Or as my boyfriend calls them: Pepper-doodles

Whatever you call them, they are really delicious cookies with a bit of a kick. I came up with the idea of these cookies after getting a chili infused chocolate bar at the store on a whim and fell in love. To me it screamed to be baked into a cookie, but I felt a traditional chocolate chip cookie wasn't exactly the right fit, instead I wanted a cookie that would complement the sweet and spicy chocolate without being too bland or overpowering. Cinnamon seemed to be the solution, playing off the distinct flavor combination of Mexican hot chocolate. So I set out to see if I could even make them, not knowing if they would be any good at all, and I am quite happy with the results. For those of you who aren't into spicy foods, these shouldn't be a challenge at all, the spice kicks in as a nice little after burn that really just makes your mouth tingle a bit.

Step 1: Ingredients and Equipment

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup of Sugar
1/2 cup of Butter, softened
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
2 Eggs
2 3/4 cup of Flour
1 teaspoon of Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
a pinch of Cayenne pepper
2 bars of Chili infused chocolate (I used Lindt, but if you want to make this from scratch it is roughly 7 ounces)
2 teaspoons of Cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
a pinch of Cayenne pepper

Equipment
An Electric mixer, either a stand or hand mixer would work fine
A Chopping board
A Large knife
A Small extra bowl
Parchment paper or cooking spray

Step 2: "Chipping" the Chocolate

There are plenty of great ways to go about doing this, probably some easier than the way I ended up going about it, but this way seemed to work pretty well for me. If you know an easier way, please feel free to leave a comment on how you go about "chipping" chocolate.

Lie the chocolate bar on the cutting board. Use a long knife to press into chocolate, holding onto the handle and applying pressure on the blade. By using the knife like a see-saw, rock the pressure back and forth to cut the chocolate into strips. Turn the cutting board and using the same method, cut in the opposite direction until the chocolate is roughly chip sized. I like to vary the size of the chunks from very small to the size of a dime. I also like a lot of chocolate chips in each cookie, but feel free to vary the amount to your preference.

If you have a stand mixer or a second set of helping hands, you can do this while the dough is mixing.

Step 3: Mixing the Dough

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Combine the Sugar (1 1/2 cup), Butter (1/2 cup), Vanilla extract (1 tsp), and eggs (2). Mix well.

Sift the dry ingredients: Flour (2 3/4 cups), Baking soda (1 tsp), Cream of Tartar (1/2 tsp), Salt (1/4 tsp), Cinnamon (1 tsp), and a pinch of Cayenne pepper. Mix into the sugar mixture.

Add the chocolate and mix until integrated.

Step 4: Forming the Cookies

Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl: Sugar (2 Tbsp), Cinnamon (2 tsp), and a pinch of cayenne pepper. This will be the powdered coating to the cookies.

The dough isn't that sticky and can easily be handled. Form the dough into balls roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Arrange balls on a prepared cookie sheet (spray it with cooking spray or use parchment paper) roughly an 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.

This recipe should make 20-22 cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-10 min.

When they are done, immediately move them to a cooling rack.

Let them cool for a bit, then eat and enjoy. Cookie are the best warm out of the oven with a tall glass of milk.