05 May Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I hope that you are celebrating with tubs full of guacamole and margaritas! Or is that just a Texas thing?

Here in Texas, we have strong roots in Mexican heritage. For example, Tex-Mex. That cheesy, greasy cross between traditional Mexican and cowboy foods, best washed down with a margarita or an ice cold Mexican beer. In downtown Austin, while we don’t always pronounce them correctly, most of the street names are Spanish: Guadalupe, Rio Grande, Nueces, Brazos…and on and on. We eat breakfast tacos the way the rest of the country eats bagels. I could keep going but the point is, we take Cinco de Mayo very seriously.

This Cinco de Mayo is a bittersweet one for me. It is the first year since freshman year of college (that’s 7 years, if you’re counting) that my best friends and I have not been together for our annual “Cinco de Drunko” celebration. And while my liver is thanking me for the absence of tequila shots, I sure am missing my girls. Some of our very best memories have been made on this very day…it’s not the same without you ladies here.

As tradition goes, “Por arriba! Por abajo! Por al centro! Por adentro!” -tequila shot down, grimace face-

On to the cookies, or should I say las galletas. Mexican Hot Chocolate, which supposedly dates back to the days of Montezuma,  is unique in that it’s made with vanilla, cinnamon and chili powder. These Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies give you the sweet chocolately taste that we all love with a little kick at the end. I know chili powder in cookies may sound unappealing but trust me, they’re fantastic. I even think kids would love them.  If you must, you can leave out the chili pepper and cayenne. The cinnamon will still provide enough spice to give these cookies a unique twist on the traditional.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.

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