Mesquite Muffins
A taste of the desert in a delicious dessert!
I can’t believe it’s still snowing here! We have OVER 9 inches of snow. This isn’t that common here in the Seattle area, but it happens maybe once every few years. It’s definitely not last years extremely rare Snowmageddon where we had FEET of snow, but our city is still pretty much shutdown. Let’s be honest, everything shuts down around here even if it snows .0001 inches.
Anyways, it’s that time of year when C and I get some serious need for vitamin D and end up booking a trip or two to the desert. Seeing as we have the little one this year and we would like to go to visit Maddie's “uncle” in Switzerland during the spring, I’m not sure we’ll make it to the southwest. So to curb our craving to travel to the desert, I thought I’d bring a bit of the desert to us.
This recipe was inspired by a our stay at the amazing Hacienda del Sol in Tucson, Arizona. I’ll never forget the second we walked into the hotel lobby and were greeted with the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had in my ENTIRE life. I took one bite and every receptor in my brain went off. THEY. WERE. DELICIOUS. They tasted like a normal chocolate chip cookie, but with a smoky twist! After eagerly asking everyone I found out the secret ingredient that gave them their exceptional taste and unique flavor was mesquite flour.
Mesquite trees grow in warm arid locations and are native to Mexico and the Southwest of the US. To make the flour mesquite pods are dried and then finely ground and milled into a flour. It’s a great source of protein & fiber, but low in fat. It’s also rich in iron, lysine, potassium, and zinc. A bonus to anyone whose gluten-free, because mesquite contains no gluten. And it’s even known to balance blood sugar levels! Pass me the mesquite flour.
Once we came back home I was completely surprised to find mesquite flour at my local co-op. This is the one I found and absolutely love, Zócalo Peru Mesquite flour, you can purchase it on Amazon. Since then I’ve been making these muffins regularly and can’t get enough of them.
I sweetened the muffins with blue agave syrup because that felt very appropriate seeing as it grows in the desert and it’s a super low-acid ingredient. I used pecans because surprisingly they are one of the most produced nuts in Arizona. Finally, I used the Whole Foods dark chocolate baking chunks and chopped them up into smaller pieces.
Now you can substitute out the dark chocolate chips if it’s a trigger for you. I’ve left out chocolate chips and used shredded coconut or chopped dates in place and both were delicious. However, C and I just love the combination of chocolate and mesquite. I might try carob powder next time, if you try it please let me know!
I also want to mention that the hotel restaurant was so wonderful at accommodating my low-acid diet and I’m still craving the grilled chicken salads they made for me night after night. An added bonus, the guest rooms have fridges, which was perfect for storing my low-acid food. And there are two Whole Foods nearby.
Well I’m off to dream of the desert! Do you have any favorite desert destinations?
