Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookie

I know, don't hate me that I've spent so much time away. Work has kept me busy beyond belief.
Since I spend so much time at the agency believe it or not my inspiration for these delish baked goods came from a photograph.

As I walked passed the Art Buyer's desk (which always has these great promotional pieces from photographers, illustrators, and designers) I saw a photo of a cookie that looked so real I immediately grabbed it. Immediately my guilt set in and I put it back, but I came back to her desk to tell her that photo of the cookie looked so good I wanted to eat it. Then she told me it had the cookie recipe on the back.

And can you believe it was raining in L.A., a miracle. So I made the vow that day in front of everyone that I was going to go home and bake those cookies. I love to bake when it's cold and rainy outside. I took a photocopy of the photograph and recipe and went home to the task at hand. I did do a little research as the recipe was from a Bon Appetit in 1997 but the recipe didn't match the photograph which had a chocolate kiss in the middle. I saw quite a few comments about the cookies and decided to make some adjustments to the recipe. I doubled the cinnamon and black pepper and then added in cayenne pepper. These cookies tasted spicy when you ate into them but left a nice warm aftertaste. A fun alternative for the basic chocolate chip cookie.

My Recipe:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (original had only 1 tsp)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (original had 1/8 tsp)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (original didn't have cayenne pepper)
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla. Sift next 6 ingredients over butter mixture; beat just until blended. Mix in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden brown but still soft to touch, about 8 minutes. Pull backing sheet out and stick one unwrapped chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie and then put back in the oven for approximately 4 minutes. Let stand on sheets 3 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

Store in air tight container.

So far they have stayed fresh and soft for about a week. Oh and did my photograph match the photographers? No it didn't, bummer deal. The Art Buyer and I conclude that the cookies on his promo piece were raw cookie dough. We'll find out for sure once we ask the original photographer as I know my image pales in comparison to his.