It has already been established that Valentine’s Day is
awesome.
There is no room for debate on this issue because I unfairly
justly implemented cupcakes into my argument.
Yes. That means I win.
Do you know what else wins? Coffee-Chocolate flavored
things. I think this flavor combination is called “Mocha”, but since I am not a
coffee drinker I am really not an expert on the subject.
Okay, we are taking a detour here because everyone just went
“WAHTTT? You don’t like coffee? Aren’t you a college student living in Seattle?
You’re crazy. Coffee is so amazing. It keeps you awake and it tastes good. I
love coffee! How can you not like coffee? Coffee…” I don’t like coffee. It
tastes like burnt water. Yes, even the so called “good” coffee. It’s gross. I
drink it maybe once a month when I am on the verge of physically harming myself
because I am so tired and I need caffeine. Usually a cup of tea is enough caffeine
for me, (okay, detour within a detour: TEA is amazing. Like the polar opposite
of coffee. Okay, back to detour one…) but sometimes when I only have two hours
of sleep behind me and I have no hope of getting to bed before 1 or 2 am I have
to resort to the evil of coffee to get me through. Ugh.
There. Detour over. We are back to happy things like
Valentine’s Day and cookies.
Cookies! Chocolate Coffee cookies to be exact. I usually don’t
decorate cookies with Royal icing for two reasons. Reason one is that it takes
foreverrrrrr. For. Ev. Er. I could probably get faster if I did it more often
and practiced. But I don’t because it takes forever. As aforementioned. But
really, it took me about five hours to make thirty cookies start to finish.
That’s a lot of hours, amigos.
Reason number two: it just doesn't taste as good as it
looks. And while I like things to look
pretty, I like them to taste good more. (That was a terrible sentence grammatically
speaking. But it’s okay, this blog is a judge free zone.) Royal icing is so
super sweet with no flavor other than just: SUGAR OVERLOAD FLAVOR!! But the
chocolate coffee cookies are so intensely dark tasting that a sugar crust to go
with it is perfect. It is pretty hard to find a fault with pretty cookies that
taste good. :D
And they are perfect for Valentine’s Day!
- Chocolate Coffee Cutout Cookies
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon instant coffee granules
- 1/2 teaspoon salt*
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- Beat together the sugar, butter, baking powder, vanilla, espresso powder, and salt until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.Whisk together the cocoa and flour, then beat into the egg and butter mixture until well blended. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease baking sheets. Divide the dough in half. Sprinkle both sides of each piece with extra flour, to keep the dough from sticking. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll 1/4 in thick. Cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until their edges are firm and you start to smell chocolate/coffee wafting through your flour covered kitchen. Allow to cool completely before decorating with icing of your choice.
You have an asterick near the salt; but I don't see the explanation that goes with it... Is it just to denote that you mix all of the ingredients up to that point, then add the egg? Please answer ASAP (or at least before next Valentines Day).
ReplyDeleteI generally put an asterisk next to an ingredient that can be added according to taste. These cookie were a bit salty, which I like, so the salt can be as much or as little as you think is best. Thanks for asking! I'll have to pit this in the post.
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