Chocolate Coffee Mascarpone Sandwich Cookies

These dark chocolate coffee mascarpone sandwich cookies are rich and chewy. Sandwiched between the cookies is a creamy, flavorful coffee mascarpone frosting made with instant espresso powder for extra punch. You can make the easy, one bowl cookie dough without a mixer, and the frosting pipes beautifully for ease of application. They're an irresistible, sneak to the cookie jar * just one more time * dessert.

CHOCOLATE COFFEE MASCARPONE SANDWICH COOKIES

There seems to be a theme here to some of my recipes - I buy a restaurant sized amount of some ingredient and then need to come up with ways to dispense with it all in a short amount of time. I bought the first 5 pound tub of mascarpone cheese a few summers back and made honey blackberry mascarpone ice cream, lemon mascarpone ice cream with a red currant swirl, and a reader favorite, this chocolate coffee mascarpone tart.

This summer I made this dramatic beauty, a blackberry basil poppy seed cake with mascarpone cream frosting. Faced with another large amount of mascarpone, I decided to recreate the key flavors of my tiramisu inspired coffee and chocolate mascarpone tart, but in cookie form.

Three test batches of cookies later, I settled on the perfectly sized dark chocolate cookie sandwich. The coffee mascarpone frosting was a challenge as well, as I needed to find the right ratio of mascarpone to butter to keep the frosting from breaking. There's a lot of extra frosting in my fridge right now. Still, the testing was all worth it. These are deliciously dense and flavorful coffee mascarpone cream filled cookies that are perfect with a cup of coffee, or on their own at any time. I've eaten them first thing in the morning (coffee, after all) and late at night, and at all hours in between. They always hit the spot.

RECIPE NOTES, INGREDIENTS AND SUBSTITUTIONS

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIES

• Unsalted butter – using unsalted butter allows you to control the total quantity of salt in the recipe. Salt content in salted butter varies from brand to brand. Melting the butter makes this a really easy cookie recipe to whip together without a mixer. Using melted butter also gives you a more chewy, dense cookie.

• Brown sugar - brown sugar keeps these cookies moist and chewy. Like the melted butter, it also results in a denser cookie.

• Natural cocoa powder - natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process or alkalized) is the cocoa to use here. I tried both when testing, and the natural cocoa provides a better textured, slightly more leavened cookie with better flavor than the Dutch process variety. I recommend you stick with natural cocoa powder here.

• Vanilla extract - for added flavor.

• Egg - For binding and fat. Should be at room temperature prior to adding.

• Mascarpone cheese - The mascarpone provides fat, flavor and moisture to the cookies. It should be added chilled, directly from the fridge. It's soft enough that you can incorporate it into the batter while cold with no issue.

• All purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder - for structure and leavening. Feel free to substitute all purpose flour with a cup for cup style gluten free flour if desired.

• Kosher salt - for added flavor. I find that salt really enhances the flavor of chocolate.

FOR THE COFFEE MASCARPONE FROSTING

• Unsalted butter - Using unsalted butter allows you to control the total quantity of salt in the recipe. Salt content in salted butter varies from brand to brand. The butter should be cubed and at room temperature.

• Powdered sugar - Be sure to sift the powdered sugar well before adding it to avoid lumps.

• Mascarpone cheese - The mascarpone provides creaminess and flavor to this frosting recipe. It's important that it be used chilled here, directly from the fridge. In the US, you can usually source an 8 oz tub of mascarpone in the cheese section of the dairy aisle at your grocery store.

• Vanilla extract - Vanilla adds flavor. We also use it here to dissolve the espresso powder without adding any further liquid to the recipe.

• Espresso powder - Instant espresso powder flavors the coffee mascarpone filling. It’s more concentrated than instant coffee. This is the brand that I buy at my local grocery store. You can read more about instant espresso powder and its uses here. It’s my go-to when baking with coffee. If you can't source any, feel free to use instant coffee granules. Be sure they are fully dissolved into the vanilla. You might need to use a bit more; taste and adjust as needed.

HOW DO YOUR COOKIES COME OUT SO ROUND AND UNIFORM?

I have a kitchen scale, and use it to weigh each dough portion. This helps ensure the cookies will be a uniform size. Rolling the cookie dough into smooth balls prior to baking will help create a nice, circular shaped cookie once baked. However, the biggest tip I can give you is to use a round biscuit cutter or the rim of an upside down glass to push the cookies back into a round shape as soon as they are removed from the oven and still hot and pliable. Place the cutter or glass over the top of the cookie and carefully scoot it in gentle circles so the cookie edges become round again. Thanks to Erin of Cloudy Kitchen for this tip!

CAN I USE A DIFFERENT SIZE SCOOP TO MAKE BIGGER OR SMALLER COOKIES?

Yes. I tested this recipe with a variety of different cookie scoops. I finally landed on using a simple 1 Tablespoon amount for the dough (leveled, 16 grams) as it makes a manageable 2 ¼ inch (5.7 cm) diameter cookie and is a standard measure that most of you have on hand. However, it's easy to adjust for different sized sandwich cookies. Here are some alternate sizes, with the resulting outcomes. Please note that you will need to adjust the spacing on the baking sheets, as well as baking times for different sized cookies. The oven temperature should remain the same at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

• 1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop - 26 grams of dough, 40mm, medium scoop. This will make about 32 larger cookies, or 16 filled sandwich cookies that are 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameter. Bake for 12 minutes.

• 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop - this is the size as written in the recipe, and seen in the photos - 16 grams of dough, 35mm, small scoop. This will make about 48 medium cookies, or 24 filled sandwich cookies that are 2 ¼ inches (5.7 cm) in diameter. Bake for 9 minutes.

• ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop - 6 grams of dough, 25mm, extra small scoop. This will make about 100 smaller cookies (it's a lot), or 50 filled sandwich cookies that are 1 ¾ inches (4.4 cm) in diameter. Bake for 8 minutes.

While I've tested various cookie sizes, I have NOT checked to see if the amount of frosting listed here is the appropriate amount for the larger or smaller cookie size. If you do adjust the cookie size for filled cookies, please leave a comment with your experience!

CAN I MAKE THIS RECIPE IN ADVANCE?

Yes! The cookies (without the frosting) can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days, or wrapped well in the freezer for a month. The coffee mascarpone frosting should be made and piped immediately to avoid impacting the temperature and texture (it should not be re-whipped) so your options are as follows: make the cookies themselves in advance, and then add the freshly whipped mascarpone filling the day you will be serving them, OR you can make the entire recipe in advance and store the finished cookies in the fridge until ready to serve.

CAN I FREEZE THESE COOKIES?

I don't recommend freezing these cookies as freezing can alter the texture of mascarpone. That said, these cookies store incredibly well in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and should remain fresh for several weeks (although I know ours disappeared far before then...)

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MORE COOKIE RECIPES

If you liked these coffee chocolate cookies, you might also enjoy these other cookie recipes I've baked up!

• Mint Matcha Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Thumbprint Cookies
• Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Triple Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Caramel Pecan Shortbread Bars