Courtesy of Elaine Magee

Question: Dear Recipe Doctor, I am looking for a whole wheat cookie that tastes fantastic. Do they exist?

Answer: When baking, I’ve been a lot braver with the whole wheat flour lately. I’ve even created some 100% whole wheat cookies! I thought I would share one of my favorites with you—Chocolate Espresso Cookies.

I not only switched to whole wheat flour when making these cookies, I also used a lower-fat margarine (with low saturated fat and no trans fat) instead of butter and decreased the brown sugar by 25%. The result surprised even me! These cookies are so moist and full of flavor. You can’t eat just one, so I guess it’s good that we reduced the calories by 13%, grams of fat by 33%, saturated fat by 50%, and doubled the fiber!

If you want to skip the freezer step (putting the dough in the freezer to stiffen) you can continue on with the recipe; the dough will just be a lot softer and stickier to work with—but it will still work out well.

The original recipe contains 165 calories, 7.5 grams fat, 4.3 grams saturated fat, and only 1 gram fiber per 2-cookie serving.

2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, 60% cacao (semisweet chocolate chips can also be used)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons lower-fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon, 2 grams saturated fat or less, and no trans fat per tablespoon)

1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1 large egg, higher omega-3 if available (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Add chocolate chips to glass bowl or microwave-safe container and heat on LOW until chocolate chips are melted (stir after the first minute and after each 30 seconds after that). Set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl combine whole wheat flour, cocoa, instant espresso, baking powder, and salt with whisk or fork and set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and brown sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the egg or egg substitute until combined, scraping the sides of bowl midway to incorporate all of the dough. On low speed, pour in the cooled chocolate and beat until blended. Still on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until combined (do not overmix).
4. Wrap dough in plastic, flatten it into a disk (so it cools faster), and place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350º and add powdered sugar to a medium bowl. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, then roll balls in the sugar twice and place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake about 12 minutes. Cookies will still be soft but will have spread, and the powdered coating will have cracked. Cool cookies on wire rack.