3 Pepper Spice Cookies

Oh.My.Sugary-Spicy.Goodness.

I have found my 2010 favourite Christmas baked goodie. 

So about a month ago I signed up for the Better Home & Garden 12 days of baking emails and every day for 12 days I received mouth-watering emails that only added to my list of to-bake items.

Among the many this recipe popped out at me: 3 Pepper Spice Cookies.

Three pepper?!?

Yep. We Stricklands like our spicy foods. Cayenne, chili pepper & black pepper. 

Now I looked everywhere {sorta} for this ground chili pepper but I couldn't find it. So I ground up some red pepper flakes and voila! Red pepper! 

These are spicy {of course} but they also are very spiced if that makes sense - clove, ginger and cinnamon give these delicious morsels a really full and warm taste. And then dipped in chocolate...I die.

So I thought I'd share the recipe here with you. Enjoy!

3 Pepper Spice Cookies

adapted from Better Homes & Garden

ingredients

     2/3  cup  butter, softened

     1 cup  sugar

     1 ½   teaspoons  baking powder

     ½  teaspoon  ground ancho chile pepper {I used red pepper flakes ground up}

     ½  teaspoon  finely ground black pepper

     ½  teaspoon  ground ginger

     ½   teaspoon  ground cloves

     ½ teaspoon  ground cinnamon

     ¼ teaspoon  cayenne pepper

     1 egg

     1 tablespoon  milk

     2 cups all-purpose flour

     Medium-grind black pepper

     10 ounces chocolate, coarsely chopped

     1 tablespoon shortening

directions

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ground chile/red pepper, the 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl ocasionally. Beat in egg and milk until combined. Add the flour. If necessary, knead dough slightly to blend. Shape dough into a ball. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 6-12-inch-long roll {the longer the roll, the smaller your cookies. My second batch looked like two cucumbers before I cut them}. Wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper; chill 4 to 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle cookies with medium-grind black pepper. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are golden. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool.

3. In a small saucepan, combine chocolate and shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip each cookie halfway in melted chocolate; shake off excess. Place chocolate-dipped cookies on waxed paper. Let stand until chocolate is set. Makes about 60 cookies.

Also, don't use your coffee grinder to grind up whole cloves and red pepper flakes. Just sayin'.