These Mexican Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are a nice chocolate shortbread cookie. They have just a hint of spice in them and they’re perfect with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.
These cookies are slow baked at a low heat. They turn out to be a crispy little chocolate shortbread cookie. Ancho chile powder, cinnamon and black pepper are the secret spices that give these cookies their hint of spicy flavor.
Serve these Mexican Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with tea or coffee. They happen to be great dunkers.
If you’re having a Mexican- themed party, these are a nice sweet treat to include in your menu.
If you’re an ice cream fanatic, they make an excellent ice cream garnish too!
Shortbread cookie fans will also enjoy my Cranberry- Orange Shortbread Cookies or my Pumpkin Shortbread Cookies. These Lemon Shortbread Cookies look pretty amazing as well.
Mexican Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Recipe Details
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup lightly packed unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 10 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- additional sugar for coating the cookies
Instructions
- Sift together flour, cocoa, ancho powder, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, then sift again. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and the 10 Tablespoons sugar until light. Mix in the vanilla, then add the flour mixture. At this point, stir and knead the dough with your hands (it will be dry and crumbly at first) until it is smooth and supple.
- Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, roll the dough out as evenly as possible to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 275°F. Lightly coat two cookie sheets with shortening.
- Cut out the cookies with a 2-inch round cutter. Pierce each cookie twice with the tines of a fork. Spread the coating sugar on a small plate. Lightly press the top of each cookie into the sugar so that the sugar clings to the dough. Arrange the cookies, sugar side-up, on the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1-inch apart.
- Bake the cookies, exchanging the position of the sheets on the racks from top to bottom and from front to back, until the cookies are crisp and firm, about 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the sheets on racks for 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and cool completely.
- Store the cookies airtight at room temperature. They will be better the day after they are baked and will keep for about 1 week.
I enjoy this recipe greatly. It makes a rich chocolate cookie with a nice spice kick. I usually leave out the ancho chile powder mainly because I haven’t gotten it on hand. I can imagine it to be nicely warming once I do get that powder for the next batch. The cookie has a nice crunch with the sugar crust and is just sweet enough to not be too overwhelmingly chocolatey. I enjoyed making it for the holidays and it is a staple chocolate shortbread recipe the rest of the year too! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Was looking for a cookie recipe to go with morning coffee that was crunchy but not too buttery, and this recipe was perfect! Sorry, I skipped on all the spices, and ended up having to substitute half the butter with a banana because I ran out lol
But the ratios, temperature and time in your recipe worked like a charm, this will be my go-to cocoa biscuit recipe from now on!