Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Mexican Hot Chocolate is one of my favorite wintertime drinks, and something I would get every year while walking around my neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights. It is rich, warming, and has a kick of spice which really makes it something special. This recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies is something I’ve been working on for a while, and am happy with how they turned out.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are quite cake-y so if that’s not your style you can reduce the amount of baking powder and flatten them more. I personally like the almost brownie like consistency because of the large surface area in which to taste all the flavors. If you are worried about the cookies being too spicy, you can also adjust the chili powder levels.

You might like these other tasty cookie recipes:

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

What Is Mexican Hot Chocolate?

Authentic Mexican hot chocolate is called champurrado and is nothing like an American or European style hot chocolate. It essentially is a mix of chocolate, water and masa (corn dough) with added spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, or aniseed. The drink is thick and is popular at breakfast time. In fact, the original drink didn’t even include cocoa at all. It wasn’t until the European settlers came over that they added cocoa and sugar to make the drink more of a dessert beverage.

Modern Mexican hot chocolate is more of an Americanized version which is just regular hot chocolate with cinnamon and chili added. Sometimes vendors will add orange zest and a thickening egg during winter turning it into a spicy chocolate eggnog variation.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies Ingredients

  • 300 grams Flour, AP
  • 120 grams Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
  • 10 grams Cinnamon, ground. Plus more for rolling.
  • 10 grams Baking Powder
  • 5 grams Baking Soda
  • 1 tbsp Chili Powder, more or less to taste. With 1 tbsp you can taste the chili, but it isn’t actually spicy (to me). Make of that what you will.
  • 10 grams Vanilla Sugar. I used Bourbon Vanilla Powdered Sugar, but you can use 2 tsp of Vanilla Extract as a substitute.
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 200 grams Butter
  • 250 grams Sugar, white granulated
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 2 tbsp Confectioner’s Sugar (aka powdered sugar). For rolling.
bourbon vanilla sugar packet
This is the type of vanilla sugar I used, but you can use extract, pure vanilla, or vanilla powder if you find one of them easier to obtain.

Baking Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies dry ingredients

Begin by sifting together your flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, chili powder, vanilla sugar, and salt. Note that salt may not be able to go through your sifter so you can just add that in after if it gets stuck.

Once you’ve sifted together all the dry ingredients you can work on the wet. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or by hand) cream together the butter and the sugar. Once they are creamed together crack in the eggs and allow everything to mix into a paste.

butter and granulated sugar in a stand mixer bowl

Keep the mixer on the slowest setting and add the dry ingredients to the wet 1 tbsp at a time. This will allow everything to incorporate slowly, and give the final cookies a nice chew you wouldn’t get if you added the dry ingredients all at once.

Once your cookie dough is made you can go straight into rolling. Yep, there’s no chilling needed (unlike my wildly popular Coffee Bean Cookies, or my chocolate crackle cookies) so you can form the dough into 2 tbsp balls and place them right into the cinnamon sugar. To make the cinnamon sugar just add a few tbsp of powdered sugar to a tbsp of ground cinnamon and whisk it together.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies with an egg for size reference

I tried to form balls that were about the size of a large egg. The picture above is a good reference for their size, but it’s really up to you if you want them smaller or larger. I recommend using a silicone baking mat so the cookies are easy to remove.

Once I have the balls on the tray I flatten them with the palm of my hand. This creates a more evenly raised cookies so you don’t get a dome shape. Surprisingly, even with the amount of baking powder/soda, the cookies don’t raise that much. They are a bit like fluffy brownies in that regard.

Place the cookie tray in an oven preheated to 170 Celsius on convection and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the tray and let rest for 5 minutes before taking the cookies off and moving to a cooling rack. Dust these freshly baked Mexican hot chocolate cookies with extra cinnamon sugar and garnish with a slice of chili pepper.

plate of mexican hot chocolate cookies with a bite taken out

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

These Mexican hot chocolate cookies are so delicious, with an almost brownie like consistency and a kick of chili that pairs nicely with the rich chocolate flavors.
5 from 6 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Resting Time 5 minutes
Total Time 32 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Fusion, Mexican
Servings 14 cookies
Calories 290 kcal

Equipment

  • Baking Tray
  • Bowl
  • Stand Mixer (recommended)
  • Silicone Mat (recommended)

Ingredients
  

  • 300 grams Flour AP
  • 120 grams Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
  • 10 grams Cinnamon ground. Plus more for rolling.
  • 10 grams Baking Powder
  • 5 grams Baking Soda
  • 1 tbsp Chili Powder more or less to taste. With 1 tbsp you can taste the chili, but it isn’t actually spicy (to me). Make of that what you will.
  • 10 grams Vanilla Sugar I used Bourbon Vanilla Powdered Sugarbut you can use 2 tsp of Vanilla Extract as a substitute.
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 200 grams Butter
  • 250 grams Sugar white granulated
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 2 tbsp Confectioner’s Sugar aka powdered sugar, for rolling. (may need more or less depending on the size of your bowl.

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit with the convection setting.
  • Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, chili powder, and vanilla sugar and then add the salt.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter and sugar and cream them together using the paddle attachment. When creamed crack in the eggs and mix to form a paste.
  • On the slowest speed add the dry ingredients to the wet a tablespoon at a time until everything is incorporated.
  • In a bowl whisk together a few tbsp of the confectioners sugar with some ground cinnamon.
  • Use a tablespoon to scoop out a chunk of the cookie dough and roll it into a ball between your palms. I created about a 2 tbsp worth ball (about the size of an egg). Place them on a parchment or silicone lined baking tray.
  • Flatten the balls a bit with the palm of your hand and place the tray in the oven to bake for 12 minutes. Remove and let rest on the tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack.

Notes

I like to garnish these cookies with an extra dusting of cinnamon sugar and a slice of a chili.
These cookies hold well for up to three days as long as they are sealed in an airtight container. They still taste good after 3 days but do tend to dry out a bit. 
Keyword Chocolate Cookies, Cookies With Chili, Dessert Ideas, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

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