Being bored at work leads to some strange things: paper airplane wars, “funny” cat gifs, random dance parties, etc. And since most of the time I am the one instigating said wars and parties, a lot of strange looks from my coworkers.

If you have never had a solo dance party at your desk to stave off boredom, let me tell you: you are missing out. They are the best.

But when enough people at work are feeling blah, there is only one thing that can cure the general ennui:

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While I firmly believe tacos are an anytime food, the alliterative magic of Taco Tuesday cannot be overstated.

You know what else is an anytime food? Cookies…suck it Cookie Monster.

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Yeah. You heard me you turncoat. Cookies are an ANYTIME FOOD.

So what exactly makes a chocolate cookie a Mexican chocolate cookie? Cinnamon and cayenne.

Now, may of you may be thinking, “Stacey, you seem to add cinnamon to everything.” To those people I respond:

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The cookies come out a well balanced sweet and spicy. A perfect complement to tacos.

As with any cookies, you begin by creaming together sugar and butter.

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I was making this for a crowd so I doubled the recipe which is why there was a lot of butter and sugar in my bowl.

Next you scrape down the sides of your bowl, add your eggs and vanilla, then mix until combined and your batter looks a bit like thick cake batter.

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Now your dry ingredients. Because there is so much sugar in the recipe, I went with a dark cocoa powder which is a little more bitter than regular unsweetened cocoa. Hershey Special Dark is readily available in most grocery stores and it is a good mix of Dutch cocoa and regular cocoa.

The real kicker though is the spices you use. Most of the spice flavor will come from the cinnamon, but you want that little tingle at the back of your throat and for that you need cayenne. The trick is not to use so much you burn your mouth off. A quarter teaspoon will do it almost every time. You want super spicy? Use a third of a teaspoon. Any more than that and you won’t taste anything but the cayenne.

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Once you get your dry ingredients mixed in, the batter will still be very soft. That’s when it’s time to bust out your secret weapon:

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The cookie scoop is your friend. You ever wonder how bloggers get such evenly shaped cookies? This bad boy right here.

You could just as easily use a tablespoon, but it’s going be messier so be prepared.

The other trick is to only bake these cookies for 10 minutes and not a minute more. They will residual bake on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and that is how you get soft, chewy cookies every time.

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And just how did Taco Tuesday go at work, you ask? It went this good!

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Happy Tuesday!

Adapted from Back to My Southern Roots