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. It's an easy, one bowl cookie dough, and the frosting pipes beautifully. They're an irresistible, sneak to the cookie jar * just one more time * dessert.

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.

With my first 5 pound tub of mascarpone cheese 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.

Then I made this dramatic beauty, a blackberry basil poppy seed cake with mascarpone cream frosting. Faced with another large amount of leftover 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.

For another boost of caffeine, check out all the coffee recipes in my repertoire.

Also, here's the link to all my cookie recipes. And if you're a fan of sandwich cookies, you'll want to try these flourless chocolate hazelnut baci di Alassio, and these delicate, melt-in-your-mouth dulce de leche filled Argentine alfajores.

Ingredients

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. It 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 - Should be at room temperature prior to adding.

• Mascarpone cheese - The mascarpone 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 should be chilled and added 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.

Storage

Store: Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator (due to the mascarpone frosting).

Freeze: I don't recommend freezing these cookies as freezing can alter the texture of mascarpone. If you do want to try freezing them, test a single cookie first!

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...)

Make ahead: The cookies (without the frosting) can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days, or in the freezer for up to 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). You can fill the sandwich cookies several days in advance and store them in the refrigerator.

FAQ

Variations

• For a delicious twist, replace the coffee mascarpone buttercream frosting with creamy, milk caramel flavored dulce de leche.

• Use the cookies to make ice cream sandwiches with mini scoops of your favorite ice cream flavor.

MORE COOKIE RECIPES

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