Amaranth choc chip cookies, and one month without movies

I had a confession to make: I haven’t watched a movie in weeks. Several weeks – it might be a record or something.

The last movie I watched was The Fault in Our Stars, then the World Cup began and I breathed soccer for a month – I believe I wasn’t the only one. :) After the German team took home the Cup I got obsessed with season 6 of SoA, so there was no room for movies – I had to know how things would end up (for the record, I did not like it at all).

My plans for the weekend: to watch as least one movie. And to bake, of course. :)

Movies weren’t the only forgotten thing around here: I hadn’t baked chocolate chip cookies in quite some time I did not even remember when I’d done that last. Being in possession of a 70% chocolate bar made me think of choc chips cookies, they would be the perfect way to use up such great chocolate. I’d seen these and they looked so good, and then I saw that they were an adaptation of a recipe I’d made, too, from a cookbook I adore (and the cookies were delicious).

I was out of buckwheat flour so I changed the recipe ever so slightly and used amaranth flour instead – the cookies turned out fantastic, beautifully golden, with a slightly different flavor. I had a couple while they were still warm from the oven and it was hard not to eat several in a row, I must tell you. There was a very, very subtle grainy texture to them while still warm – to me, not a problem at all – and that became less evident once they were completely cool.

If you’re out of amaranth flour, don’t fret: try the whole wheat version, it is equally delish.

Amaranth choc chip cookies
adapted from this wonderful cookbook, one of my favorites

2/3 cup (93g) whole wheat flour
2/3 cup (93g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (35g) amaranth flour
¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick/113g) cold unsalted butter, chopped
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate (70%), coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars on low speed just until the ingredients are blended, 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium until each is combined. Mix in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients at once and blend on low just until the flour is barely combined, about 30 seconds. Add the chocolate chunks at once and mix on low speed just until the chocolate is evenly combined – to avoid overmixing the dough, finish incorporating the ingredients with your a spatula.
Place 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake until golden brown around the edges, 12-16 minutes.
Cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 20