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Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Super Natural Cooking (Ten Speed) by Heidi Swanson
One of the changes I made to the original recipe was to chop up my own chocolate and use those bits in place of traditional chocolate chips. I like the way the chocolate is irregularly spaced in the cookies, but feel free to use regular chocolate chips if you'd like. Mesquite flour is definitely wonderful in these cookies and is often called mesquite powder. If you decide to use whole-wheat pastry flour, you can find it at natural foods stores as well as Bob's Red Mill, Amazon and King Arthur Flour. This makes a lot of cookie dough, 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, they'll be ready to bake later.
  • 2 1/2 cups (330g) all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1 cup (100g) mesquite flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 8 ounces (1 cup, 225g) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (180g) packed light brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (160g) rolled oats (not instant)
  • 2 cups (360g) coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, or chocolate chips
  • Prepare two baking sheets covered with parchment paper or lined with silicone baking mats.
  • Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
  • In a bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or by hand in a large bowl (and a strong arm!), 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.
  • Add the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated, then the vanilla.
  • Add the flour mixture in three batches, incorporating it as you go.
  • 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.
  • Set mounds, each a generous two tablespoons (about the size of an unshelled walnut) of dough, evenly-spaced onto the baking sheet. Use your hand to slightly flatten the tops of the rounds of cookie dough.
  • Bake for 10-11 minutes, until just beginning to set. A few minutes before they'd done, open the oven door and use a pancake turner or metal spatula to lightly tap the tops of the cookies down, so the tops are flat. This helps keeps the cookies moist, once baked. (These cookies are better underdone than overdone, so keep an eye on them closely near the end of the suggested baking time.)

Notes

Note: The original recipe calls for ‘natural cane sugar’, which are unrefined sugar crystals. I’ve made this with both granulated white sugar and light brown sugar crystals and they both came out fine. For a softer, chewier cookie, I suggest using light brown sugar crystals, if you can find them.