Easy Whole-grain Cookies

Yesterday I had afternoon tea at a friend’s place. She a great baker, and this time she had made some pear muffins. I realized that all of those delicious things she bakes have something nicely rustic about them - and I found out why: she only uses whole-grain spelt flour she’s milled herself! (It seems to be very common here in Germany for people to have a small grain mill at home.)

Now I was curious - would it really work with something I’d normally never bake with whole-grain? So I took a basic cookie recipe, you know the one with butter, sugar, salt, and flour, and started baking, with 100% whole-grain wheat. And it did work -  so well that I ended up eating half of the batch in one go.. I'll definitely try more whole-grain baking in the future, and maybe even get one of those grain mills so I could always bake with fresh flour!

For 10 cookies, you’ll need:

• 100g butter (for a vegan version, use vegan margarine)


• 150g whole-grain wheat (or spelt) flour


• 40g muscovado sugar (if you want it sweet, feel free to use more)


• a pinch of salt


• 2 Tbsp cold water


• + some extra sugar/cinnamon and sugar/vanilla sugar

Make the dough: In a baking bowl, cut the butter/margarine in small cubes. In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt, then pour over butter cubes. Work with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add the water, stir, and let the dough rest for some 20 minutes in your fridge - unless you’re in a hurry.

Work the dough into a long, round “log”, about 9cm long and 5cm wide. Using a good knife, cut the log into 9 round cookies. Take an apple corer and cut a small hole in each cookie - the “holes” can be used to make one more cookie! (Goes without saying -  you can also skip the whole hole part, and just have 9 hole-less cookies instead.) Sprinkle some sugar (or cinnamon and sugar, or vanilla sugar) on top, and bake in 200 Celsius for some 15 minutes. I like mine really well done, but they get bitter if they burn even the tiniest bit, so I need to spend the last couple of minutes glued to my oven to get it perfect!

Let your cookies cool on a rack and serve with your favourite warm drink. I prefer to eat them when they’re still a bit warm - what about you?

P.S. My next post will be something salty again.. so stay tuned!