Love mocha? Try this mocha cookie recipe with dark chocolate and pistachios! Gluten free with an option to use regular all-purpose too! (Jump directly to the recipe.)
If you follow me on any of my various social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+) you may have noticed something this past weekend and earlier this week. I wasn’t online! This is a rarity for me, who basically lives on the computer 24/7/365 social media-ing constantly (I’m on probably on one, two or three networks now, as you read this!). The reason was my prepping, baking (and cleaning up) for my annual Holiday Party! In the lineup of the various desserts I baked for the shindig, I was pretty happy with my mocha cookies with dark chocolate and pistachios (which also happens to be gluten free).
Our annual holiday party tends to get pretty crowded and this year was no exception. I opted to put the camera down once people started to show up so I could enjoy the party and not just document it like I have in the past. And it seems like my friends enjoyed the party as well! AJ and I mingled and chatted with friends, old and new, some of which we hadn’t seen since our last party! And, of course, my friends at Kerrygold were exceedingly generous and donated cheese to the party which was enjoyed by everyone at the party.
Most people who’ve been to my party show up expecting a lot of baked goods. And though I’ve thrown this party with AJ for over 10 years, I always have a slight panic attack, thinking I don’t bake enough for the crowd of 100+ people who squeeze into our tiny 1 bedroom apartment. Usually this panic-y feeling goes away once I put the desserts out, rearranging them like a giant Tetris game, trying to make all the plates and cake stands fit. This year, I was pleased to put some of my hard earned cake stands, platters and cake servers to use in real life (as opposed to just in my photographs), most of them I picked up on our road trip across the US at various antique shops.
In the end, hopefully my 23 different desserts didn’t disappoint. People kept on mentioning which one was their favorite and a few friends definitely pointed out my mocha cookies as one of the standouts in the dessert buffet. If a non-gluten sensitive person points to a dessert that is one of their favorites, you know that’s a sign of a good gluten free baked good!
Special thanks to Kerrygold for generously sponsoring my party and supplying cheese for my guests. There was no monetary compensation for writing this post and all opinions written here are my own.
Mocha Cookies with Dark Chocolate and Pistachios (gluten free)
By Irvin Lin
A fun mocha flavored cookie, I like to cut the cookies into strips and then snap them apart into bite size pieces. It gives the cookies a more casual look but if you prefer, feel free to cut them with a sharp knife into squares. If you aren’t sensitive to gluten, feel free to leave out all the whole grain flours and just use 1 3/4 cups (245 g) all-purpose flour in their place.
Adapted from a recipe for Mocha Toffee Cashew Bars in Gourmet magazine.
Ingredients
Cookie dough
1 large egg
2 teaspoon chia seeds, ground
1 tablespoon espresso powder or instant coffee
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (55 g) cornstarch
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (60 g) teff flour
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (45 g) sweet rice flour (sometimes called glutinous rice flour)
1/4 cup (40 g) buckwheat flour
1/4 cup (40 g) mesquite flour
1/4 cup (40 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup (170 g or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping
4 oz (3/4 cup) pistachios
8 oz (225 g) dark chocolate
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt (like Maldon)
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F and lightly spray a 10 x 15 inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking oil. Line the baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper that is hanging over the edges of the pan by two inches.
2. Place the egg, ground chia seeds, espresso powder and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Using a fork, beat together until the espresso powder starts to dissolve. Set aside. Place the cornstarch, flours, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Using a balloon whisk, vigorously stir until the dry ingredients are uniform in color.
3. Place the butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the butter, sugar and salt together on medium high speed until the creamy, about two minutes or so. Add the egg mixture to the bowl and beat on medium speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and mix on slow speed until incorporated. You may need to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated, but since there’s no gluten don’t worry about overmixing.
4. Pat the dough down in the line baking sheet, making sure the dough is evenly distributed all the way to the edges of the pan (the dough will be thin). Bake in the oven for 16-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookie have darkened and are firm to the touch.
5. While the cookie is baking, roughly chop the pistachios and set aside in a bowl. Chop the chocolate into 1/2 inch chunks and place in a microwave safe bowl. Cook on high in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat 2 more times, at 30 second intervals until the chocolate has melted, stirring in between cook times. If the chocolate still hasn’t melted after the third time, cook for 15 second increments until it smooth and melted.
6. Once the cookie is done baking, pull it out and pour the chocolate over the top of the warm cookie. Using a spatula or knife, evenly spread the chocolate all the way to the edge of the cookie dough. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios and sea salt evenly over the chocolate. Let cool in the pan, on a wire rack, until room temperature. Slice into 1-inch strips then break cookie pieces by hand or cut into squares.
Makes 48 square cookies or about the same amount of broken piece cookies.
If you like these mocha cookie, check out these other mocha recipes from around the web:
Mom on Time Out’s Homemade Mocha Chocolate Chip Brownies
Boulder Localvore’s Arctic Peppermint Mocha Shake
Tracey’s Culinary Adventure’s Mocha Chocolate Chip Angel Food Cake with Mocha Ganache
Foodie with Family’s Mocha Cupcakes with Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream
Eats Well With Others’ Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Salted Candied Peanuts
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
These are such a cool flavour! I absolutely love these.
Ruthy @ Omeletta says
Happy Holidays, Irvin! I love how these cookies look a little bit like chocolatey, mocha, broken toffee pieces. And I’m way impressed that it was the GF cookies that seemed to stand out the most!
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet says
Fabulous cookies! Love the bark like look!
Edna Lebel says
thank you for sharing this receipe as I am excied to try it. Edna
Cat Harding says
OMG! I squealed with excitement when I say this recipe. It’s always nice to find something new AND gluten free!
Cat Harding says
Its always exciting to find a new gluten free recipe. I squealed when I saw this! I’m new to blogging and I find your blog really inspiring!
Irvin says
Thanks Cat! Always glad to have a new reader here. Feel free to poke around and check out my all my other gluten free recipes as well!
Shamit Khemka says
wowowo great recipe i love chocolate and your recipe is much more tasty
Ema Fox says
This party looks really sweet 😉 and the chocolate desert also