat the cold Smart Balance with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sugar and beat for another 2 minutes or until creamy, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in the vanilla, maple flavoring and egg, beating only for about 30 seconds after adding the egg. By hand, stir in the flour mixture. When flour is almost incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts and stir until flour is completely mixed.
- Drop by rounded tablespoon, slightly flatten and bake for 9-12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets.
Keith says
I'm going to try these cookies.. Try making a cheesecake with this sugar but with a crushed pecan crust! Its amazing!!
Brent says
That is a breakthrough for me to find that sugar.
the glycemic index of that sugar is 35?!?!?!?!?
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a sugar addict and if I didn't eat sweets would look like a skinny man. But unfortunately I can't stop.
thank you for posting this.
Anna says
AJ, I ran the muffins through Mastercook because I wanted to see how successfully I'd reduced the fat, but I didn't bother running these because I know they won't be any lower in calories. But based on the ingredients, they have to be slightly better for you because the Smart Balance has less saturated fat, the flour is whole wheat and the palm sugar is supposed (I don't know if I believe all the claims yet) keep your blood sugar from rising as swiftly as it would with regular sugar. But I've been reading some forums where diabetics say they don't think it really makes a difference. But it tastes good and it's worth a try! I'll run it through MC later, but I suspect the calorie count will be something like 130 per cookie (oz).
Lyssa, I'm glad you have some! I've been using it a lot and was going to post more recipes, but I wasn't sure how many people would bother with it or even be able to find it.
Lyssa says
I've recently switched to Palm Sugar myself, that same brand, and I love the flavor and low glycemic impact. Glad you're in on it too! 🙂
AJ says
These look delicious. I'm glad I stopped by the site, as we're on a "get skinny and rich" kick right now, so these and the low-fat chocolate muffins might be the perfect sweet treats. Any idea of the nutrition info on these? I can calculate myself, but thought I'd ask just in case...
Anna says
Hi Ali,
Yes! It was at H.E.B. on the sugar aisle. What's funny is I spent a week looking for it at H.E.B. and they didn't have it. I'd pretty much given up, then the other night there it was on the sugar aisle.
Ali says
Did you find the sugar at HEB?
Anna says
The maple flavoring just adds a hint of maple flavor and that hint will vary depending on what brand you use and how much. Some of the high end maple flavorings you order from on-line sources (KA probably sells it) might taste more like real maple than the type you get at the grocery store that has that fenugreek/Log Cabin-y flavor. I actually used the grocery store type in these, but only a drop and it did give the cookies an interesting flavor.
Cheryl says
Yum! can you taste the maple?
Katrina says
Hey, CindyD said what I was going to say---inter-esting! They look good. I just bought a big bag of Stevia for baking. Haven't had time to look at recipes and such. If you or anyone has any good ones. (I realize it can be swapped for sugar!)
CindyD says
Interesting. I googled palm sugar because my first thought was if it is as environmentally bad as palm oil, but it seems to be a healthy substitute for regular sugar and comes from tapping palm trees like maple syrup.