2014 was an exciting year, our first full year as parents!

As many of you know (and can imagine) parenting is all-consuming, no longer are your weekends filled with visits to new restaurants, catching up on Netflix, ski trips, long lingering breakfasts, cleaning the house and making dinner.  No, they are filled with 6 AM wake up calls (luckily by a smiley child who now greets us with an enthusiastic “HI”), lengthy tower building sessions, diaper changes, naps and no naps, walks, peek – a – boo and figuring out what to feed a one year old.

We have struggled to get things on our “to-do” list done in a timely manner.  However, the past few weeks have seen a purge of three trash bags full of my outdated clothes and a clean out of my baking cupboard.

I had a lot of odds and ends floating around after the holiday baking season.  So, in trying to get ahead and stop eating chocolate chips by the handful, I whipped up these delicious cookies, rolled them into balls and froze them uncooked.  I now have cookies at the ready to bake and bring to share with friends and family as needed!  These cookies might be my best yet.  I used whole wheat flour and they came out beautifully nutty, toasty, crunchy and full of goodies.  If you are riding out a winter blizzard like we are this weekend, it might be the perfect time to clean out the cupboard and get baking!

Clean the Cupboard Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
yield = a lot (around 5 dozen)

3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups spelt flour (or more whole wheat)
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
16 ounces of mix ins (I used, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, toffee bits, pecans and white chocolate)

Preheat to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

Sift dry ingredients into bowl and set aside. Add butter and sugars to bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. With mixer on low-speed, mix until butter and sugars are light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until each is combined. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture to bowl and blend on low-speed until flour is barely combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add mix ins all at once to batter. Mix on low-speed until is evenly combined. Use a spatula to scrape down sides and bottoms of bowl.  Scoop mounds of dough about 2 Tbsp. in size onto baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, check and rotate pan. Bake for a few more minutes (2-5) till lightly browned.

Alternatively, form dough into balls and freeze on layers of parchment in Tupperware container.  Remove from freeze and let sit on counter for 10-15 minutes and bake as described above. (May need to add a little time onto the baking time due to cold dough).