Orange Pecan Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks to a blog friend, I was made aware of a cookbook that I thought I didn't need, but found out I really did. As soon as I saw it in the store (and the discount sticker on it) I knew I had to make it mine. It is called Chocolate Never Faileth, and it has the most marvelous, fun, and tasty recipes inside. At first, I thought I would do the Julie and Julia thing and try to make each of the recipes in the book. I figured I would do one a week, but then realized that would take me about three years, and would probably add about 50 pounds to my figure, so I abandoned that idea. Instead, I am picking and choosing and making about one a week, which sounds sort of like my original plan and will still probably result in an extra 50 pounds.

However, the recipe I'm going to share today assuages my guilt somewhat because it is healthy. And by healthy, I mean that it has eggs (protein) and whole wheat (grain and fiber) in it. Also, if you use dark chocolate, there are antioxidants galore. So really, you could eat these for breakfast and it would be like having cracked wheat and eggs and a cup of blueberries. Really. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm eating them for breakfast. I'll stop yakking now and give you the recipe. I thought it needed a little more flour, so my recipe is slightly altered from the one in the cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. orange extract
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets (I used stoneware and did not grease the stones). Blend flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add orange extract, vanilla extract, and eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each one. Add flour mixture and stir until well combined. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons on cookie sheet. Flatten slightly. (I open the oven about a minute before they are done and quickly flatten with a fork because I found the dough to be too sticky to flatten easily before baking). Bake 9-12 minutes, until edges are barely golden brown. Do not overbake. Even slightly underdone is o.k. so the cookies will stay soft. Store in an airtight container. Then eat for breakfast, or a snack, or whenever. Because, you know, these are healthy :)