Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies

Tim found this recipe posted on Cloverleaf's (a favorite wine and beer store in a Detroit suburb) forum almost exactly 3 years ago, and he's been asking me to make them ever since. Why haven't I made them until now? I have this funny thing about cinnamon and chocolate together. I've never really liked the combination. But today I decided to be nice and surprise him with cookies. Made just for him. I spend a lot of time making stuff for coworkers and bake sales, so maybe he feels left out sometimes.

Why in all that is holy didn't I ever notice before that there is MORE COCOA THAN FLOUR in this recipe? How could that have slipped below my radar? That can't be anything but good.

1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup dutch-process unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2-3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
12 tb cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, vanilla and egg into the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed until pale and thick. Add butter and continue to beat until smooth. Carefully add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9 inch log. Wrap each log in parchment paper or wax paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F. Unwrap dough and slice logs into rounds about 1/3 inch thick. Place rounds about 1/2 inch apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, 8-10 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack or cool surface and let cool.

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You can barely taste the cinnamon. What it does is give the chocolate a warmth and depth. And the two peppers leave a nice lingering afterglow. These are black and deeply chocolaty and cakey. Very good.

Sorry I took so long to make these, Timmeh.