I've had a hankering to try Heidi's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies with her secret ingredient—mesquite flour—for the longest time. But although the mesquite flour I eventually found encompasses several continents, like I do, it's not available in the one I live in. So when I went to Texas, which I figured would be the epicenter of mesquite last June, I wandered the well-stocked aisles at Central Market in search of it. And lo and behold, there is was.
But looking at the label, I was surprised to find that it was imported...from Argentina. By a California company.
And there I was in a supermarket in Texas buying it.
Which I then brought back to France.
And for that, I'm certain to have my locavore card revoked.
As I made my way through the store, trying to conceal my brazen globalism, en route to the cashier a woman stopped me and said, "Oh! I bet you're going to make those chocolate chip cookies!" If the presence of just one ingredient is enough to elicit a response, apparently I wasn't the only one fascinated by Heidi's secret ingredient.
The mesquite flour is a bit pricey, so be prepared for some sticker-shock. But on the "Latte Index", the price for the mesquite flour in these cookies is about 3/4 of a latte, which isn't really all that bad and my bag cost less than what I paid to see a movie yesterday. And really, I remember paying that much for a couple of pre-made cookies from Mrs. Fields. And heck, I don't even know her!
But since I do know Heidi, I reasoned it was worth trying. And boy, was I rewarded for my unique, often circular, reasoning abilities! These are big, Texas-sized cookies; soft, moist, with chunks of dark chocolate mingled with the smoky-scent of nutty mesquite.
Since I'm not as virtuous as Heidi, I used white sugar instead of the natural cane sugar she recommended (...er...and I used white flour too). But I did make up for it by using a mixture of rolled cereales (grains) in place of the rolled oats she calls for and you can certainly use whole wheat flour in place of the white flour if you have some handy.
After I bought the bag of mesquite, opened it up and took a whiff, I knew this recipe would be a winner. Sure enough, I was right.
And my secret?
Keep reading...
Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies
About 60 cookies
Adapted from Super Natural Cooking (Ten Speed) by Heidi Swanson
I got quite a bit more cookies than I thought, since I make them Euro-sized (you Americans and your jumbo cookies!) so feel free to freeze half of the dough in a zip-top bag for use another time. Tip: If you form them into mounds first, then freeze them, you can simple pop them onto a baking sheet later on.
Feel free also to chop up your own chocolate and use those bits in place of the chips.
2½ cups (330 g) flour
1 cup (160 g) mesquite flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
8 ounces (220 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (400g) sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (230 g) rolled oats or a mixture of rolled grains
2 cups (360 g) chocolate chips
Two baking sheets covered with parchment paper or lined with silicone baking mats. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
1. In a bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. With an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until creamy. If using a mixer, stop it once or twice and scrape down the sides.
3. Add the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated, then the vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture in three batches, incorporating it as you go.
5. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips. The dough is quite stiff at this point and if you're not using a powerful standing electric mixer, you may wish to roll up your sleeves and use your hands, like I did.
6. Drop mounds, about two tablespoons of dough each, evenly-spaced onto the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just beginning to set. Heidi's admonition in her recipe should be ringing in your ears at this point..."Don't overbake these; if anything, underbake them" certainly holds true.
Oh yes, and my secret:
Here's a tip to help keep chocolate chip cookies moist when they cool: When you pull the cookies out of the oven, take a tablespoon and tap the top of each cookie once or twice to flatten any peaks and level them.
Then let them cool as usual for the moistest, chewiest chocolate chip cookies imaginable!
Links:
You can find mesquite meal, or flour, from Native Seeds.
Adam shows off his Cookie trick.
101Cookbooks.com has a discussion board to help those searching for mesquite flour.
My review of Super Natural Cooking another recipe from the book.
Chocolate chunks show up again in Clotilde's Very Chocolate Cookies.
And Heidi had a go at my Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Great Book of Chocolate.
You are all killing me with your chocolate chip cookie recipes. I've been dying to try the chocolate chip ice cream sandwich recipe from your book...but where can I find the time when I am busy churning, lets see, pear caramel ice cream, mango sorbet, peach ice cream...the list goes on and on. I'd need my toes along with my fingers to count the number of recipes I've tried from your book. Thanks a lot David for making ice cream making so easy for the home cook. My husband and guests are very thankful for your book too ;)
The fact that the flour came from Argentina left me wondering if I can find it here in Brasil (I have never heard of it). I am certainly giving it a shot ASAP !! In a non-related matter, I baked your pound cake with passion fruit glaze last night... It was delicious! I was wondering if poppy seeds worked with passion fruit though... It is one of my very favorite fruits and readily available to us year-round...
this mesquite flour sounds wonderful! do the cookies come out smoky tasting?
flavia: I wonder if it's like those 'French' ceramic butter holders they sell in the US, where you're supposed to add water to the bottom to safely store butter at room temperature.
When I couldn't find one here, I asked a Le Creuset rep, who said, "We make those for the Americans."
