I have tried a few different recipes to combine chile and lime with a chocolate cookie. This is the best I have come up with yet. You can adjust the amount of chile powder you use, depending on how much of a burn you want them to have. These cookies are very easy to make so it is not that much extra trouble to frost them and they are worth the extra effort involved. Don’t be afraid of the chile.  I took them to the emergency department and to choir and no one complained they were to hot.

Serving Size:

24

Ingredients:

Cookies:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup flour, 2.25 ounces

3 tablespoons cocoa

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

1-1½ teaspoons ancho chile powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg, cold

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Lime Butter Cream Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons fresh limejuice

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ cup butter, at room temperature

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Gently melt bittersweet chocolate and butter over double boiler or in microwave. Set aside.

3. Mix dry ingredients in bowl of electric mixer.

4. Stir egg and vanilla into dry ingredients.

5. Stir in butter/chocolate mixture.

6. Stir in chocolate chips.

7. Form into 1 tablespoon-sized balls and place on baking sheets covered in parchment paper.

8. Bake for about 14 minutes.

9. Make the frosting by beating the powdered sugar, limejuice, lime zest and butter until smooth. Add more powdered sugar as needed to make it perfectly spreadable.

10. After cookies are cool, spread some frosting on the bottom of one cookie and press the bottom of another cookie into the frosting, forming a whoopie pie.

Notes:

1.  I have baked them at 325 degrees in the middle of my oven for 14 minutes and they were great. I also baked them at 300 degrees on convection for 14 minutes as well. Every oven is different so you have to be careful, especially in chocolate cookies where you can’t use the color as a guide. Don’t over cook them!

2. If you want to back off on the chocolate a bit, you can melt semi-sweet chocolate. The cookies are not as dark, of course, and there is no compromise on the texture.

3. If you use 1 teaspoon of chile powder, you will only notice the slight burn as the cookie is just leaving your mouth. With 1½ teaspoons of chile, they have just a little burn while you are eating them. Fun!

I had cream cheese and cacao nibs burning wholes in my refrigerator and pantry. As I looked around the Internet for some inspiration of what to do with them, I came up with this. I usually shy away from cookies I think will be crunchy but I went for these anyway and they were interesting. The cacao nibs give them a nutty texture and flavor that is interesting and goes along well with the chocolate chips. Like most shortbread cookies, these are not too sweet.

Recipe By:

Internet

 Yield:

40

 Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1¼ teaspoons coarse salt

2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1¼ cups sugar

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1½ cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups cocoa nibs

 Directions:

1. Whisk flour and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).

3. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until combined.

4. While mixer is running on low-speed, add flour mixture, and continue to mix until just combined.

5. Stir in mini chocolate chips.

6. Transfer half of dough to a large sheet of parchment paper. Shape into a long log about 2 inches in diameter. Roll in parchment paper. Repeat with other half of the dough. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 weeks.

7. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

8. Unwrap one log, roll in cocoa nibs (pressing lightly to adhere), coating lightly*.

9. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space approximately 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

10. Bake cookies until golden around edges, 16 to 18 minutes.

11. Let cool slightly before removing from trays and letting cool completely on wire racks.

*Notes:

Mine are probably coated more heavily than those of the original recipe but I used the amount of cacao nibs they called for.

These are not sugar cookies with coconut. They are cookies make with coconut sugar. They also have coconut oil. Some might say this makes them healthier than if they were made with butter and sugar. You can decide.

Ingredients:

21 tablespoons coconut oil

½ cup sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

3½ cups coconut sugar

4 cups flour, 21 ounces

1 teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together sugar and ½ cup brown sugar. Set aside.

3. Mix together flour, soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

4. Mix together 3½ cups coconut sugar and coconut oil until well combined.

5. Stir in eggs, egg yolks and vanilla until well combined.

6. Stir in flour mixture until well combined.

7. Form into balls about 2 tablespoons in size. Roll dough balls in sugar/brown sugar mixture.

8. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until edges are just browned set but centers are still soft.

Notes:

Consider adding coconut.

I had a half bag of cacao nibs left over from a previous cookie adventure. I went looking for an interesting recipe to us them in and came up with this one. I toasted the cacao nibs to give them win interesting flavor, slightly coffee-like.

Recipe By:

Mercury News

Yield:

36

 Ingredients:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ pound unsalted butter, melted and still warm

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup roasted cocoa nibs

1 cup finely chopped walnuts*

1 cup dried currants or raisins

 Directions:

1. Whisk the flour and baking soda together thoroughly.

2. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, sugars and salt. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until the dry ingredients are moistened, then stir in the nibs, nuts and currants. If possible, cover and chill the dough for at least two  hours, preferably overnight.**

3. Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator to soften.

4. Scoop up two tablespoon balls of dough and place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through, or until cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top.

5. Use a metal pancake turner to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

* I used pecans.

* I didn’t refrigerate them.

