I don’t know where the recipe for Mayan Mystery Cookies originated. I do know a dear friend from childhood gave me this recipe when my now-adult children were young and it has been a staple in our cookie-baking repertoire ever since. Over the years, I’ve made subtle changes to the recipe, based on our tastes. Simple to make, yet complex in flavor, with rich chocolatiness and a hint of heat from some unexpected ingredients, it’s one of the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever had. It’s going to become one of your favorites, I’m sure! 

Save this recipe for Mayan Mystery Cookies to Pinterest so you can make them often. Photo courtesy Canva.com. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Hungry for more? If you like spiced cookies, you’ll love this recipe for Moravian cookies.

Mayan Mystery Cookies

A huge “thank you” to whomever created this recipe, long ago. I don’t know who you are, but I’m grateful to you. The spices intensify the chocolate flavor, making it a sure bet for chocolate-lovers. I’ve put my own tweaks on the recipe, both in ingredients and method.

Ingredients:

¾ c. butter
¾ c. sugar
1½ c. all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. finely ground black pepper
¼ tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
¾ c. cocoa powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate morsels

Hungry for more? Bake some Spitzbuben at a cookie baking party.

Instructions:

Cream the butter and sugar together.
Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and cocoa and add to the butter mixture.
Add egg and vanilla and mix.

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap and spoon the dough, which will be crumbly, onto the plastic. With the help of the plastic wrap, gather the dough together, pressing it into a log. Wrap the log in the plastic to keep it together and chill the dough log for one hour.

Remove the log and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a piece of parchment paper or a Silpat liner on a large cookie sheet.

Take equal(ish) size pieces from the log and form the dough into balls about the size of a ping pong ball, tucking 4-5 chocolate morsels into each as you mold it. Press down lightly so they are more of a slightly squashed ball, but keep them thick. Because they don’t spread, you can put them closer together to fit a lot on one cookie sheet. Other recipes for Mayan Mystery Cookies have you roll the cookies in sugar. This really isn’t necessary – they are sweet enough.

Bake 8 minutes (and no more!) at 350 degrees. Because the cookies don’t spread, and retain their shape, it’s hard to know they are done by appearance only. Do NOT bake more than the 8 minutes because they will become hard as a rock. They should be dry to the touch but tender inside.

-By Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher and Managing Editor, Real Food Traveler

Hungry for more? Make this delicate Queen Victoria’s Hearts Cookie.

Please note: RealFoodTraveler.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn a small amount of advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com while providing convenience for the reader. This in no way effects the prices of any products you may purchase in conjunction with this link.