Mexican Chocolate Wedding Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Mexican chocolate has cinnamon in it and so do these cookies, hence the name. Traditional Mexican wedding cookies don’t have either, but that doesn’t stop these from being light and delicious, if not authentic.

I adapted this chocolate version from the traditional recipe at Mexico in My Kitchen.

The month our Creative Cookie Exchange group is planning ahead for Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that celebrates Mexican heritage and culture with food, drink and dancing, in short, with fiestas. I decided to take a favorite cookie for weddings in Mexico and mix it up a bit, adding chocolate and tossing it in powdered sugar and cocoa. Turns out chocolate wedding cookies weren’t my idea first but that’s okay. I felt creative for a little while till I found out.

Note to future self: When big, bright idea strikes, stop researching. 

Ingredients for 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on how big you roll them
For the cookie dough:
3/4 cup or 170g butter, softened
1/3 cup or 40g powdered or confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups or 220g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup 225g ground pecans
1/2 cup or 100g semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt

For the coating:
1/2 cup or 65g powdered or confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup or 20g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method
Blitz your chocolate chips in a food processor until they are ground into little bits.

With electric beaters or in a stand mixer, cream the butter and the powdered sugar together until the butter turns pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add in the vanilla and then beat again.

In another bowl, mix together the other (dry) dough ingredients.

Add the dry mixture to the fluffy butter one cup at a time, beating well in between, until it’s all mixed in and you have a nice stiff dough.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for an hour in the refrigerator or 30 minutes in the freezer.

It's lovely and speckled!

Meanwhile, combine your coating ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

I gave them a solid whisking to mix them together and break up any lumps. 

When you are ready to start baking, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Cut off small pieces of the dough and roll them into balls about an inch or 2 1/2cm wide.

Put them on a ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Cool for a couple of minutes and then, very carefully, transfer the cookies to a wire rack. If you squeeze too hard, the cookies might crumble, as you can see.

While the cookies are still warm, roll them in the coating.

Enjoy!

 

If you would like to join the fun and bake with the Creative Cookie Exchange, just contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Facebook page, our Pinterest Board, and our monthly posts which are published the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! 

If you are looking for Cinco de Mayo inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made this month:

• Mexican Chocolate Wedding Cookies from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Polvorones con Chocolate from Laura The Spiced Life
• Mexican Hot Cocoa Thumbprint Cookies from Sophie at Sweet Cinnamon & Honey
• Feast Day Cookies from Felice at All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Margarita Cookies from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Cinnamon Coffee Meringue Cookies from Kim at NinjaBaking.com
• Cinnamon and Piloncillo Cookies from Renee at Magnolia Days
• Chocolate Chilli Roll Out Cookies from Jill at Made with Love
• Dulce de Leche Alfajores from Holly at A Baker’s House
• Triple Orange Mexican Cookies from Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars from Kathya at Basic N Delicious

Mexican Chocolate Muffins #MuffinMonday

One of the joys of living and traveling all over the world is finding new ingredients to try.  This week’s Muffin Monday and my travels back home for my dear grandmother’s funeral gave me the opportunity to try something that originates a little closer to Houston, Texas, my hometown.

Our chosen ingredients this week are chocolate and spice so it didn’t take long for me to think of Mexican chocolate which comes already mixed with cinnamon, almond and vanilla flavorings.  It is a sweet rather granular chocolate, used in cooking mole and making hot chocolate.  In this case, it makes a tasty muffin.  If you can’t get Mexican chocolate where you live, the Food Network informs us  that a substitute can be created using semi-sweet chocolate and almond extract.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
7 oz or 200g Mexican chocolate, divided in half
1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Melt half of the Mexican chocolate in a microwaveable measuring cup by zapping it for 15 seconds at a time and stirring in between.  Melting mine took 30 seconds total.

Add your butter to the chocolate and microwave for another 15 seconds or until it is just melted.  Stir the chocolate and butter together and allow to cool.

Chop the remaining Mexican chocolate roughly.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and cooled butter/chocolate.

Add all the wet ingredients to the flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened.   Then fold in your chopped chocolate.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 before removing muffins from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!