I'm not a big dessert person and when I have desserts, I tend to like ones that are less sweet. These Chocolate-Cayenne Cookies are just about perfect. They are easy to make, you can make them ahead of time, and they are melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious--almost like chocolate shortbreads.
This is my adaptation with tips from the recipe that was contributed by Dorie Greenspan for Food and Wine Nov 2011 issue.
Chocolate-Cayenne Cocktail Cookies
Makes about 50-60 cookies.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (make sure you use very good quality cocoa powder, such as Valrhona or Guittard which is what I used)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- Maldon salt, for sprinkling
- Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cayenne and sea salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with both sugars at low speed until creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat until smooth, then add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated.
- Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead gently until it comes together. Note: The dough is very moist and melts quickly. Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk. Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of wax paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Slide the wax paper–covered disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour, until very firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one piece of dough at a time, peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out the cookies as close together as possible. Arrange the cookies about 1 inch apart on the parchment paper–lined baking sheets and sprinkle with some Maldon salt.
- Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes (my oven runs hot, I guess, because my cookies were done at 12 minutes so I would start checking starting then), until they are just firm; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Before serving, I dusted mine with a little confectioners' sugar so you get a sweet & salty hit right away when you eat it.
Make Ahead: The rolled-out frozen cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept frozen for up to 2 weeks. The baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
ADDITIONAL TIPS:
* It is important that in Step 2, you make sure the dough is rolled out evenly and 1/4 inch thick otherwise the cookies will not hold up.
* In Step 3 when you are punching out the cookies, begin doing this step as soon as the dough is out of the freezer. The dough softens very quickly, so you need to work fast while the dough is still very firm.
* Make sure you roll out the dough to the thickness you want before freezing because whatever state the dough is in at that point is what it will be when you go to stamp it out. IOW, don't just make a dough ball and put it in the freezer.
* I had read some reviews of this recipe that said it didn't make as many cookies as indicated. I found it made about 50 cookies. Make sure you stamp the cookies out as close together as possible. Also, after doing the first round of stamping, I re-rolled out the dough and made more out of the leftover dough.
Enjoy! These are my new favorite cookies. :)
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