Mesquite flour....you have me intrigued. I guess it's another thing to keep my eye out for! Crazy of all crazies..maybe it's available here in Italy :)
I love your tip about knocking the cookies over the head, David :)
I thought it was the type of butter/shortening used that determined the moistness. I'm searching for a chewy oatmeal cookie if you want to help me with that one. Do I just whack it a bit too?
Hi David, so what's the flavor that the mesquite adds? Smokey, spicey? I think these cookies deserve a different name since the ingredient list strays pretty far from more traditional chocolate chip recipe (not that traditional is better). Maybe something like cowboy cookies? I dunno.
Those cookies seem like they're to die for. What great secrets!
These cookies looks so delicious David! I clicked on your link for mesquite meal and I have a silly question. What exactly is it made from? Mesquite beans? What are those?
I thought I'd let you know that in searching for Mesquite flour online, I came upon this site : Casa de Fruta
They sell it in small 7 oz bags if you just want to try it out ($4.95) or you can buy bigger 16 oz & 36 oz bags as well.
As for Marvin's question as to what mesquite IS and other peoples questions on the flavor it imparts, Casa's (and mesquitemagic.com's) site says this:
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This traditional Native American food is produced by gathering ripened seed pods from the mesquite tree and grinding them into a high protein flour. Desert dwellers have used mesquite pods as a staple food for centuries and bartered with them to neighboring tribes. Mesquite meal is great for flavoring steaks, chicken, pork and fish. It can be added to vegetable stir-fries, scrambled eggs, biscuits, breads, soups, even ice cream. The list is endless.
Mesquite meal can be used as either flour or a spice. As flour, it is generally used in combination with other flours using about 30% mesquite. As a spice, sprinkle generously then grill, fry, broil or add it to almost anything for a great mesquite flavor. It won't take long to adjust the amount to use for your personal taste.
In addition to its great taste, the major benefits of mesquite meal include high dietary fiber content, high protein and a high lysine content. It's also a good source of potassium and zinc.
Now I am really intrigued - and I actually have that natural sugar Heidi uses/recommends as we are now a white sugar free household - I miss the white sugar though (after all, it's what I know!!) I'll hunt the mesquite flour down and give these cookies a go. I love your second secret - it would have never occurred to me to do that - I'll have to try and see!
Heidi's chocolate chip cookie recipe is my absolute favorite! I love the smokiness of the mesquite flour and that the cookies have some heft to them. God, I love Heidi so much. :)
you are a very BAD influence...i have now spent $20 on fleur de sel, $10 on the aluminum-free baking powder..and now i'm hunting for mesquite flour!
btw, what temperature do you bake the cookies at? (did i completely miss that part?)
hello david, I am a huge fan of yours and admire your talent!!! I was wondering if I could replace the mesquite flour with something else.. I live in crete, greece and I don't think i will find mesquite flour ever!!!! What about a whole wheat flour or a bread flour?? by the way, I bake your chocolate chip cookies all the time and they are the best!!!!
mmm these cookies look absolutely delicious! i'll second dominique's Q- what do you think i can replace mesquite with?
thanx for your lovely and extremely entertaining posts!
Oh lordy, now I'm gonna have to go searching for the mesquite flour. Oh by the way, I found a tortilla warmer at my local suburbian Target! Just under $5.
Oh gee, wonder if I'll be able to buy that flour here in our bulk health food store. We live in a rural community in the mountains but this recipe sounds incredible. What an excellent blog:-))
David, I'm argentinian, a pastry chef, and now I feel soooo bad that I don't know what is that flour, but I think I know the tree :(
Sarah: $10? I just pick up a few cans at Trader Joe's for $1.69 each. Even in Paris, it's only a couple of euros—and it's imported!
But I know what you mean; when I saw the price of the mesquite I was apprehensive, but like the fleur de sel that I'm sure you're enjoying, I think you'll find it worth it.
Julieta: Isn't it funny what is, and isn't available? Even though we share a border with Italy, it's impossible to find a lot of the Italian products that are so easily available in the US. I think it's because we Americans are such good shoppers! ; )
Joanne: Less than $5? Thanks for rubbing it in! Next time I swing through the states, I'm stopping by for warm tortillas as a consolation prize...
brian: It's an unusual sweet-smoky flavor. I love it and am looking forward to trying to use the rest of the mesquite flour in other applications.
Dominique: I'm not sure. You could likely use flour, but I might try grinding up oatmeal and using that. That's another way to ensure moist, soft chocolate chip cookies.
I can share my own chocolate chips cookie recipe, it's easy and they are really tasty!
4 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Process cereal in a food processor or blender to a fine powder. Measure out 1 cup of the powder and combine it with the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. To keep cookies from getting too brown on the bottom place the cookie sheet with the raw cookie dough on it on top of another empty cookie sheet before placing the cookies in the oven. The extra cookie sheet helps keep the cookies from getting too brown on the bottoms.
I also love
david's cookies!
Sometimes I would rather give up my french citizenship; even if that means giving up on you...
Trop yummy ces cookies!
