Mexican Chocolate Cookies with Hot Peppah Jelly

KK concocted these cookies last year as a vehicle for our Hot Peppah Jelly. Adapted from a homemade sandwich cookie recipe by Wayne Harley Brachman (in his Retro Desserts cookbook), she's added a little zing to create a grown-up cookie.

Mexican Chocolate Cookies with Hot Peppah Jelly

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon (or more, if you'd like) ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Set racks in the middle and upper third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a bowl thoroughly mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, and vanilla, and combine until the dough is thoroughly mixed and massed together.

Place small drops of batter (about 1/2-inch) onto a non-stick or greased cookie sheet at 2-inch intervals. With wet fingers, round out and flatten each drop a little. Bake for 8 minutes, turning the pans once, until the cookies are set. Place the cookies on a rack to cool.

Make the sandwiches:
Place a small dollop of Hot Peppah Jelly on one cookie, then top with another.

BTW--the cookies end up crunchy (like Oreos). If you store the sandwiches pre-made with the jelly, they get a bit soggy (which is yummy). But if you want them to stay crunchy, construct just before serving.

Hot Peppah Jelly Stir Fry

HPJ adds a wonderful sweet/spicy flavor to a simple stir fry. Add a dollop--along with some garlic and soy sauce--to a slightly sweet, stout green (bok choy is especially delish), and you'll have an incredibly flavorful side. Add some fresh noodles (like udon) and a little protein to create a satisfying main dish.

A Disappearing Act: HPJ & Cream Cheese

Nanita's most famous crowd pleaser (foodwise, that is) is one of the easiest--and most popular--ways to serve hot peppah jelly. Place cream cheese on a plate, make a little moat on the top with a back of a spoon, then top with HPJ. Serve with crackers.

Instead of Honey...

Hot Peppah Jelly is a fabulous honey substitute. Nanita's always put a teeny bit in tea, which is especially wonderful when you're fighting a cold, so I've decided I'm going to experiment with other things.

I have a package of fairly lame blue corn pancake mix in the cupboard. Wanting to make it taste good (instead of like eating a field...in a bad way), I decided to change the recipe a bit, replacing the 2 teaspoons of honey with our jelly. Needless to say, yum! It added so much flavor I didn't need to add syrup or butter. Perhaps a healthier alternative?

KK's Easy Apple Cake

This wonderful cake is adapted from one of my hometown's Bicentennial cookbooks (hooray for Farm Women Group #8, Halifax, PA). I'm not the world's greatest baker--I like to play with ingredient amounts and usually mess up the chemistry of things in the process--but this is just about the easiest cake recipe I've ever seen. I added lots of additional spices...and it's fantastic with a little Peppah Jelly!

Easy Apple Cake

• 3 medium tart apples, diced
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• a dash of salt
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl--the moisture from the apples will help produce a thick batter. Spread into a 9x7–inch baking pan. Bake for 40 minutes.

The First Batch of 2009 Is In!

Yesterday was a beautiful late-September Saturday, but we spent most of the day in the kitchen producing our first jelly of the year! It's been a rough year in the garden, and we were worried about our little peppers. How would they ultimately fare in the oddball cold, wet, Northeast summer we had? Somehow, they persevered.

Frankly, we think this crop is better than last year's.

We have 4, 8, 12, and 16 ounce jars available for all of the HPJ fans out there, so drop us a line if you'd like some! And don't worry if this batch sells out, there's lots more to come--especially for the holidays!

And send us your HPJ recipes and stories--we'll post them here!