I’d always believed that waking up early and functioning like a normal human being was an ability that would evade me my whole life. Like carrying a tune, reading music, or artfully arching a single eyebrow (tell me I’m not the only one who’s spent an afternoon squinting at the mirror trying to will a single eyebrow towards my hairline, please), the skills train rolled right past me on this one and I’ve been forced to come to terms with the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be. Groggily rolling out of bed and trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes until lunchtime was my miserable fate. The introduction of caffeine into my morning routine has been nothing short of life changing. While it doesn’t help me actually wake up (and has done nothing for my singing voice, I’m afraid), it’s become something of an auto-tune for my mornings and keeps me moving after my feet hit the floor. I’m slightly addicted to it (Zach will attest to this) and without it I’d be sleeping now rather than writing this post. To say the least, I’m very grateful to caffeine, and may be trying to show my gratitude to the caffeine-gods by incorporating it into my recipes.
And that’s how we ended up here today with these Espresso and cream cookies and another reason to love caffeine. Espresso has always struck me as having a very earthy, (OK, dirt-like, if I’m being honest here) taste to it, and I don’t enjoy it in large quantities. For these espresso and cream sandwich cookies, I carefully balanced the recipe to include just enough that the flavor was present without being overpowering. To further help temper the bitterness of the espresso, I used a ribbon of vanilla cream around the center of the cookie, and then filled that with a rich, creamy espresso chocolate filling. If you’re an espresso aficionado, I encourage you to be carefully creative with the amount of espresso that you include, another teaspoon in the cookies would be perfectly acceptable for someone who likes the pure taste of espresso (though for the filling, proceed with caution, as too much espresso powder could potentially make it a bit grainy).
I adapted the cookie part of these espresso and cream cookies from the triple chocolate cookie recipe that I used for the Peppermint Bark Sandwich Cookies I made for Better Homes and Gardens. I modified it a bit to suit these cookies and they came out perfectly. I wanted airier, lighter cookies than my standard go-to brownie cookies, and these bake up with an almost meringue-like shell in each supremely chocolaty bite. They’re soft enough to bite into the center without accidentally squeezing out all of the filling. They’re delicate and crackly, so allow them to cool completely and exercise some care and gentleness when sandwiching them around their filling.
Hopefully these help you get your morning on the right track 😉 Enjoy!
You Might Also Like: Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Vanilla Bean Sandwich Cookies
Peppermint Bark Sandwich Cookies
