Dear Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, Please Marry Me.

Tonnya, a lady I find especially fun and one of J's longtime employees is moving away to St. Louis. Tonight is her going away party and J asked me to bake something up for the event. Tonnya is kind of a spicy gal so I decided whatever I baked had to be equally spicy. Enter Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Vegan Cupcakes Invade Your Cookie Jar. When I started baking these this morning, I had no friggin idea they would be so amazing. For the love of all that is good, these cookies are the IT cookies. Not even Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, my go-to perfect cookie, can compare.

I will mention here, if you are afraid of a little spice, then these aren't the cookies for you. That would be a shame though because you'd be missing out on the most delicious thing. It's up to you...play it safe or live a little.

Recipe:

For the Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the Awesome Cookies:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 Tbsp. almond milk (or whatever non dairy milk you love most)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. chocolate extract (or more vanilla if you have no chocolate)

1 2/3 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the topping ingredients together in a shallow bowl or on a plate and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together oil, sugar, syrup, and milk. Then mix in the extracts.

Sift in remaining ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all ingredients are added mix until you’ve got a pliable dough.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Pat into the sugar topping to flatten into roughly 2 inch discs. Transfer to baking sheet, sugar side up, at least 2 inches apart (they do spread). This should be easy as the the bottom of the cookies should just stick to your fingers so you can just flip them over onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through. The cookies should be a bit spread and crackly on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.