Expresso Cookies

I should really call these Emily’s Expresso Cookies.

Who is Emily? She is one very intrepid lady who came to Assos some years ago now with her husband to run a pansiyon.  Sadly her husband died but she soldiers on and is a very dear friend.

One of the specialities of her pansiyon is teatime! Yes, every afternoon during the season she provides cakes and cookies along with çay at about 5pm on her delightful terrace overlooking the valley.  It’s always a pleasure to go round there at the best of times but her teatime treats are not to be missed!  She made these particular cookies for another friend’s birthday party and they were an instant hit with all of us.

For a start they are basically chocolate and as we all know, chocolate always wins, and secondly, they look very professional which appeals to me!

A few days ago, she came round to say goodbye. She departs around this time every year to go back to her all-embracing family in the States where she stays and does her duty as daughter, mother and grandmother till early April. Then she returns to us!
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And she gave me a present. It was my birthday recently and she had noted it: a lovely crescent-shaped china box complete with  lid. Open it, open it, she urged. So I did and there I found in her meticulous script the recipe for Expresso Cookies. She hadn’t forgotten.

So here is Emily’s original recipe for Expresso Cookies which means it’s all in cups: easy to make and soo very moreish which means irresistible in British English!

Expresso Cookies

Makes 3 ½ dozen cookies

Ingredients

¾ cup  granulated sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

½ tsp vanilla ( I didn’t have any so had to omit)

¼ tsp salt

1 egg - don't forget to have it at room temperature

1 ¾ cup plain flour

3 tbsp cocoa

Expresso filling (following below)

Method

·        Preheat oven to 175°C/ 325°F

·        Beat sugar, butter, vanilla and egg in a large bowl. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt.

·        Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb or end of wooden spoon into centre of each cookie, but do not press all the way to the cookie sheet.

Bake 7-11 mins or until edges are firm. Mine took 10 mins. Quickly remake indentations with end of wooden spoon (or thumb) if necessary. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 mins.

        Meanwhile, make Expresso Filling:

Ingredients

¼ cup heavy cream (here in Turkey I used one of those little packets)

1 cup choc chips or equivalent in broken pieces of a dark chocolate bar

2 tsp instant expresso coffee (dry) – I used regular Nescafe

1 tbsp coffee-flavoured liqueur if desired ( again, I didn’t have any but it sounds like a nice addition)

Method

·        Mix cream and instant coffee in saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until coffee is dissolved. Remove from heat, stir in choc chips or pieces until melted. Stir in liqueur if using. Cool about 10 mins.

·        Spoon rounded ½ tsp Expresso filling into indentation in each cookie and leave to set. They remain tacky for quite some time- don’t let that put you off eating them. But if you wait, they will indeed firm up so you can arrange them in a decorative way on a serving dish without them sticking together.

Afiyet olsun!

I had a lot of the filling left over and  realised  belatedly that my idea of ‘1-inch’ balls was bigger than Emily’s so I had made only 2 dozen or so cookies. I certainly wasn’t going to waste this mocha-tasting chocolate cream so quickly made up a large chocolate slab cake (it was a rainy day in Assos!) and drizzled the remaining filling over the top with a final touch of a few chopped walnuts.

Very, very nice it was too!

Thank you, Emily!