Holy Cayenne, Batman,These Cookies Are Amazing!

I am a big fan of chocolate and cayenne together. One of my favorite ice creams in the world is from Jeni's in Columbus ( http://www.jenisicecreams.com/), Queen City Cayenne. Lucky for me, she ships her ice cream so I don't have to wait until I'm in Columbus to eat it. Gravel Road, salty caramel with roasted almonds thrown in, is another favorite. But, I digress. I was copying down some recipes I've torn out of magazines over the years and discovered an intriguing recipe for chocolate spice cookies, containing a decent amount of cayenne, cut out of an old copy (Nov. '04) of Real Simple, one of my favorite magazines. Pie and I made them today for baking day at Camp Daria and they are spectacular! My current favorite cookie of all cookies! And I keep everything to make them on hand. Woohoo!!! Pie loves them, too, and he usually hates anything spicy. When he was eating the dough, he said, "Okay, for some reason, the back of my throat is starting to burn a little." But, he kept eating. I can't wait to try them on Boot, who puts hot sauce on everything.

Spicy Chocolate Cookies

1 & 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. cocoa
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne (I used 1/4 and highly recommend doing likewise)
1 stick butter, cut into pieces
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add egg & vanilla and beat until fluffy. Gradually add flour until just incorporated. On wax paper, roll dough into 10" by 1 & 1/2" to 2" cylinder. Wrap tightly and chill at least 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4" slices. Place 1" apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Makes 2 dozen.