Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

The ingredient list for these cookies is pretty short, and pretty standard for a chocolate chip cookie. The difference is in the oil used (not butter), whole grain spelt flour, and muscovado sugar instead of brown. These are the notes I’ve made while testing and you can find the full recipe card below.

• Spelt flour: while this recipe was specifically developed with whole grain spelt flour, you could also use whole wheat flour. I like to sometimes mix in 50 grams of rye or buckwheat flour to replace part of the spelt, for a more interesting taste.
• Oil: use melted coconut oil or olive oil. Coconut will make for slightly crisper cookies when fully cool and olive oil has a stronger flavour. I like both but will usually use coconut oil if gifting these cookies, and olive oil for us at home. I’ve never tried making these with butter or a dairy-free alternative.
• Chocolate: use dark chocolate, either chips or chopped baking chocolate. A regular dark chocolate bar will generally burn in the oven so I highly recommend using baking chocolate instead.
• Sugar: pictured is a mixture of unrefined muscovado and golden cane sugar. These have also been tested with 100% coconut sugar and that works well, but the mix is ideal. I have not tested with American brown sugar because I can’t get it in Europe. Muscovado and brown sugar are not interchangeable (brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses mixed in, and has a different acidity).
• Add-ins: a tablespoon of espresso is a nice addition if you want a stronger-tasting cookie. Other spices like cinnamon and cardamom can be nice too, added with the vanilla, or a flaked salt topping if you’re into that.

How to Make Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies

No standing mixer or electric beaters needed, and you don’t cream anything here. The method is very quick and simple – you can chill the dough if you’d like, but it’s not mandatory.

Step 1: whisk the sugars and oil together in a large mixing bowl. This won’t cream or lighten in colour and texture. You’re just mixing to combine.

Step 2: whisk in the egg, then the vanilla. Now you will see an increase in volume and a lighter colour once the egg is properly beaten in.

Step 3: stir in the dry ingredients. In order not to over mix the dough, I recommend mixing part way and then adding the chocolate, rather than fully mixing before folding in the chocolate chips or chunks.

Step 4: fold in the chocolate chunks to evenly incorporate. You can do this with a wooden spoon or spatula but don’t use an electric mixer. Chill the dough now if you’re following that step.

Step 5: scoop the dough onto a lined baking sheet. Top with extra chocolate if you’d like. For the cookies to look as pictured, you should reserve a couple chunks per cookie and press them into each before baking. This doesn’t alter the taste in any way.

Step 6: bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are just golden. The cookies pictured in this step have not been chilled, so you can see the texture difference between not chilling (here) and chilling (in the main, photo, above).

Resting vs. Baking Immediately

All three options are delicious and don’t feel that you must let the dough rest before baking. It comes down to personal preference.

Baking immediately: the cookies will be slightly more domed and more crackly-looking if the dough doesn’t rest at all (see step 6 photo vs. the first image at the top of the post). Baking immediately will result in slightly crunchier cookies that, while not bland, will have a less distinctive taste.

Room temperature rest: letting the dough rest for just half an hour at room temperature will result in cookies that are a little chewier and have a deeper, more complex flavour. This is usually the option I choose, but only because I don’t plan ahead enough to chill overnight.

Refrigeration: refrigerating the dough will result in cookies that are thicker, chewier, and have the strongest overall flavour. I don’t recommend refrigerating longer than 12 hours or so. Chilling for even a couple of hours will improve the texture and flavour.

Expert Tips for the Best Spelt Cookies

• Keep the baking temperature: these are baked at a slightly lower temperature for more chewiness. Increasing it will result in crispier cookies. If yours are turning out more crisp than chewy, I recommend getting an oven thermometer to check the true temperature of your oven (I use two).
• Use room temperature ingredients: a cold egg will make the oil solidify and change the texture of the cookies. For the best results, make sure everything is at room temperature. Submerge a cold egg in warm water for ten minutes to quickly bring it up to temperature.
• Measure with grams: for reliable cookies that look just like the ones pictured, I always recommend weighing your ingredients rather than measuring with cups. All of my baking is tested with gram measurements.
• Use good ingredients: this recipe uses less sugar and fat than most chocolate chip cookie recipes, and relies on nutty whole grain spelt flour, plenty of vanilla, and less refined sugars to add flavour. If you sub white flour and white sugar the cookies will taste bland.

More Spelt Flour Treats

I bake extensively with spelt flour, and there are over 120 spelt flour recipes on Occasionally Eggs (plus several more with other ancient grains like khorasan). These are some of the best baked treats on the site with spelt, recipes I’ve made dozens of times.

• For more spelt cookie recipes, try my vegan gingersnaps, honey and oat cookies sweetened only with honey, and spelt sugar cookies.
• If you like something a little more like a snack and less like a sweet, these spelt seed crackers are fantastically easy – no rolling at all. I don’t know if biscuits are usually considered a snack but I often make these coconut oil biscuits when I want something quick that isn’t sweet (or if, tragically, I don’t have any chocolate in the house).
• This chocolate snack cake is also make with whole grain spelt and sweetened partly with banana. My spelt banana bread is another handy staple quick bread, or if you prefer fruit-sweetened snacks, these vegan carrot muffins are excellent.