Sundays are for baking in our family. And cold, drizzly Sunday’s are meant for making hot chocolate cookies. Not just hot chocolate cookies, but dulce de leche stuffed Mexican hot chocolate cookies.
All last week, Thompson had been asking for hot chocolate saying that he needed to warm up (even though it wasn’t even cold outside). We kept telling him he needed to wait until the weekend for treats. On Friday, when he came home from school and we all took a moment to celebrate the fact it was the end of another busy week, Thompson asked what treat we should make. Since he had been asking nonstop for hot chocolate, I asked him how hot chocolate cookies sounded. He thought that was the funniest idea. Saturday and Sunday were chilly and rainy, so it worked out perfectly.
If it seems weird to put chili powder in cookies, just trust me on this one. I don’t love chocolate cookies all that much, but these are so amazing. You can taste just a hint of spice with a slight heat at the end from the cayenne. This is balanced by the rich sweetness of the dulce de leche. Make sure and leave time for chilling; the dough is soft and much easier to work with when cold.
- ½ cup butter
- 1¾ cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ cups AP flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dulce de leche
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and the chocolate chips, stirring until just melted. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until just combined. Add in the cooled chocolate and beat until just combined. Add cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Mix on low speed just until combined. Dough will be very wet and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours until dough is well chilled.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a small scoop, drop the cookie dough by teaspoon onto cookie sheets. Using a spatula sprayed with a little cooking spray, flatten the dough balls slightly.
- Scoop dulce de leche into a small ziploc bag and cut the tip off of one corner. Squeeze about ½ to 1 teaspoon of dulce de leche into the center of each flattened dough round. Using the small scoop, place another scoop of dough on top, gently forming around the dulce de leche and sealing with the bottom dough.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 11-13 minutes, until they look just cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Source: adapted from Stepable.
Leave a Reply