I sent a bunch of my El Paso-inspired Chocolate & Chipotle (Holy Hole!) Cookies to Evelyn and her students. I have to admit that I was really nervous about how they’d grade my homework. It looks like I did OK. But this El Paso audience definitely likes a heavy hand when it comes to the heat!
Thank you all for being my real-life cookie tasters! It was very useful to hear your feedback. In fact, I'm going to continue tweaking this El Paso-inspired cookie so that the heat and smoke of the chipotle really shine through. For the final, cookbook-ready recipe, I'm thinking of cutting back on the cinnamon, increasing the chiptole a little (aye caramba!), and maybe even adding pecans for some crunch.
From Evelyn:
“Greg: Your Holy Mole cookies were a big hit with my class. It was all I could do to hold on to three of them for myself, my husband, and Kate [Evelyn’s coauthor]! Oh, and we took a vote on whether they were not hot enough, just right, or too hot. No one thought that they were too hot! Of 18 students, exactly half (9) said that they were just right and half (9) said that they were not hot enough. They insisted that I break the tie: I thought that they weren't hot enough.”
From Lisa, Juan, Monica, and Darrell:
“The chocolate chipotle cookies taste great. We suggest more chipotle and less cinnamon. Before tasting the cookies we were skeptical, but now we are believers in the power of the chocolate chipotle cookies. The aroma is sweet and enticing, while the taste reveals a chipotle, cinnamony flavor, and we ate every bit. MMM MMM-good. These cookies will convert skeptics who believe chipotle and cookies don't complement one another.”
From Jennifer and Olga:
“They were delicious! Once we all took a bite, our taste buds were electrified; it seemed as if we walked into a Tollhouse cookie factory, and sampled fresh homemade cookies. They were chewy, and it seemed as if a professional chef had made them. It was a nice plethora of different flavors that kept us guessing at the various ingredients in the cookie. After the cookie settled in our mouths, there was an underlying burst of chipotle. The cinnamon added a nice twist when mixed with the chipotle, and the graham crackers gave a new kick to the ordinary “grandma” oatmeal cookies; you spiffed them up! This is one excellent recipe that would really “wow” your oatmeal cookie lovers, and we truly recommend it for your cookbook. As for the name Holy Mole, we suggest ‘Ay Caramba!’ instead, if you’d ever like to change it.”
From Miguel, Lily, Edmundo, and Keila:
“First of all thank you for the cookies! We were having a hard time typing this as we couldn’t seem to put this cookie down! It was very good and tasted quite different from what we’ve tasted before. We would suggest a little less cinnamon and maybe add some nuts. The chili doesn’t seem to have enough kick. Down here we all have had a jalapeno since we could eat solid foods. We suggest a mild, medium, and hot recipe. We think this is the mild version! Overall the cookie tastes quite good. We appreciate what you do and thank you very much for including us.”
Thanks again, everybody for your feedback!
I think these cookies were great -- chocolaty and cinnamony at the start and hot and spicy at the finish -- a perfect combo.
Posted by: Jonnazz | August 01, 2008 at 04:18 PM