Mini Coffee Cookies with Currants

Heads up, coffee lovers! You'll love these bite-size barely sweet cookies, each bite delivers distinctive coffee flavor, thanks to the strength of instant coffee or instant espresso granules. The cookie dough mixes in minutes and is peppered with dried currants (similar to raisins, just smaller and less sweet) or if you like, mini chocolate chips. These cookies are plain in appearance but memorable in taste, no wonder they've been a personal favorite for two decades.

Simple, Sturdy Home-Baked Cookies, Strong with Coffee Flavor. Sweetened with Powdered Sugar not Plain White Sugar. Budget Friendly. An Unusual But Welcome Choice for Cookie Gift Boxes & Cookie Exchanges.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Never Judge a Book by Its Cover Or a Cookie by Its ...

"Never judge a book by its cover," is an age-old aphorism. With this little cookie, I learned a similar lesson, "Never judge a cookie by its dough."

What baker doesn’t sneak a small bit of cookie dough from the mixing bowl? Some bakers – no names, please, to protect the sweet-toothed guilty – are known to make cookies that never actually reach the oven because the entire batch is eaten as raw dough!

(For the record, please head the guidance that eating raw dough is not a great idea, raw egg, raw flour and all.)

Mini Coffee Cookies are a new cookie for me, made for the first time before Christmas. Despite combining two favorite flavors, coffee and currants, the dough itself was a disappointment.

Not to worry, I told myself, it can happen.

But when I sampled the first cookie, still warm from the oven, it was a disappointment too. What cookie doesn’t taste good warm?! Mini Coffee Cookies, that’s what.

But those unexpected taste tests did, absolutely, have a happy ending.

This cookie entirely and completely redeemed itself by tasting absolutely delicious when baked and cooled completely. In fact, it was my favorite cookie from the holidays.

Aesthetically, the Mini Coffee Cookies are a bit brown and a bit lumpy if you do the finger shaping.

But I promise: they’re wonderful paired with a cup of coffee, sublime dunked into that hot java. Try these – then judge for yourself.

What's In Mini Coffee Ingredients? Pantry Ingredients!

In all my recipes and most well-written recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. Usually I'm a big fan of substitutes, in this case, I recommend sticking with the recipe, it just works.

• Coffee Flavor These cookies resonate with coffee flavor! The source of the strong coffee flavor is either instant coffee or instant expresso, concentrated granules of coffee. Instant coffee is quite common when baking with chocolate and since a small jar is inexpensive and lasts basically forever, well ... yeah, I keep a small jar on hand even though we don't drink instant coffee, even in a pinch. If you want to use up a jar of instant coffee or expresso, make Mini Coffee Cookies first then try these other chocolate sweets, another cookie (or still another) or a chocolate sheet cake or even brownies. See what I mean? Chocolate and coffee are a magical match!
• Typical Wet Ingredients Butter, an egg, a little milk or dairy to dissolve the instant coffee or espresso.
• Cream Cheese Most cookies start with butter, here the butter is buttressed with couple of tablespoons of cream cheese, too.
• Vanilla or ... These cookies call for vanilla but I usually substitute whiskey, that extra bit of oomph turns the cookies into what I think of as "Irish coffee cookies". Bourbon? That works too! But stick with vanilla if you like, you won't be disappointed.
• Powdered Sugar Most cookies call for white sugar and/or brown sugar for structure and sweetening. In contrast, Mini Coffee Cookies call for mostly powdered sugar plus a touch of brown sugar. The powdered sugar gives the cookies a bit of extra crispness. Do buy organic powdered sugar, it's not so obvious in cookies but makes a huge difference in buttercream, cream cheese and other frostings. Oh! And these cookies are also rolled in powdered sugar before baking, just like cookies called "melting moments" or "Mexican wedding cookies" or "Russian tea cookies".
• Typical Dry Ingredients All-purpose flour (though bread flour works just fine, too), baking powder and table salt.
• Currants Dried currants are like miniature, less-sweet raisins. They're always my choice for baking because small bits of dried fruit distribute more easily throughout the cookie dough. I some times substitute mini chocolate chips.

upper left | instant coffee and cream before dissolving
lower left | instant coffee and cream after dissolving
upper right | butter and cream cheese warmed to room temperature
lower right | cookie dough after mixing

How to Make Mini Coffee Cookies

The detailed recipe is written in traditional recipe form below but here are the highlights in five easy steps. You can definitely do this!

• DISSOLVE instant coffee or espresso in a little cream or milk.
• MIX the cookie dough, the technique is very straight forward, though you'll mix both by hand and with an electric mixer.
• CHILL the dough for 30 minutes, more is fine too.
• SHAPE THE COOKIES into balls and roll the balls in powdered sugar. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Good news, these cookies don't spread so you can arrange them quite close to one another.
• BAKE! In my oven, Mini Coffee Cookies finish perfectly in 15 minutes at 350F but circumstances can vary so do start checking at maybe 10 or 11 minutes.

How to Roll Cookies All the Same Size

Hello fellow perfectionists, we really do love a batch of cookies all the same size, am I right?! But it's not all about looks. Sure, same-size cookies look more professional but they also bake more evenly.

Here are six different ways to shape cookies that look all pretty and alike! These techniques work with most if not all drop cookies.

Two Spoons Use two spoons, one to scoop and one to scrape, paying attention to how much gets scooped up for each cookie, aiming for as close to the same amount as you can.

