Enjoy an Espresso Cookie anytime, anywhere! A thin, crisp butter shortbread cookie flecked with espresso flakes. Decorate them or leave them plain, either way, they’ll melt in the mouth good!
This is my recipe for shortbread with an Espresso flavor profile. So, grab a hot cup of tea, an Espresso Cookie or two, sit back and enjoy, but be forewarned – these Cookies are addictive!
Ingredients
- Flour: all purpose.
- Sugar: white granulated.
- Butter: salted, room temperature.
- Espresso powder.
- Chocolate chips: semi sweet, optional.
- White baking chips: optional.
- Espresso beans: optional.
Instructions
1) Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix well on medium.
2) When well blended, add espresso powder.
3) Then add flour, and mix until blended.
4) Form together into a ball and place on a board.
5) Cut the dough ball into 2.
6) Wrap in plastic film and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours to rest.
7) On a Silpat baking sheet, roll the chilled dough out until it is about ¼ inch thick.
8) Using a cookie cutter of choice, (mine is 3 inches in diameter), cut cookies in the dough. I got about 22 cookies from this recipe.
9) Peel away (remove) the surrounding dough. Use the leftover dough for more cookies. Repeat steps 7-9 until all the dough has been used. Bake in a pre heated 350 degrees F oven for 20 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool. There is no need to transfer them to a cooling rack, so keep them on the Silpat mat.
Melt the white baking chips in the microwave for about 20 seconds (timing will depend on the wattage of your microwave). If the chips have not melted fully, then continue melting them by adding 5 seconds each time. Do the same with the semi sweet chocolate chips. When both ‘chocolates’ have melted, decorate the cookies. Add a few Espresso beans on top.
The quantity of white and semi sweet chocolates in this recipe is enough to decorate half the yield of cookies.
Flexibility with Ingredients
All purpose flour works best, but if you want to use some whole wheat, use half whole wheat and half white. Using only whole wheat flour will make the dough too dry.
Brown or date sugar can be used instead of white. Do not use a liquid sweetener such as honey or maple syrup.
Use butter because there is no substitute!
Instant coffee can be substituted for espresso powder.
The white baking chips, semi sweet chocolate chips and espresso beans are optional and used only to decorate. Butterscotch chips could be used instead.
Flexibility with the Instructions
A hand mixer and bowl can be used instead of a stand mixer.
Resting the Espresso Cookie dough will make better cookies. Resting Cookie dough means to place it wrapped in a refrigerator. This hydrates the flour and allows the flavors to blend and become more rounded. Overnight chilling is best. Failing that, chill the dough for 1-2 hours. If that is too long, then complete steps 7-9 and freeze the Cookie discs for 15 minutes if you have a chest freezer.
Use a piece of parchment or wax paper if you don’t have a Silpat mat, or grease your baking sheet well and transfer your cut out cookies onto it. I use a Silpat mat to preserve the shape of the cookies and to make preparation easier.
Uses for Espresso Cookie
These cookies can be eaten at any time. They are great with morning coffee, afternoon tea and as an easy dessert. They travel well and can be given to friends and family and where and when cookies are needed.
Another Cookie Recipe
For a heftier sweet treat, that is Keto approved and guilt free with only 5g net carbs, try these Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies.
Storage
Store in a metal cookie container. Stack the undecorated ones and store the decorated ones on top. They are able to be stored this way for 1 month. Freeze them on a baking sheet in a deep freezer, if possible, and once frozen, place them in a ziploc bag with the air extracted. Freeze them for up to 3 months.
Equipment
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A Tip From Me
A Silpat mat or baking sheet enables perfectly shaped, thin, crisp Cookies to be created. Oftentimes when cookies are cut on a board and transferred onto a baking sheet, their shape is compromised. Rolling the cookie dough out on a Silpat mat, cutting the cookies and removing the excess dough ensures perfectly shaped cookies and speedier cookie production!
Got Questions?
I’ve got answers – hopefully!
- How much caffeine is in each Espresso Cookie? There is approximately a total of 5mg of caffeine in this entire recipe, with a yield of 22 cookies, so about 0.23 mg caffeine per cookie. Compare this to an 8 oz cup of drip coffee which contains on average 95 mg of caffeine, so, in short, each cookie contains a minuscule amount of caffeine.
- How is this Cookie different than butter shortbread Cookie? Good question, this is my butter shortbread Cookie recipe with espresso powder added.
- What other ingredients do you recommend adding to this Espresso Cookie recipe? I recommend adding a chocolate component to the cookie itself, not just in the decoration of it. Add 4 oz of unsweetened cocoa powder to give these cookies more of a mocha flavor.
Espresso Cookie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 oz all purpose flour
- 8 oz salted butter room temperature
- 4 oz sugar
- 4 tsp espresso powder
- 3 oz semi sweet chocolate chips optional
- 2 oz white baking chips optional
- 1 tbsp roasted coffee beans optional
Instructions
- Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix well on medium.
- When well blended, add espresso powder.
- Then add flour, and mix until blended.
- Form together into a ball and place on a board.
- Cut the dough ball into 2.
- Wrap in plastic film and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours to rest.
- On a Silpat baking sheet, roll the chilled dough out until it is about ¼ inch thick.
- Using a cookie cutter of choice, (mine is 3 inches in diameter), cut cookies in the dough.
- Peel away (remove) the surrounding dough. Use the leftover dough for more cookies. Repeat steps 7-9 until all the dough has been used. Bake in a pre heated 350 degrees F oven for 20 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool. There is no need to transfer them to a cooling rack. Keep them on the Silpat mat.
- Melt the white baking chips in the microwave for about 20 seconds (timing will depend on the wattage of your microwave). If the chips have not melted fully, continue melting them by adding 5 seconds each time. Do the same with the semi sweet chocolate chips. When both 'chocolates' have melted, spread the chocolate onto the surface of the cookies to decorate them. Add a few Espresso beans on top.
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