25 Days of Cookies: Tiramisu Cookies

How much do you love coffee? Mom pointed out to me recently that I can't keep saying I don't like it. She is mistaken. I have never said that I don't like it. I just refuse to become an addict and have vowed to not drink it every day. At first I vowed to never drink it. However, I work late nights and need to be awake and alert for the ride home. I hate drinking soda all the time so every now and then I have an instant coffee for the caffeine kick.

I really love coffee flavored sweets though so when this cookie idea occurred while I lay in bed at 2am trying to falling asleep after getting home from work, I just knew I had  to make it work! Tiramisu Cookies... :) They're just too marvelous for words.

Good thing I have pictures! These cookies are my adaptation from Giada De Laurentiis's Lemon Ricotta cookies that I made a couple days ago. My family and friends enjoyed those cookies so much (and I still had half of a 32oz container of whole milk ricotta left) that I figured an experiment was in order.

 My first thought was to make a cannoli inspired cookie but then I thought about tiramisu cannolis and then that quickly became tiramisu cookies. What to do? What to do?! Instead of lemon juice and zest, I could use instant espresso and Kahlua! Instead of a glaze for the tops of the cookies, I could make a cream cheese frosting-NO, better: a mascarpone frosting with a light dusting of some more instant coffee. Oh my goodness! Gracious!

I certainly wasn't let down by my tinkering. These are truly scrumptious!

 Ready to go and make them? You should be. They're utterly sublime! Here's how you do it:

Tiramisu Cookies with Mascarpone Frosting

The Taming of the Roux

Makes about 36 cookies

Cookies

2 ½ c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant espresso

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

15oz container whole milk ricotta

3 tbsp Kahlua (or other coffee flavored liqueur)

Frosting

¼ c. unsalted butter, softened (half a stick)

2 oz mascarpone

1 c. powdered sugar

½ tsp Kahlua

Dusting: finely ground instant coffee (I used a pack of Starbucks VIA)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°

In a medium sized bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, and instant espresso.

In a separate and larger bowl, cream butter and sugar together until a grainy paste has been made. Add eggs, one at a time, then the ricotta, and the Kahlua. Mix until well combined.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients stirring until just combined. Chill your dough for an hour if time permits.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spoon 2 tablespoons sized dollops of the cookie dough leaving about 2 and a half inches of space in between cookies.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let them rest for 15-20 minutes on the pan then transfer to a wire rack. Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, combine butter, mascarpone, powdered sugar and Kahlua until whipped and creamy. If you like your cookies frosted heavily, you should double the frosting recipe.

For lightly frosted cookies, as I have made mine, spread about half a teaspoon of frosting over each cookie. Then dust with instant coffee.

The ricotta makes the insides of these cookies so light and fluffy! You would never know that there is ricotta in there if I didn't have to tell you in order to share the recipe. :)

I used an inexpensive instant coffee for the cookie dough but dusted the tops with the Starbucks stuff (I used the dark French Roast) because the coffee flavor is dimmed during the baking process so something that really excites the tastebuds and the nose was in order. They really do taste like tiramisu only they're handheld and easy to eat!

Can you believe this is the 12th cookie in the cookie countdown? I can't. I'm really beat :) What possessed me to do this? Must be that Christmas Spirit thing that's been going around. ;)

Kahlua...it's magical.