Mexican mystery solved?

Michelle emailed me not long after I posted "The Joy of Mexican Chocolate" to tell me the following: "Sometimes the internet does work...
I typed Saveur Mexican icebox cookies into google and found someone's blog that has the original recipe and who noticed that Saveur put 1/2 c. flour instead of 1 1/2 c. flour by mistake."

According to the said blog the original recipe comes from Maida Heatter's Great Book of Chocolate Desserts. This typo explains why the cookies we made are nearly flourless and why they turned out crisp-style and not like the cookies featured in Saveur's accompanying photo.

The recipe should read as follows:

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup quality “Dutch-process” unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
12 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Whisk the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined (in other words, do not overwork the dough).

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9” log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours and as long as overnight.

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds and 1/3” thick. Place rounds 1” apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to let cool.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

How are they? Sensational.

aj