25 Days of Christmas Baking Day 7: Mayan Mystery Cookies

Whenever you bring up spicy chocolate, someone inevitably says, "I don't like spicy chocolate."  The fact of the matter is that most people DO like spicy chocolate, but they are so repulsed by the idea of it that they don't open their pallets to it.  Many of them have never even tried spicy chocolate.  If you honestly don't like spicy chocolate, that's fine.  But really, don't knock it until you try it.  And today, you can give it a try!  This is a spicy chocolate cookie that is not on fire, but has a nice bite.  So if you're not much of a spice person, but still want to give the spicy chocolate a try, this recipe is good for you!

Credits on this recipe go to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. 




Mayan Mystery Cookies
 
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar, plus more for rolling
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon finely and freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 large egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Semisweet chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and sugar
2. Add flour, baking powder, salt, spices and cocoa in a medium bowl.
3. Add the egg and vanilla. (yes, in that order).
4. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. roll the dough into balls about the width of a quarter. Tuck about 5 chocolate chips into the center of each one. Put some sugar on a flat plate and roll the balls in the sugar to cover lightly.
7. Place the balls on the baking sheet on parchment or silicone baking mats (I used a silpat mat for this batch, and parchment for my first try...parchment paper makes them stay round)
8. Bake for 8 minutes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over-analyzing Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid--Why Eric is White.

Image
I have recently noticed a trend of just purely over-analyzing Disney movies.  In this category, I also include the fascination with photoshopping Disney characters to swap genders, races, or eras, as well as making princesses have "realistic" body shapes (which is something I could write a whole other post about, and it wouldn't be pretty.  Spoiler alert:  I find it to be one of the most unempowering trends of recent years).  However, I sometimes wonder at how much people are reading into Disney movies.  Today, I'm going to over-analyze their over-analysis. I recently read that the fact that Eric is a white prince is a representation of how we white-wash racial expectations for our children.  I'm not even sure what that sentence means.  It seems to have a lot of buzz words.  But I'm going to show you today, using evidence from the film, why Prince Eric is, in fact, the correct color. (I will, however, say that Eric is the only Disney prince wh...
Read more

Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz. So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the mean...
Read more

What does it mean to be a Russell?

Image
As many know, most European families (not all, but most) have a coat of arms, a crest, a motto, all that good stuff. So, I decided to look a bit into what being a Russell means. And maybe I'll do the same for Hatches, because I am a Hatch too. The last name Russell is Scottish and means "Red-headed" and derives from the Norman name of Roussel. The Russells are a well-respected Highland Scot clan, complete with Scottish crest and tartan: The motto on the crest "virtus sine macula" means "Virtue without blemish." As Scotland incorporated more and more into England, the Russells became nobility in that world as well, and were thus presented with a coat of arms: And yes, the motto written on that one is "che sara sara." You've got to admit, that's pretty gosh-darn cool. It really does mean "Whatever will be, will be." And in honor of that:
Read more