Loaded Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft whole wheat chocolate chip cookies are loaded with toasted coconut, pecans, and oats!
How do you like your chocolate chip cookies? Most of the time, I prefer my cookies to be simple, with just chocolate chips and an extra teaspoon or two of vanilla for flavor. The other day, though, I was craving a cookie with a bit more to it.
For these Loaded Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, I’ve toasted the coconut, pecans, and oats before adding them to the cookie dough. Toasting the mix-ins brings out their flavor and makes these cookies extra delicious!
I like to lighten up my desserts when I can, and I did so with these cookies. It’s amazing how easy it is to swap out ingredients and end up with a still delicious but lighter cheesecake bar or almond butter blondie. For these cookies, I replaced the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of wheat germ. I also used a reduced amount of sugar compared to most chocolate chip cookie recipes. And for the chocolate chips, I like to use dark chocolate for the extra dose of antioxidants.
With all of the flavor from the pecans, coconut, oats, and chocolate chips, you’ll hardly notice that these cookies are whole wheat and reduced sugar.
These Loaded Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft with crisp edges the day you make them, and then soft throughout on following days. I like to store them in the freezer for a quick treat when I crave something sweet.
When my kids see me eating these cookies and ask for one, I tell them they are grown up cookies. They don’t like their cookies with nuts and coconut, which means more for me! 😉 Don’t worry, I make them cookies that they like sometimes, too. Their favorites are these chewy chocolate chip cookies, chocolate oatmeal cookies, and these sugar cookies.
Why you’ll love these whole wheat chocolate chip cookies:
- They are healthier than your traditional cookie, since they’re made with whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and reduced sugar. So you will feel better after eating one (or two) of these.
- The toasted coconut, pecans, and oats add loads of flavor and texture to these cookies.
- You can chill the dough before baking if you want, but you don’t have to. So you can plan ahead… or have a warm cookie ready to eat asap!
Loaded Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup coconut flakes
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ¾ cup 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup lightly packed brown or coconut sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup wheat germ
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Place pecans, coconut flakes, and oats in a skillet and toast over low heat until fragrant, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, pecans, coconut flakes, and oats.
- Scoop dough by the tablespoonful (I use this cookie scoop) and place on the baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes, until lightly golden.
 
Oh, I bet these have so much great flavor from all of the toasted components! They sound like my dream cookies!
Dying at that delicious coconut pecan flavor combo! 🙂 Pinning!
These cookies look fabulous! You know how much I LOVE chocolate chip cookies and I love how packed full of stuff these are! And that they are healthier. Flavor minus the guilt!
These loaded cookies look amazing, Kristine! I agree, I usually prefer the simple ones too, but sometimes you just need to go all out and add in some heartier ingredients. Love the sound of these cuties!
Oh, I like my cookies packed with as many chunks as possible, so these look SOOOO delicious!! The coconut is a nice twist for something different! Yum!
These are my kind of chocolate chip cookies — I love all of the mix-in’s you added and that toasted goodness! These look so delicious, Kristine, but unfortunately my kids would want some. 🙂
These look so good! I love a good chocolate chip cookie. I toast coconut for my oatmeal cookies, and it really does add so much more flavor!
I love my cookies loaded with ALL of the above so these beauties are right up my alley! Since they’re whole wheat, I can have them for breakfast right?? 😉
Wow these look absolutely delightful! I will most certainly be giving these a try. I have a massive sweet tooth and love finding healthier alternatives!
Xoxo , Alethea
These turned out lovely. Â I have made this batch a few times. Â I did reduce sugar a bit. Â I like cookies with wheat germ. Â A definite keeper! Thank you. Â
They are so wholesome, but they satisfy my sweet tooth! The toasted oats, pecans and coconut really brings the flavors out.Â