They are very rich and have a wonderful, cracked surface. For chocolate lovers only.

Recipe By:

Mercury News

 Yield:

30

 Ingredients:

1¼ cups flour

3 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

20 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2¼ cups sugar

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Melt chopped chocolate in a bowl over, but not touching, simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove bowl from water. Cool 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer on medium, cream butter and sugar.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated.

6. On high speed, beat for a few minutes until light, creamy and pale.

7. Mix in melted chocolate and vanilla just until combined.

8. Fold in dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Fold in chocolate chips.

9. Scoop dough quickly, before it firms up, onto prepared pans in scant 1/4-cup dollops. (It’s easiest to use a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, filled 3/4 full). Space the cookies 2 inches apart. Flatten each mound slightly with a damp hand.*

10. Bake cookies until they are evenly cracked all over the tops and softly set, 14 to 16 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. If you have 2 pans in the oven, switch them between racks, too. (If baking in batches, don’t refrigerate the scooped dough. They will not spread properly.) Cool completely before using a metal spatula to separate cookies from parchment.

Notes:

* I used my 2 tablespoon scooper and didn’t flatten them and they were fine.

One Internet source recommended sprinkling them with fleur de sel after scooping.

As I have said in the past, I really don’t like white chips. I think they taste like medicine and think it is wrong to even connect the word chocolate to them. Still, I am not so closed minded that I do not try a new recipe just because it calls for white chips. What caught my attention on this recipe was the box of coconut-flavored pudding. Truth be told, I was not expecting them to be very good. I think the white chips go pretty well with the coconut and I am not sure what the pudding does for them. Anyway, they are fun, easy to make and come out very uniform and pretty, which is very satisfying.

Recipe By:

twopeasandtheirpod.com

 Yield:

40

 Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

3.4 ounce package Coconut Creme instant pudding mix (Jell-O Brand)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups white chocolate chunks or chips

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and set aside.

2. Using a mixer, beat together butter and sugars until creamy.

3. Stir in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

6. Stir in the coconut and white chocolate chunks.

7. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slight golden and set. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

I am not a big raisin fan. Still, on occasion, I have eaten an oatmeal raisin cookie that was just delicious. What I like is a chewy texture, almost like eating candy and not too spicy. I offer to you my best effort so far to achieve that sweet chewiness that goes so well with raisins.

Makes:

72

Ingredients:

2 cups butter

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups brown sugar

½ cup honey

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

3 cups flour, 13.5 ounces

2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 cups oats, 9.5 ounces

3 cups raisins

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Cream melted butter,  sugars and honey until combined.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. In separate bowl, sift together flour, soda and cinnamon.

5. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.

6. Stir in oats and raisin.

7. Form into 2 tablespoon balls on parchment-lined cookie sheets.

8. Bake 20 minutes or until just turning brown on the bottom and around the edges.

Another S’mores Cookie recipe. What I really like about this, over all the others I have tried, is that it really resembles campfire S’mores. The cookie is the the most grahamy I have made. The gelatin-free marshmallows don’t melt but keep their presence as actual marshmallows. The milk chocolate is present like a Hershey bar. And they look fabulous, don’t you think?

Recipe By:

Tad

Yield:

36

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 bag gelatin-free marshmallows, cut in half*

bulk milk chocolate, gently melted and tempered**

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350° F.

2. Combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

4. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

6. Scoop a tablespoon of dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten.

7. Place half-marshmallow in the center of the flattened dough ball.

8. Scoop another tablespoon of dough and press it onto and around the marshmallow, sealing the edges all around.

9. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

10. When completely cool, dip the bottoms of the cookies into the tempered chocolate to cover the bottom and a bit up the sides. Wipe the excess chocolate off before placing on waxed paper to cool completely.

Notes:

* I bought these at Whole Foods.

** If you are not familiar with tempering chocolate, it is not hard. Here are a couple of references for you to chew over.

• http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/tempering-choco/
• http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+temper+chocolate&sm=3

I have been on kind of a S’mores cookies adventure since eating a cookie of that name in New York. Here is the latest attempt. They are easy to make, if you can find the Mallow Bits. They are made by Kraft, Jet-puffed. I was unable to find them at Nob Hill or Lucky but Safeway had them. They are harder than normal marshmallows and don’t melt as much so they provide a marshmallowiness that doesn’t disappear when you bake them.

Recipe By:

Tad

Yield:

36

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 package chocolate chips

3 ounces Mallow Bits

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350° F.

2. Combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

4. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

6. Stir in chocolate chips and Mallow Bits.

7. Scoop in 2 tablespoon balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

8. BAKE for 12 to 14 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

My wife and I baked six dozen Tad’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. We put each in a bag and tied it with a ribbon. She took them to work to encourage her employees to give to a Charitable Giving Drive. I have no idea if anyone gave but the cookies really tasted and looked great!