Chocolate Espresso Swirl Cookies

Chocolate Espresso Swirl Cookies. 

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

How quiet is the night, how pleasant is the day. 

In the midst of the rush, there’s a calm and peaceful hush that comes my way. 

It’s the presence of the Lord, I feel His holy power day and night, every moment, every hour.

What a peaceful feeling comes on me when I kneel before my Lord and Savior. 

In the midst of all my day’s activity I can know the very presence, the presence of my Lord.

I realize there are a TON of cookie recipes out there, especially this time of year. And one is never at loss for cookie recipes with Pinterest at our fingertips. But I thought to share a cookie recipe I made awhile ago... and truthfully, I was just o.k. with them. 

However, since my husband really, really loved them, especially with coffee... well, I decided to post the recipe. I'm sure many of you are done with cookie baking by now, but I'm posting it mainly for my reference, and if any of you would like to try it. 

Not the best photos... however, the cookies are fun to make. I might play around with the recipe in the future, maybe increasing the espresso powder a bit more. Oh, and slice them thinner... Hope you enjoy...

Note: While the cookies were o.k. as is, I felt the chocolate dipped version elevated and totally made the cookies. So I would recommend... highly recommend... adding the bottom chocolate layer. Really recommend it:). 

You will need: adapted from ShopGirlMaria 

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp instant coffee

2 oz. dark chocolate, melted and cooled

10 gratings of nutmeg on microplane, optional

1 tsp coffee extract, optional

Additional:

melted chocolate, for dipping bottom of cookies

Directions:

1. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add softened butter and cream butter until slightly fluffy, a minute. 2. 

3. Add the sugar, egg and vanilla extract, and mix until all the ingredients are smoothly combined.

4. With the mixer running, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until everything is well combined.  On second thought, I ended up adding a few gratings of nutmeg. It is a dry sort of mixture, so it may look crumbly. Just compact the mixture with your hands, it should stick together.

5. Remove the dough from the mixer and divide it into two parts.... you will need 2 bowls.To one part of the dough, add the instant coffee and mix until the coffee is fully incorporated. The dough should be speckled with the coffee granules.

6. To the other half of the dough, add the 2 oz. melted chocolate to it and coffee extract, if using, and mix until the dough is smooth and the chocolate has been incorporated in all of the dough without any white specks.

7. Roll out each of the doughs separately between 2 sheets of wax/parchment paper into rectangles that are about  9 x 14 inch. Cover rolled out dough and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

8. Remove both doughs from the fridge and top the chocolate dough with the coffee dough. You will need to ever so gently press them together with a rolling pin. If the dough is too cold, you may want to allow it to soften a bit so that you can roll the doughs without them breaking or crumbling from being too cold.

9. If the dough is uneven, you can cut the edges to make a rectangle using a knife(I don't bother with this). Begin rolling the dough like a jelly roll, making sure you roll it tightly. Just take your time and roll it slowly, the beginning is the hardest, as you don't want it to tear or crumble on you.The chocolate dough usually tears a  bit when you roll, just stop and pinch the dough back together and smoothing it out before you start rolling again. 

10. Once rolled, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge, about 1 hour . You may want to rotate the roll halfway through chilling, so that it doesn't get flat on one side.... I just roll it lightly on the counter to remove and smooth out the flat bottom once I take it out of the fridge.... and then proceed to slice it.

•  Preheat your oven to 350 deg F 
•  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. 

11. Remove cookie dough roll from fridge, and cut it into 1/4 inch slices.... I think I may have cut mine a bit thicker. Thinner is better:). Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

12. Let cool for 2-3 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Dipping: 

1. Melt some chocolate (using double boiler or microwave) 

2. Using a small offset spatula, spread some melted chocolate on the bottom of the cookie. Lay cookie, chocolate side down, on a plastic lined cookie sheet to set. (can speed up the process, by placing them in the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden completely).