Coffee, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways. Hot, iced, cold brew, coffee glaze on cookies (or doughnuts or cakes!) I am always excited to try a new way to consume my coffee. I wasn’t always this way. Before law school my main source of caffeine was Diet Coke. I would drink the original coffee from Starbucks, but it needed to be souped up. Back then if I was drinking coffee, it was probably better classified as “coffee flavored milk”. Then that first year of law school broke me. I don’t remember when it happened, but one day I realized that hot coffee with a bit of creamer and Splenda was enough to keep the engines going. {Please note that I never gave up Diet Coke, the coffee was an addition to the Diet Coke habit.} Now a days I have a system. On weekdays, Dunkin Donuts dark roast. On the weekend Kona from a trip to Hawaii or an espresso in the Nespresso machine.
I found the spiced cookies with coffee glaze recipe in the Vanilla Bean Baking Book by Sarah Kieffer. I love the idea of a coffee glaze, but the ingredient that hooked me was the pinch of black pepper, no offense to the cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. The slight bit of heat takes this spiced cookie to the next level. After trying a cooled cookie without the coffee glaze I had serious conversations with my husband about whether or not the coffee glaze was necessary. The cookie itself is that delightful. But this is a post about coffee, so of course I made the glaze and y’all I wasn’t ready.
It is the coffee cookie I didn’t know I needed. Sweet + Heat + Coffee in the most unassuming form. These cookies don’t have the glitz of sprinkles or chocolate chips. If this cookie were a book, this would be the one that you don’t judge by the cover, because then you will have missed out on a damn good cookie.
Recipe Notes:
BEWARE: This cookie dough has a 2 hour rest in the refrigerator before you even get to the crazy chilling in the freezer sequence that happens next. Plan for it. It’s worth it.
The directions in the book felt sort of chaotic. I suspect that the chaos was related to the fact that I didn’t read the recipe all the way through before starting it. Once the dough finishes the 2 hour chill, then you roll it out, cut it out. Chill in freezer. Preheat the oven. Roll out the remaining dough, and cut it out, then chill that in the freezer while the first pan bakes.
Clear space in your freezer ahead of time and cut the dough out as efficiently as you can to save time.
Recipe
Coffee Glazed Spiced Cookies
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Description
An unassuming cookies that packs a spicy punch.
Ingredients
Spiced Cookies
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Pinch Black Pepper
- 1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Coffee Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbs strong coffee (cold)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 to 4 tbs heavy cream or milk
Instructions
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and black pepper. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium for about 1 minute. Then dump in the white and brown sugar. Mix on medium for 2-3 minutes, until slightly fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir until combined. On a low speed pour in the flour about a ½ a cup at a time. Stir until combined.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl and onto the center of a piece of plastic wrap. Create a disc and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Fit two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- On a clean work surface dusted with flour, roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out using a 2 inch round cookie cutter. Place the cookies onto the preapred cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Roll and cut out the remaining cookie dough. Place cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 15 minutes.
- Take cookie sheet from the freezer and put it directly into the oven. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Until the cookies have edges are just brown. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack.
Make the Coffee Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, coffee, salt together. Whisk in the heavy cream one tablespoon at a time to get desired consistency.
- Once the cookies are cooled, spread the glaze on each cookie using the back of spoon or a small offset spatula. Let cookies sit until the glaze sets.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
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