I spend a lot of time playing around with some childish ingredients that star in the desserts of our dreams – raw cookie dough, oreos, colorful M&M’s stacked in cookies in the most playful way possible. But today I’m taking a sophisticated turn with chocolate and making things spicy. Believe it or not the majority of my time in the kitchen revolves around savory food (a girl can’t live on sugar alone), and I’m infamous for going heavy on the heat. I looove spicy food but this is my first time mixing chili pepper with chocolate. You’ll see the combination in chocolate bars all over the place these days, definitely in gourmet food stores but also in your neighborhood pharmacy candy aisle. I love the spicy and sweet combination in chocolate bars, and these cookies are no exception!
Chupon Chocolate sent some gourmet shaved chocolate, and one of the flavors I received was Mayan, which is infused with chipotle pepper and cinnamon. My immediate thought was to make some chocolate chili cookies, like the ones I’ve seen made by many bloggers before. The result was a chocolate cookie like I’ve never made – refined, not overly sweet, and with a little kick at the very end. The amount of cayenne pepper and cinnamon you add is up to you, but the one teaspoon I put in the recipe doesn’t make them overly spicy, just enough so you can definitely sense something is a little special about these cookies. I was so tempted to drizzle these with extra chocolate and add sprinkles to dress them up for Valentine’s day but I exercised restraint and tried to keep them simple and sophisticated. I feel like such a grown up! So that’s what you’re getting today – no fuss cookies that pack both sweetness and spice without the frills.
The Chupon chocolate had great taste and was high quality (and I loved that it came pre-shaved!), but any chili infused chocolate will do in this recipe. I can’t think of a better combination for your Valentine if you’re looking to spice things up next week. See what I did there? Ohhh, Valentine’s Day I love you and your endless lovey puns!
Mexican Chocolate Chili Cookies
Recipe adapted from Eat, Live, Run
Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients:
16 tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chipotle chili chocolate, chopped
Extra granulated or coarse sugar to roll cookies in
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the edges of the bowl after each addition.
In another bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder, cocoa powder, flour, cayenne, and cinnamon. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry mixture to the butter until just incorporated. With a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate chips and chili chocolate.
Use a small ice cream scoop or 2 spoons, form rounds of dough and roll them in sugar. Transfer cookie dough balls to prepared pans and use a spatula to flatten each cookie dough ball. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Allow cookies to rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Just tried a “spicy ( = cinnamon and cayenne pepper) red velvet donut” and it was tasty, definitely going to attempt this soon :)
Yummy it is truly flavorsome. Chocolate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just crazy about chocolates and chocolates cookies :) :)
These look amazing! Only thing that confuses me…Looks like these are rolled in sugar, or sugar and cinnamon combo? Thanks for any clarifications! :)
Erica — June 1st, 2014 @ 12:28 am
You’re right! I forgot to add that step – sorry!! I just rolled in regular sugar, but sugar+cinnamon is a great idea. Just updated the recipe :)