Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles (Vegan)

These yummy chocolate cookies are a little different in that they are spiced up with a little cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Quite a nice match actually. :) They are originally from the book Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowith and Terry Hope Romero. I hope you and your vegan friends are going to enjoy them as much as we did.

• Ready In: 22 mins
• Yields: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• For the topping

• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon

• For the cookies

• 1⁄2 cup  oil (canola is specified in the book, but any neutral oil will do)
• 1  cup sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar)
• 1⁄4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3  tablespoons  non-dairy milk (I used vanilla oat milk)
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  teaspoon  chocolate extract (I used more vanilla as I could not find it)
• 1 2⁄3 cups flour (I used spelt flour)
• 1⁄2 cup  unsweetend cocoa powder (I think carob powder would work well, too)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or try chili powder)

Directions

1. Mix the topping ingredients on a large dinner plate. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine oil, sugar, syrup and milk using a fork. You have to stir quite vigorously to get them all combined nicely.
3. Add the extracts.
4. In a second bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and spices). Add them to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Mix until you have a pliable dough. If it is too wet add a tad more flour, if its too dry add a tad more milk.
5. Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut. Roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and place them on a paper-lined baking sheet. Use your palm to flatten them into about 2 inch disks. In the book it says to leave at least 2 inches space between the cookies as they will spread, however mine did not spread very much.
6. Bake in the preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 10-12 minutes. Cookies should crackle on top.
7. Remove from the oven, let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire-rack to cool completely.