Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Good morning and happy Friday!

And a very happy birthday to my little sis!

To kick off your weekend I thought I'd get you drooling over some cookies with a kick.

Last night we were in charge of bringing dessert to a Mexican-food themed dinner party.  Our idea was to incorporate a Mexican Hot Chocolate flavor to another dessert; snickerdoodles came to mind because of their cinnamon-y flavor.  Just add in some cocoa, extra cinnamon, and some spicy cayenne pepper for the post-bite burn.

These are unusual and delicious!

We highjacked a tried and true Snickerdoodle recipe with some traditional Mexican flavors.


I had to make two separate batches of these cookies, because--while I loved the first batch (with a half teaspoon of cayenne)--I was nervous to serve them in polite company.  No one wants to watch guests sweat while eating dessert.  So I reduced the cayenne by half for the second batch, and that's the batch we brought to the dinner party.


Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

(makes 18-20 cookies)

1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened

3/4 cups sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat butter and sugar, then add the egg.  Combine the dry ingredients together, then slowly add the dry to the wet mixture in batches.


Chill the batter for 10 minutes or so.

Roll the cookies into 1 inch balls and coat them in cinnamon-sugar:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
(pinch of cayenne, optional!) 

Place on a non-greased and chilled cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes or until set. You can add another sprinkle of the cinnamon-sugar on top of the cookies after they come out of the oven. Remove snickerdoodles from the cookie sheet and cool on a plate.

If you go with a higher amount of cayenne, be sure to serve the cookies with milk to cool the burn!