Double Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies with a Spicey Twist

Oh these polarizing chocolate cookies - you will either love them or hate them! They are my husband's least favorite thing I make, but everyone else raves about them. I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, but have tweaked it a bit (for the original see http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/toasted-coconut-double-chocolate-cookies-with-sea-salt/ ). The tweaks were inspired by the lovely Carly Piccarello - aka cooking genius. If you like chocolate with a Mexican twist, you will love these cookies! 

First, toast the coconut in a skillet on the stove until your kitchen smells amazing and the coconut is brown but not burnt. Set that aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and shortening, and stir in the sugars. Once the sugar is mixed in, add the eggs and the vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, salt, soda, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. Mix the flour mixture into the cream mixture until dry ingredients are mostly absorbed - dump in the toasted coconut and the chocolate chips. Drop onto cookie sheets and place in a preheated oven (350) - I use an ice cream scoop to get the perfect round shape. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until they are just a bit wobbly in the middle, but stable around the edges. Just before you think they are done, pull them out of the oven and sprinkle with sea salt and then place them back in the oven for a minute or two. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for a couple of minutes, then place them on a cooling wrack and then buen provecho!

 

1 cup Flaked Sweetened Coconut
1/2 cup Butter, Softened
1/2 cup Shortening
2/3 cup Sugar (you can add a bit less of both sugars)

2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1-3/4 cups plus 2 T. Flour
3/4 cup plus 2 T. Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (you can add less if you like - 1 tsp = picante – 1/2 to 3/4 tsp is just right if you like a little less spice)
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Sea Salt