I feel terrible!! I live in Argentina and as Julieta said,I didn't even know it existed...I'll do a serious research. Thanks for the idea anyway!
Another tip for keeping the cookies moist is to add an extra egg yolk (or, if there are 2 or more eggs called for, eliminate the whites from one of the eggs in the recipe).
Then you can use the extra egg white in David's Banana Cake!
Completely off topic, but I needed to share. After making A LOT of the flavors from The Perfect Scoop, I finally got up the courage to make up my own ice cream flavor today, and it came out deliciously. It's an apple ice cream, but instead of cooking the apples on the stove top, I baked them with cinnamon and brown sugar, so the result ended up tasting like apple pie.
Apple "Pie" Ice Cream
2 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 cups cream
Preheat oven to 375. Mix apples, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30-45 minutes, mixing about every 15 minutes. When apples are very soft, take out of oven and pour apples and the liquid in the pan into a blender and puree well. Add a scant 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the puree, adjust for sweetness of apples. Strain through a mesh sieve, and then mix in cream. Chill in refrigerator, then churn.
William: Thanks for the recipe!
I wonder if the ground-up Rice Krispies would be the same as just using rice flour? I brought a box back from the states, but I'm hoarding it for Rice Krispie treats (my French friends love them!)
And Dana, too bad I don't have Volume II in the pipeline; your recipe looks delicious. I bet it would be fun to add some sort of mix-in, like toffee or caramelized dough, to recreate the 'crust'. Glad you're getting good use of your ice cream maker in preparation for the holidays...
David, I can't wait to try your tapping trick. What a good idea! Thanks.
sounds great, I'll have to try it!
Excellent recipe, thanks a million - must give this a try at the weekend!
David, these sound amazing. I'm sitting at work and going crazy with thoughts of smoky, gooey chocolate chip cookies. But where on earth does one find mesquite flour in New York? I've been on the phone with Zabar's, Citarella, Whole Foods and Fairway for the last half hour and no-one seems to have it. Perhaps some of your readers would care to shed some light on the matter?
Rohan: You can find mesquite flour using some of the links in the post. There are a few sources online that I posted, as well as a link to the forum on Heidi's site for more tips at the end.
Do try the cookies—I'm hooked!
Just sourced some mesquite flour in Australia (where I live) - AUS$22.95 for 500g... eek!!! Still you and Heidi have made it sound so wonderful, I think I'm going to have to try some so I don't die from curiosity...
My main tip for moist cookies is to keep a constant eye on them while they are cooking.
Never trust the recipe's time, because it was tested in a different oven. Invariably (maybe I have a hot oven?) I have to shorten the time. I just wait until they are the colour that I like them to be - a lightish golden brown and just starting to darken round the edges - and out they go to cool. Some may call this undercooking them, but it works for me.
Catherine: You have little sympathy from me, my chèrie. I paid $6.99 for a 7 oz bag...but I also had to fly round-trip to Texas!
You might want to search around some more, or check if there's any gluten-free sources in your area or on the 'net, that are in Australia or New Zealand. Sometimes it's called mesquite 'meal' as well.
I'm also interested in trying this cookie with buckwheat flour at some point in the future, which is more available. If I do, I'll post the results.
I tried these with buckwheat flour this weekend, since I couldn't find mesquite flour (and I did it without reading the comment of yours, above, too!) -- they turned out puffed and pale (no doubt because I also used white flour and sugar) with dark speckles, without the crackles that your cookies seem to have. I was expecting a more pronounced grain flavor to them and will try a higher proportion of buckwheat flour next time. Still, the friends that tried them ate them up.
HI David,
I've been wanting to make these ever since you posted the recipe, and finally am going to this week. The mesquite flour is available at the co-op just down the street from my house. QUESTION: I just noticed the absence of brown sugar in your recipe. Is there a specific reason for this? J'adore brown sugar, and hate the idea of not using it in a chocolate chip cookie. Do you advise against replacing one of the 2 cups of sugar with brown sugar?
By the way, the candied bacon goes quite awesomely with your maple ice cream recipe (sans walnuts) as well. It's been a huge hit with my pals.
Hi Joanna: Heidi's original recipe calls for natural cane sugar, which I believe is unrefined sugar crystals, which is a brown sugar, but granulated. (I know she personally uses this one.)
This is a great recipe & I'm glad you're giving it a try!
Thanks, David. I made them yesterday and ended up using half unrefined can sugar (not the stuff Heidi uses, I was too cheap to spring for it - just the slightly tan stuff that's the consistency of granulated sugar) and half Billington's All Natural Dark Brown Molasses sugar, which is just so divine it makes me weep: http://sugarsavvy.net/2006/08/30/title_125/
So, I really like the cookies! But, I somehow feel like I need to qualify/explain them before letting people taste them, which is probably getting old. I added a little more sea salt in the batter (a Cyprus flake salt) as well as a smattering of the same salt on top of the dough-balls before baking (I'm obsessed with salting my sweets). And I used E.Guittard semi-sweet baking chips, broken up. Thanks for sharing this one - a really unique and worthwile recipe!