SPICY MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Ingredients

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• 1 ¾ cups white sugar, divided

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar (* See Note)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (know your audience, and your cayenne, to determine whether you want to lean towards less or more spicy)

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

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• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Or use an insulated baking tray, in which case you really don't need parchment paper. 

• Beat together 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in cream of tartar and baking soda. Beat in cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and cayenne powder. Beat in flour. Stir chocolate chips into dough until incorporated.

• Mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl.

• Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls. Roll balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. (* See Another Note)

• Bake in the preheated oven until centers are set and edges are slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

NOTE: If you don’t have cream of tartar, don’t panic. Cream of tartar is a mystery ingredient that helps make these cookies a bit puffier and chewier than they would be without it. Since we want these to be puffy and chewy, you can substitute 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for every 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar (I’ve done the math for you, so this means 4 teaspoons of lemon juice in this recipe). I’ve tried it and it works like a charm.

 

ANOTHER NOTE: I like to keep a stash of these, unbaked, in the freezer so I can impress our guests with fresh cookies when they come back from skiing. After I roll them into balls and toss them around in cinnamon and sugar, I arrange them on a baking tray and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, I pop them in a compostable ziplock bag (try Compostic…we’ve tested a bunch, and these are our favorites) then bake from frozen just before our guests arrive. It might take a minute or two longer than from unfrozen, but it’s worth it to have warm cookies whenever you need warm cookies.  

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I pretty much stole this recipe from allrecipes.com, adding some commentary. Credit where credit is due.

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