Bizarre but delicious cookies and the first rain of the year

Today it rained in Berkeley for the first time this year. Needless to say, I grabbed my rain boots and went puddle-stomping. By the time I got back home I was utterly drenched and perfectly happy. The only thing to do was bake cookies.
I currently live in a cooperative student housing unit and so downstairs I have, essentially, a mini grocery store. One day, while browsing about, I discovered a massive tub of malted barley. Now I had never heard of malted barley before and immediately wondered how I could use this strange new ingredient. Since the word malt reminded me of malted milkshakes and barley sort of looks like oats, I decided to try and make malted barley cookies. To my utter surprise and delight, the cookies were good, not only were they good, they were absolutely marvelous. They were so good, in fact, that I have now made them on three separate occasions and they have become my new all time favorite cookie. So as not to talk them up too much however, I must warn you that they do have a bit of an odd texture. They are much grainier than oatmeal cookies and have a bit of a crunch to them. Also, unlike most other low fat cookies, they keep well sealed in a tub at room temperature and do not turn to mush. And now, without further ado... (oh yeah, I found my camera!! :) so now there will be pictures)


Malted Barley Cookies
1 cup whole wheat flour (or all purpose if you prefer)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp canola oil (or any other neutral flavored oil)
3/4 cup raw sugar (or use brown sugar and leave out the molasses)
1 Tbsp molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 heaping cup malted barley (probably more like 1 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (I'm weird and like my cookies to have much more dough than chocolate so feel free to put more if you wish)

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, molasses, and sugar and mix until fully combined. Beat in the egg followed by the vanilla and applesauce. Mix the flour mixture and barley into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon or your fingers. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until brown around the edges. Store in a sealed container or devour in large quantities hot out of the oven.