Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between hot chocolate and Mexican hot chocolate? ›

Mexican hot chocolate contains spices like cinnamon and chili and chopped bittersweet chocolate to create a very rich but less sweet flavor. Whereas traditional American hot chocolate is usually made with a combination of cocoa powder and/or chocolate and tends to be more on the sweet side.

The Aztecs believed that chocolate was a gift from the gods and would only drink it on special occasions. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico, they began to add sugar and milk to the chocolate to make it more palatable. This is how Mexican hot chocolate came to be.

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies. Why use melted butter? Melted butter creates cookies with a different texture compared to cookies made with softened or creamed butter.

Chiles, nuts, and spices can also be worked into the mix, resulting in a complex, intense flavor. Besides its added ingredients, Mexican chocolate also has a more rustic texture than many other styles of chocolate.

How is Mexican hot chocolate different from other hot chocolates? Mexican hot chocolate has a different taste than other hot chocolates, as it has a bold chocolate taste and incorporates spices and flavors like cinnamon.

Cornstarch does kind of incredible things to cookies. I mean not only does it give them soft centers, prevents them from spreading, and makes them somewhat thick (in a good way), but it also contributes to the chewiness factor, which, in my opinion, is the most important cookie attribute.

Melted butter is important in cookie making because it helps create a unique texture and flavor that cannot be achieved with solid butter. During the melting process, the butter's water content evaporates, leaving only fat behind. This results in a more concentrated flavor and a softer texture in your cookies.

Also, underbaking them by a minute or 2 will help them retain a dense, chewy bite, explains Jenny McCoy, pastry baking arts chef-instructor at the Institute for Culinary Education in New York. Adding more moisture to your dough in the form of extra butter, egg yolks, or brown sugar will make your cookies even softer.

Why is it called Mexican chocolate? ›

In short, Mexican Chocolate differs from European Chocolate in processing, texture and origin. Theobroma Cacao, the scientific name for the tree that produces cacao pods, is native to South America and was first used and cultivated by the Ancient Mesoamerican Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures.

It has a noticeably grainy texture because it's processed only to the “liquor” stage, before it's poured into the disk-shaped molds to cool and harden. Classically, it's flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. To make the drink, this solid chocolate is broken into pieces, then just melted into a pot of hot milk.

Some historians believe the Aztecs liked bold flavors, so the kick that the spicy tinge added was probably a bonus. It also makes their beverage stand out from other international variations. After the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, xocoatl was imported to Europe and gradually became what we now know as chocolate.

Replace the Mexican chocolate called for in your recipe with an equal amount of semisweet chocolate or cocoa powder. Add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and, if you like, a drop of almond extract for every ounce of chocolate.