This week's Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Donna of Life's Too Short Not to Eat Dessert First: espresso chocolate shortbread cookies. I've mentioned numerous times that I don't drink coffee (or espresso for that matter), but I do really love the combination of espresso and chocolate. Generally, the espresso is used in small quantities just to enhance the chocolate flavor, but in this recipe I suspected it would play a bigger role.
There are only a few ingredients in these cookies and the recipe is super simple. It employs one of Dorie's great techniques too! After making the cookie dough, she transfers it to a zip top bag and rolls it out in that bag. To be honest, it's a technique that gave me a little trouble the first few times I used it, but now that I've mastered it, I love it. Dorie is full of neat tips and tricks like this one (which is one of the big reasons her new book (see below!) is on its way to my house despite the fact that I almost always borrow/try cookbooks from the library before buying them). I made half of this recipe and used a quart size zip top bag instead of a gallon size, and wound up with about 20 cookies.
For me, the best thing about these cookies was the texture. They had that perfect sandiness that is characteristic of shortbread, which is not always something I've achieved when making shortbread. I was extra careful not to overmix the dough and, hey, what do you know, it worked! The espresso flavor was perhaps just a tad bit too strong for me in the cookies but I still enjoyed them. They're definitely a repeat here - with just slightly less espresso next time I know they'll be perfect! Many thanks to Donna for hosting this week! You can find the recipe for the shortbread cookies on her site here or on page 125 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Also, for those who don't know, Dorie has written a new book, Around My French Table, and it's now available here on Amazon! I rarely pre-order books and this one was no exception, but when I saw it was available yesterday, it was in my cart in no time. The book wasn't expected out until the start of October so it was a great surprise. Unlike Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie's new book includes lots of savory recipes and I really can't wait to get my hands on my copy :)
12 comments:
i've tried this recipe and absolutely love it. these look delicious!
This combines 3 of my favorite things: chocolate, coffee and cookies!! MUST MAKE VERY SOON :)
Good for you to go above and beyond and put the exprsso in. I didn't but they were still tasty. Maybe with tea next time.
They look just perfect.
Miss you Twitter!!!
Your cookies look delicious! I just ordered Dorie's new book on Sunday, and Amazon said it would probably be here by Friday! Like you, it's very unusual for me to order a book sight-unseen.
Look at how absolutely PERFECT your cookies are! I love that combination of flavors, too, but something went wrong with these in my kitchen.
Nice and perfectly done, Tracey.
Ciao !! how lovely your cookies look Tracey !
Your cookies look fantastic! I love coffee and thought these had a pretty strong taste - I like them, though. Yay for Dorie's new book!
I'm not a coffee fan either but you made these look so great that I would be willing to try a couple, or 3 or 4.
Your cookies look picture perfect! I'm usually very picky about espresso (I'll have an iced coffee at starbucks with looooads of milk added to take away the bite of the coffee) but it worked well with these speckled little gems.
And I honestly don't know WHY I didn't think of this bag method sooner. Making my go-to pecan sandies will be a cinch now!!
I can't wait for Dorie's new book. I'll have to order it soon :)
Those cookies look delicious! I made them long ago, loved them too :)
Yum! Those shortbread cookies look amazing. Sometimes I enjoy a simple cookie like shortbread. I'll definitely be giving these a try.
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