Very Simple Slice & Bake Espresso Cookies

Original recipe here from Alpineberry (recipe with my format edits below), who said this about the cookie:

"This espresso cookie is my idea of cookie perfection. I love the sandy texture and the pure flavor of the espresso. It might be somewhat strong for the coffee shy and not sweet enough for those with a super sweet tooth, but those are major pluses in my opinion."

True. It's sandy, slightly sweet, and tastes like espresso without other distracting flavors, but it's not my favorite, and I'd personally prefer to try this cookie with mini chocolate chips. My dad and the school secretaries said they liked them though. One secretary said it tastes like those See's Candies lollipops. Maybe the butterscotch one? Or the vanilla one? I'm not sure. Is there a coffee one? That would make mores sense. haha!

I didn't cut them carefully, so they came out of the oven kinda...well, imperfect. If you care about presentation and want perfectly shaped cookies, be careful when you slice the dough because they don't change much in the oven.

Espresso Cookies recipe:
(adapted by Alpineberry from Fine Cooking)
makes 28 cookies

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1/3 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp water
1 tsp finely ground espresso beans
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt

1) Cream the butter & sugar until well blended
2) Mix in the dissolved espresso powder
3) Add the ground espresso beans, flour & salt and mix until dough comes together (This is kinda tough because it's so dry)
4) Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap
5) Form the dough into a log about 7-inches long
6) Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 6 hours (and up to 3 days).
7) Preheat oven to 350F
8) Cut the chilled dough into 1/4-inch slices & arrange on parchment lined sheet pans
9) Bake until the tops look dry & edges just start to brown (~12 min)
** I checked on them at around 8 minutes and kept checking until they were done.

The Food Network's Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

Made these for our Psi Chi chapter's last Cookies 'n' Cram (name stolen from Clovis West High School's Link Crew's old study group. No one was there at 6:30pm, and our room's door was locked anyway, so I sat in the Psi Chi office and studied by myself. :)

Like the teeny one? lol




This is how Kurtis and I sift our flour without a sifter:






RECIPE (from The Food Network's website:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet choc chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

1. Cream butter with sugars using an electric mixer [I just did this by hand] on medium speed until fluffy (~30 seconds).
2. Beat in egg and vanilla extract for 30 seconds.
3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds.
4. Stir in espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
5. Using a 1-ounce scoop or a 2-tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet ~3 inches apart.
6. Gently press down on dough to spread out into a 2-inch circle [I didn't make them this big].
7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges.

Pete's (not Peet's) Coffee Brownies

Baked 1.10.09 (along with these apple muffins again...original recipe here)

This is the third recipe I've tried from Pete's blog. So far they've all come out good (and well).

I was really worried about these brownies because I was making them for someone I sorta wanted to impress (not a boy), and a few of the comments on Pete's post were bad (they tried and failed). Mine came out just fine though! Thank goodness. They're pretty easy...except the melting & cooling the baking chocolate took awhile (I got impatient and cooled it in the freezer & refrigerator). Oh--and the edges are fantastic. Recipe below.

Oops...forgot to take an AFTER picture again. Here's the BEFORE (so light in color!):

COFFEE BROWNIES RECIPE (original here):

1 cup butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (melted and cooled)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2-3 Tbsp instant coffee * I used a little bit more than 2 tablespoons

1. In a large bowl, blend together the butter & sugar
2. Add vanilla, eggs, melted chocolate, coffee, flour, & chocolate chips
3. Pour into a greased and floured 9×13-inch pan
4. Bake at 325 degrees F for 35 minutes (I had to bake them for extra long because they seemed too gooey/raw)

Hershey's Holiday Fudge Torte

This is sooo good and rich. My mom always says that we have to make this every year for our family New Year's party. This year I made two of them, but, for some reason, one's batter came out creamier and lighter than the other, but I don't understand how that happened because I was so careful making them. Oh well...I make mistakes all of the time. They seemed to taste the same.

The glaze is to die for.

See? One came out lighter than the other:



RECIPE for ONE TORTE (original recipe from the 2001 Hershey's Holiday Collection):

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa (you don't have to use Hershey's of course; I didn't)
1 1/2 tsp powdered instant coffee
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
3/4 cup dairy sour cream (or 8 oz.)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Fudge nut glaze (recipe below)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease 9-inch round baking pan; line bottom with wax paper
3. Grease paper
4. Flour paper and pan
5. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, instant coffee, baking soda, & salt in large bowl
6. Add butter, sour cream, egg, & vanilla
7. Beat on low speed of mixer until blended (I did this one by hand 'cause we can't find our mixer)
8. Increase speed to medium & beat 3 minutes
9. Pour batter into prepared pan
10. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
11. Cool 10 minutes & then remove from pan to wire rack
12. Gently peel off wax paper & cool COMPLETELY
13. Prepare fudge nut glaze (recipe below).
14. Place cake on serving plate
15. Pour glaze evenly over cake, allowing some to run down sides (I let it all drizzle down)
16. Refrigerate until glaze is firm (~1 hour)

FUDGE NUT GLAZE RECIPE:

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1/3 cup Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't use Hershey's)
3/4 cup hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, or pecans (I excluded the nuts this time)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine all ingredients except nuts and vanilla in small saucepan
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils
3. Cook, stirring constantly, for five minutes
4. Remove from heat
5. Cool 10 minutes
6. Stir in nuts & vanilla