My pantry, in the words of my children, is messy. They're being kind--disaster area would be more fitting.
Enough canisters of half-eaten gotta-try-this-flavor-or-I'll-die Pringles™ decorate the shelves to designate my house as a chip factory. Packages of smiling, plump gummy candy faces are deposited into snack bins and reappear months later resembling petrology samples.
A few days ago I took a deep breath, took a break from my schedule, left my dental records with the husband and organized the pantry. During my adventure I found three unopened boxes of instant hot chocolate, another victim of my family's "gotta have it" shopping trips.
Winters are mild here, and there's no way we'd finish all the packets before they became stale.
After some research we created a spicy, chocolatey cookie that goes great with a cup of coffee.
Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies
Makes: Approx. 2 dozen cookies
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4- 0.71 oz. envelopes dark Nestle™ hot chocolate
2 ½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. salt
½ cup margarine
½ cup sugar
½ cup coconut palm sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, hot chocolate, cinnamon and pepper. Set aside.
Cream together the sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in a separate large bowl.
Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips to the butter mixture and mix until well-combined.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets and flatten slightly.
Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and top each cookie with 4-5 mini-marshmallows.
Return to oven and bake for an additional 7 minutes.
Allow to cool 8-10 minutes before transferring cookies to a plate.