• Hi there, my name is Heidi Swanson. 101 Cookbooks is my recipe journal. It's where I write about the recipes that intersect my life, travels, and everyday interests. Often the recipes are from my cookbook collection, sometimes not - they might come from a friend, or I might write about a recipe I created myself.
  
  I focus primarily on natural, whole foods and ingredients - vegetarian recipes that are good for you and for the planet. Welcome!

I considered keeping this recipe all to myself. I kept the recipe a secret all week long (a record for me), deftly evading requests with quick deflections and smooth changes of subject. But I'm dying to share it and can't wait for other people to give it a try - so here it is. Thick, chewy homemade cookies packed with oats, oozy dark chocolate chips, and the sweet, nutty, spicy flavor of mesquite flour. I may never make chocolate chip cookies any other way.

That being said, if you decide to make my mesquite cookies it is going to take some work on your part. Tracking down mesquite flour or mesquite meal (as it is sometimes called) can be a challenge. But. So. Worth. It. Mesquite flour also isn't cheap - $11/pound where I buy it. Fortunately, a little goes a long way.

I began playing around with mesquite flour a couple weeks ago after they began carrying it in bulk at my local natural foods market. It is absolutely delicious, with a scent that is both warm and comforting but with much less edge than a cinnamon or even canela. When heated it permeates the kitchen with a mellow sweet fragrance that is unlike anything else. Need another reason to search it out? Many people also consider it a superfood - rich in magnesium, protein, potassium, and fiber. Low GI-index, high lysine. For thousands of years native Americans in arid regions relied on mesquite meal as a food staple, and while most of you are familiar with mesquite being used for added flavor on the grill - the flour comes not from the wood, but from the mesquite pods which are ground into a powder or meal. Mesquite grows in arid desert climates and you can find the trees and pods all over the southwest, Texas, and parts of California. Some people (many ranchers) consider it a weed. It grows without any assistance from fertilizers or irrigation, and generally thrives in environments that are hostile to many crops, or areas that require massive irrigation to grow traditional crops.

How to use it: Mesquite can be used as a flour or a seasoning. I've primarily been using it as a flour (so far). As a flour you want to use mesquite in combination with other flours. I've had success replacing up to 25% of my over-all flour (in a recipe) with mesquite. Mesquite flour is glutten-free and to date I've only been using it in conjunction with gluten-based flours like regular whole wheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour. I look forward to using it in all sorts of baked goods - tart crusts, muffins, quick breads, pancakes, crepes, and on and on. Also in drinks, puddings, custards, maybe a late fall or wintery creme brulee?

Today's cookies are all-natural - the flours and sugars are all very minimally processed. No white flour, no white sugar. Let me know if you are able to track down mesquite in your communities, I will start a thread on the discussion boards where you can let other people know where to find it in different cities, and we can compare and contrast variations in texture, flavor, results.

The mesquite flour I've been using is produced by Essential Living Foods. It is very fine, dark tan in color, and very fragrant. I don't sift it, but break up any little mesquite clots I find as I add it to my mixing bowl. There are other brands and producers out there, but for this recipe, just make sure you have a mesquite flour/meal that is powdery, finely ground, sweet fresh, and fragrant.

Also, I discovered an amazing unrefined granulated sweetener that I used for these. It is the Alter Eco brand organic ground cane sugar. It is very moist, finely ground, rich and retains all the natural minerals and nutrients that are stripped out in the process of making refined white and brown sugars. It blows almost every other granulated sugar I've used recently out of the water. Try to track it down. I'll try to find a place where you can order it online. If you can't find this brand, look for another moist, brown-sugar-looking unrefined sweetener or opt for organic brown sugar. You won't get the same results with straight white sugar.

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Update 2006: I'm doing an updated version of this recipe in my next cookbook Super Natural Cooking, which means I need to pull the recipe off the site for now to avoid confusion between versions. I think (hope!) you will enjoy the version that will run in the book as much as I do.

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