As all my readers know, I am not much of a baker. I do what I can on occasion, but it’s just not a big part of my life. Craig doesn’t like sweets (weirdo) and I don’t want to be responsible for finishing up a batch of brownies on my own. I bake usually twice a year, for my little brother Jeff’s birthday in January (he is a sugar addict), and around Christmas. I love bringing something yummy to the office or to a holiday get together. So I was excited to see this week’s #Sunday Supper theme: the ultimate cookie swap. What a great opportunity to experiment!
Usually I go right to America’s Test Kitchen for cookie recipes (their chocolate chip are incredible) but this year I decided to play around and come up with something a bit more original and exciting than your basic chocolate chip or oatmeal. I saw a version of these cookies on Martha Stewart’s website and they really appealed to me. I love the combination of chocolate and chili, it enhances the flavors so much. I was especially pleased to use some of my chili crop from my garden. We grew hundreds of chilies this summer and I dehydrated them in the oven and ground into chili powder. I get really excited when I get to use a home grown ingredient.
So I made two batches of these cookies, playing around with the amount of chocolate, spice and baking time. I made everyone in my office taste test and they were so helpful! I took elements of both batches and came up with this recipe. I am so thrilled with how they came out. The taste is sophisticated and rich and the texture is just chewy enough. The flavor comes from using high quality dark chocolate, Mexican vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and chili powder. I used a very small amount of spice, but it packs quite a punch.
What is your favorite holiday cookie?
Mexican Chocolate Cookies #Sunday Supper
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp (1/2 stick of butter)
- 2 eggs
- 2oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp sea salt
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Mix together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda, set aside
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat butter and chocolate together for 30 seconds, remove, stir, and cook for another 30 seconds and stir. Chocolate and butter should be melted
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugars, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, chili, and salt. (Can also use a stand mixer on low setting)
- Add cooled butter/chocolate mixture and mix
- Fold in flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low (or by hand) until totally combined
- Add chocolate chips
- On a cookie sheet lined with parchment, scoop dough using a tablespoon. Each cookie should be around 1.5 tbsp of dough
- Recipe should yield 2 dozen
- Bake for 12 minutes on a center rack
- Remove from oven and cool
- Serve with milk!
