At brunch at the Liberty Bar in San Antonio, a plate of these spicy-sweet cookies is set down on the table at the beginning of the meal—gratis. Featured in our book Best Cookies, they make a perfect cookie for holiday parties, especially when drizzled with a little melted white chocolate.
Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies
At brunch at the Liberty Bar in San Antonio, a plate of these spicy-sweet cookies is set down on the table at the beginning of the meal-gratis.
Yield: makes ABOUT 4 DOZEN
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup flour
- 3⁄4 cup quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa
- 3⁄4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1⁄2–3⁄4 tsp. cayenne
- 1⁄4 tsp. salt
- 1⁄4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Instructions
- Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined.
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9″ log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours and as long as overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds about 1⁄3” thick. Place rounds 1⁄2” apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to let cool.