Mesquite & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

The Recipe

Makes: 12 x cookies
Preparation: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 10-12 minutes

The Spanish conquistadors apparently used the bark of the mesquite tree to make boats and pods to sweeten their food. Nowadays, mesquite wood is commonly used for smoking and barbecuing as it imparts a lovely flavour to grilled meat. 

Mesquite.
Is a hardy plant belonging to the legume family and is native to Southern United States and Mexico.

The Spanish conquistadors apparently used the bark of the tree to make boats and the pods to sweeten their food. Nowadays, mesquite wood is commonly used for smoking and barbecuing as it imparts a lovely flavour to the grilled meat. 

The mesquite tree sustains itself in dry and arid climates by its long taproots that absorb water from underground.  The mesquite tree produces seeds enveloped in pods that are dried and ground into powder.  Mesquite powder is a beautiful rosy golden colour and tastes smoky, sweet, nutty and slightly reminiscent of molasses.

As well its unique taste, mesquite powder is actually quite high in protein and fibre and contains no gluten. It is a wonderfully diverse ingredient that can be added to both sweet and savoury dishes to create a unique flavour. 

I picked up a pack of the mesquite powder from Loving Earth on a recent trip to Australia - the result of adding it to my fool proof chocolate chip cookie recipe resulted in a delightful honey rich flavour.                                                                                                                                             
This recipe is super easy and it is best advised to make two batches - because you can't munch on just one. 

 

INGREDIENTS

150g unsalted butter
200g brown sugar
1 medium egg
3g/1tsp vanilla extract
1.5g/1/2tsp baking soda
100g mesquite powder
190g plain unbleached white flour
180g dark chocolate chunks (70%)
pinch of fine sea salt

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 180'C

  2. Mix the butter and cream with the paddle beater in an electric mixer (if you don't have one some good elbow grease will suffice) until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla

  3. Sift flour, mesquite powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
    Slowly add in the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, fold in until just combined

  4. Finally add the chocolate and mix until evenly dispersed through the dough.

  5. Take 60 grams or 2 large tablespoons of cookie dough, roll into a bowl and flatten out slightly. 

  6. Place each shaped cookie on a non-stick baking tray about 5cm apart

  7. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be soft but will harden slightly as they cool

  8. Allow to cool for 5-8 minutes before transferring them to a cake-cooling tray