The hatch chile is essentially an anaheim chile, but grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico. Different varieties have been cultivated for different heat scores. The fame given to this specific variety is year-to-year consistency and many people think the flavor is superior to other varieties. I don't know that I've ever had a regular old anaheim chile, so I can't put my vote one way or the other. What I can tell you is that when we tried "mild" vs. "hot" side-by-side at the grocery store, the roasted "hot" hatch won ten-times over. The "mild" hatch was not good: it lacked heat and any sort of delicious flavor. The "hot" hatch definitely brought the heat, but it also had flavor. Maybe we just got a bad mild chile. I'll have to try again!
We bought 2 bags of roasted "hot" hatch chiles and I bought 2 fresh hatch chiles. We used them for chile con queso, tomatillo vegetable stew, tomato pork stew, corn and rice stuffed peppers, zucchini and tortilla chip fritatta, and chocolate chip cookies. The winners were chile con queso, tomato pork stew, and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. The vege stew was a little to acidic from the tomatillos without something basic to balance the flavor. The stuffed peppers and fritatta were lacking in flavor. You really can't go wrong with chile con queso as long as it includes chile and queso. We got the recipe for the tomato pork stew from a recipe card lying in the crate of hatch chiles. It was really delicious, though I might like some more textures in it (maybe some sort of grain). The idea to make hatch pepper cookies came from the hatch pepper chocolate chip cookies they were selling at the grocery store. They didn't have samples, so I knew I needed to try baking a batch myself.
Objective
Make chocolate chip cookies with hatch chiles and whole grains (since I'm still on a quest for the perfect whole grain chocolate chip cookie). Recipe based on the original Toll-House recipe, but with reduced sugar and whole grains.
Materials
1/2 cup butter, partially softened, partially melted
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. toasted wheat germ
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup hot hatch chile, roasted, de-stemmed/skinned/seeded, patted dry, and chopped
1/2-3/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped
Vanilla ice cream (~1/4 cup per sandwich)
Methods
To make the cookies:
1. Cream the butter, dark brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, and chopped hatch chile. Stir into the creamed mixture until just combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this is important or you'll get puffy, cake like cookies that take over your entire pan). Shortly before the dough is done chilling, preheat the oven to 375ยบ.
4. Use a teaspoon to form dough balls and place about 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet or seasoned baking stone. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middles are still a little wiggly. Cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the ice cream sandwiches:
1. Set the ice cream on the counter to soften for a few minutes then scoop the ice cream and smash it between two cookies. Alternatively, let the ice cream soften quite a bit (stirring it helps a lot). When smooth, spread it over the bottom of a baking dish to a depth of 1/2". Return it to the freezer to firm-up. Use a biscuit cutter or circular cookie cutter to cut out circles of ice cream. Use a spoon to lift the ice cream out of the pan and place it between two cookies.
2. Return the ice cream sandwiches to the freezer until ready to eat. Makes 1 dozen ice cream sandwiches (with a few extra cookies).
Results
The cookies are very soft and chewy. They spread out a lot while baking, but that made them ideal for ice cream sandwiches. The heat is fairly subtle and you can't taste it in every bite. With ice cream, the cookies are even better. The dairy helps with the heat and gives the cookies a way to shine, since as straight up cookies, they're a little thin (but not crispy).
Discussion and future directions
I've been trying different recipes for whole grain chocolate chip cookies. So far, my biggest complaint has been that people reduce the butter to make them healthier and that kind of ruins the texture. I tried 100% whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour with oat flour, neither of which was quite right. I decided to try a 50:50 whole wheat pastry flour to all-purpose flour ratio here, but with the additional moisture from the chiles (and dark brown sugar), I needed to add more flour to get the dough to the right texture. I chose to increase the all-purpose flour, though you could swap amounts. Did you know that you can use wheat germ in cookies? There are a few recipes floating around for chocolate chip cookies with wheat germ, like this one from King Arthur Flour. I started out with just a couple of tablespoons to try it. I didn't even know it was there, so I'd happily try it again with more.
I think this recipe would also be great as cookie bars or modified into hatch chile blondies. These are fun because they are different. No one expects to heat when they bite into a cookie. Making them into ice cream sandwiches is optional, but recommended. Ice cream sandwiches hit just the right spot on a hot August afternoon in Texas, hatch chiles optional.
Supplementary Materials
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