If you are a chocolate lover of any kind, and happen to be in the Distillery District of Toronto, make a point to get your taste buds to SOMA Chocolatier. It is AHHH-mazing. Aside from ooooodles of chocolates, they have cookies, nuts, and gelato. They also have hot chocolate- it’s more like liquid ganache, which totally suits me just fine. The Mayan elixir is spicy with orange and ginger, so it really gets your palate working. It is rich, so a serving the size of a shot of espresso is adequate!
I no longer live close enough to get this on any regular basis, and recently finished what mix I’d bought the last time I was there. 😦 I wanted to come up with some cookies that were along the same lines, so I could reminisce a little and, more importantly, eat chocolate cookies. These are inspired by hot chocolate and are chocolate that are slightly spicy, so they are aptly named: Hot Chocolate Cookies.
Hot Chocolate Cookies
225 g butter, room temperature
300 g brown sugar
2 large eggs
265 g all-purpose flour
70 g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you want it SPICY)
1/4 teaspoon orange zest, or a drop of orange extract
1/2 teaspoon ginger
250 g chocolate chips- I mixed dark, milk and white
Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and brown sugar just until uniform. Add eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Sift dry ingredients into bowl, and mix just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Add chips, and mix. Scoop by portion scoop or drop by teaspoons onto parchment lined sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, turning halfway through.
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