Divide the Dough Collect all the dough together. For four dozen cookies, say, divide the dough into four roughly equal pieces, then each of these into quarters. From there, it's easy to divide each quarter into three cookie-size pieces.

Weigh the Cookie Dough Use a kitchen scale (affiliate link) to weigh the cookie dough in grams, then divide this number by how many cookies you'd like to end up with. Then break off pieces of dough that weigh exactly that amount, give or take a gram. You'll get good at it!

Weigh Bits of Dough Break off one piece dough to form a ball that's the cookie size you'd be happy with. Weigh this in grams, then repeat that same amount with the remaining dough, weighing each cookie ball before rolling in powdered sugar.

Break Off an Exact Amount I've learned that for small cookies, 15 grams is my personal, ahem, sweet spot. It's amazing how often I hit 15 grams exactly the first time! That's experience!

Use a Cookie Scoop I long pooh-poohed cookie scoops as unnecessary but boy, was I wrong. Cookie scoops aren't "necessary" but they sure do make it easier to measure dough and batter on the fly. You'll find cookie scoops in all different sizes (affiliate link) but my two favorites are a smaller scoop that holds 1 tablespoon and a larger cookie scoop that holds 2.66 tablespoons (affiliate link). I use the small one most often for my favorite one-and two-bite cookies and the larger one for scooping out rounded scoops of muffin batter or meatball mix.

Why Mini Coffee Cookies Are Worth Making

Why would anyone go to the trouble of making these cookies from scratch? Here are a few reasons. Why do you make it? Let me know in the comments!

• Oh! That strong coffee flavor!
• Quick and straight-forward to mix on a whim, finishing up in just over an hour.
• A tad unusual, not the usual chocolate chip, peanut butter, etc.
• Sturdy little cookies, I think they'd ship well.
• One happy husband!
• Ready to get started? Here's your recipe!

Bookmark! PIN! Share!

How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If a simple coffee-flavored cookie inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

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MINI COFFEE COOKIES

Hands-on time: 15 minutes up front, 15 minutes to bake
Chill time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 75 minutes
Makes 4 dozen mini cookies or 3 dozen small cookies

WET INGREDIENTS
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee or instant espresso
• 1 tablespoon cream or milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla or bourbon or whiskey or ...
• 1 large egg or 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick/112g) salted butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 ounces (57g) cream cheese (either low-fat or full-fat), softened to room temperature

DRY INGREDIENTS
• 1-1/4 cups (150g) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1-3/4 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 220g
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/3 cup (47g) dried currants

FOR ROLLING
• Additional powdered sugar

PREP Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature. Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment.

WET INGREDIENTS In a large mixing bowl (use the bowl you'll mix the cookies in), use a large fork to stir the instant coffee or expresso, cream and vanilla until the coffee dissolves, then whisk in the egg.

Switch to an electric mixer. Add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl and combine until smooth, this may take several minutes depending on the temperature of the butter and cream cheese and may not come out completely smooth, just do the best you can.

DRY INGREDIENTS Add the powdered and brown sugars and mix until well blended.

Switch to mixing by hand. Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder, mixing well. Add the currants and mix until well-distributed.

CHILL Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 30 minutes.

BAKE Heat the oven to 350F/175C.

To form cookies, roll a small piece of dough (aim for about 15g) into a ball and roll it in powdered sugar, coating lightly but completely. Place the balls on a baking sheet about an inch apart, good news, these cookies don’t spread.

For slightly chewy cookies, leave the balls to bake as is. For slightly crisp cookies, use your fingers to gently flatten the ball a bit.

Bake each tray until the cookies are golden brown on their bottoms, check at 10 or 11 minutes but in my oven, 15 minutes is perfect. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

SAME RECIPE + ONE SUBSTITUTION = AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COOKIE This is such an easy variation, discovered by happy accident, it's even easy to do a half batch of each. For what I think of as "Mocha Melting Moments," just substitute mini chocolate chips for the currants, roll the dough balls in powdered sugar before baking but don’t flatten. After baking, roll the still-hot cookies in powdered sugar for a second time. So good!

ALANNA's TIPS Do let the butter and cream cheese warm on the counter for at least an hour, this makes it easier for it to combine well with the coffee mixture. No time to wait? One option is to dissolve the coffee mixture by itself in a small bowl; cream the butter, cream cheese and egg until well combined with the electric mixture before adding the coffee mixture. The other option is my choice, just mixing it all together and mixing for longer than you'd think, accepting some small bits of butter and cream cheese, they do work themselves out once the sugar is added in. Details!

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2003/03/mini-coffee-cookies.html .

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cookie, if 4 dozen/3 dozen cookies made: 39/52 Calories; 2/3g Tot Fat; 1/2g Sat Fat; 10/14mg Cholesterol; 33/44mg Sodium; 5/6g Carb; 0g Fiber; 4/5g Sugar; 0g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 1 & SmartPoints 2/3 & Freestyle 2/3 & myWW green 2/3 & blue 2/3 & purple 2/3 & future WW points

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Seasonal Eating: Early Spring Across the Years

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This Week, Elsewhere

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More Favorite Cookie Recipes

more
~ cookie recipes ~

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• ANOTHER TAKE No-Chill Cutout Sugar Cookies Just mix and roll, no need to wait.

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• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake How easy? It starts with a cake mix.

• THE RECIPE Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies Chocolate chip cookies for grown-ups.
  
• ANOTHER TAKE Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies My husband says these taste "exactly" like his mother's chocolate chip cookies.

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ currant recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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