Spicy hot oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with added heat from a touch of ghost pepper will wake up your tastebuds and make you crave more. What to know beforehand:Ghost pepper is some pretty hot stuff. The original recipe calls for ¼ teaspoon and I thought that was such a small amount. But LET ME TELL YOU IT”S NOT. You may want to start with a scant ¼ teaspoon rather than a full one. Be careful when measuring and mixing as you don’t want to inhale this because it’s hot! I add the ghost pepper powder with the butter and sugar and mix it for three minutes rather than adding it with the dry ingredients. I feel this way it really gets evenly distributed with the fat of the butter.These cookies tend to spread a little while baking. Space them out on the baking sheet to ensure they don’t spread into each other. I scoop nine per baking sheet.Makes about 20 cookies.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and ghost pepper together on medium-high for 3 minutes. I add the ghost pepper powder with the butter and sugar and mix it for three minutes rather than adding it with the dry ingredients. I feel this way it really gets evenly distributed with the fat of the butter. It’s also safer to add this way because if it’s mixed in with the flour, it could poof up into the air when adding.
Add the egg and bourbon or vanilla and continue to beat on medium-high until the mixture is lightened in color. I let it go for another 5 minutes. Mixing for this long melts the sugar and spice into the butter.
In the meantime, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Add the dry mixture to the sugar mixture and mix until it's just combined. Add in the chocolate chips and just mix until they're incorporated.
Scoop using a #20 scoop (3 tablespoons), spacing them apart on the prepared baking sheets. I can fit 9 cookies per baking sheet. If you don’t have a scoop, just measure out 3 tablespoons of dough then rough up the surface with a fork.
Bake for 11 - 13 minutes, until golden on the outside but still a little soft in the middle. It's better to slightly undercook if you want chewy cookies. If you crispier cookies, cook them a few minutes longer. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack.
Optional:
Sprinkle the top of the baked cookies with a little Maldon sea salt or regular sea salt.
Notes
Note 1: I baked these as is then wanted to see if a little sea salt sprinkled on top after baking would add any benefit and for me it did. This is optional. I used Maldon sea salt but you can use regular sea salt.
Note 2: Original recipe called for 325 degree temp and they took about 14 - 15 minutes to bake. I turned up the heat to 350 degrees as I do for my oatmeal raisin cookies and found it took 11 - 13 minutes and the result was the same.