15. Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I forgave my best buddy for eating my cookies, of course. I explained to him how it made me feel to come home and find my cookies gone, especially since I had not yet photographed them. I cleaned up the Tupperware and sat on the stairs so he could come over and be petted. Once we made up, I knew the only sensible thing to do was to make more cookies.


However, since I was low on brown sugar, more chocolate chip was not in the cards - or so I thought ...

But I decided to try something I've been meaning to for a very long time, Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. I'm way behind on the wave of love these cookies got back in 2009. The recipe has long been posted on the PPK blog. So if you don't have the book, you can still make them.

And trust me, you should make them. But follow the directions ... I did not and my cookies all smashed together while baking, creating some pretty ugly shapes. (Trust me, the other cookie sheet had the really ugly ones, but I was too ashamed to document that).


Lucky for me, the odd shape did not effect the taste! These cookies have the potential to be gorgeous, but the taste is really what's worth showing off. They're sweet in a sophisticated way and at the end of each bite, there's a kick from the cayenne. They're the kind of cookies you might serve to your book club and give a smug little half-smile when they exclaim about how cosmopolitan you are, with your spicy-hot cookies and your espresso machine. Undoubtedly, someone would be reminded of studying in Mexico and observing el Día de los Muertos (spoken in accent) with the local people in their humble village.

I'm not really that kind of a jerk - I just fantasize about being one - not the study abroad one, but the book group-hosting one.



No matter what kind of jerk you are, I urge you to make these cookies. And I apologize for the somewhat retina-searing quality of that last picture. The sugar on top reflects sunlight like you wouldn't believe.

And check out this how-to video if reading the recipe represents more work than you're willing to do.



I didn't forget about the chocolate chip cookies; I made those too. I was just a little bit short on the brown sugar, so they didn't have the rich, caramel-y, vanilla-y goodness like the ones Mr. D ate did, but that's not enough to stop me from eating them.


I wouldn't feed these to my book group (those snobs!), but I would happily curl up on the couch with a book and cup of coffee and enjoy them by myself.