Barley & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mmm...cookies!
In an effort to reduce my family's wheat consumption and incorporate other grains into our diet, I've started experimenting with some "alternative" grains and flours. I've found that a blend of oat and barley works great for cookies and is very tasty. I also use sucanat, a term used to describe unrefined cane sugar, which lends a nice toasty brown color.

Barley & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 24 large cookies

1 cup unsalted organic butter
3/4 cup sucanat
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups barley flour
1 1/2 cups oat flour
optional: 1/4 cup ground organic flax seed meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

8 ounces (approximately 1 cup) bittersweet chocolate drops or chips

1. Mix the usual cookie way: cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk flours and leavening -- this step is important with oat flour, as it tends to clump. Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar mixture, mix to combine. Stir in chocolate drops.

2. You need to chill this dough for at least 1 hour before forming and baking.

3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet pan with a silpat liner or with a sheet of baking parchment paper. For each cookie, shape 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball, put it on the lined sheet pan and flatten slightly with your hand. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Let cool on sheet pan for 5 minutes, then move cookies to a cooling rack.