Another delicious cookie we made during the holidays came from this Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps recipe. They are basically the old-fashioned chocolate crinkles, if you are familiar with those, with the addition of espresso powder.

My husband was born and raised in Italy and must start everyday with piping hot espresso. I thought he, I mean Santa, would enjoy these as something different this year. We began looking for the traditional chocolate crinkles recipe, but came across the Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps recipe on , Martha Stewart’s website. I will provide the recipe here for the Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps cookies:

Ingredients:
Makes 18

* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 4 teaspoons instant espresso
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 1 large egg
* 4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
* 1 tablespoon milk
* 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, for coating

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients; beat in milk just until combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar twice.
3. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps Recipe was very easy to follow and very easy to make. The kids had a lot of fun helping every step of the way and getting their hands dirty. My husband absolutely loved them! As for the kids, they did enjoy them; however, the espresso flavor is fairly strong even though they do have that Italian blood flowing through them. I would suggest reducing the amount of espresso powder to 2 1/2 or 3 teaspoons instead of 4. It should still give enough espresso flavor without being overpowering.

If you know someone who loves coffee or espresso, bake a batch and share them together. Let me know what you think if you decide to make these from the Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps Recipe.

Tags | chocolate crinkles cookies, chocolate espresso snowcaps, chocolate espresso snowcaps cookies, chocolate espresso snowcaps recipe