Italian Choco-Coffee Wedding Cookies
Today’s Flavorful Friday Post is coming to you from…..drumroll please…..the ultra-fabulous Jennifer Taglione! Jennifer is the owner of Stiletto Sports and The Pink Bubble World and is the self-proclaimed Top Chef Diva of her own kitchen.
When Mike first told me about his idea to start experimenting and reviewing coffee recipes, I was a bit skeptical. He’s not the type to spend all day watching The Next Food Network Star or Top Chef (unlike myself!). But his Coffee Burgers were delish!
And, after much cajoling, he has finally convinced me to reveal my top secret choco-coffee cookie recipe that has been in my family for almost 20 years. But I said I would only reveal the recipe if I got to tell the story behind it too because, well, I’m Italian; it’s what we do! If you can’t wait and must have the recipe right now, click here to skip my sweet childhood tale.
The Story Behind My (in)Famous Cookies
Growing up in a large, multi-marriage Italian family, Christmas was a huge event. One year, my mom thought it would be the best idea ever if we made our own Christmas cookies.
Now, let me back up just a moment to tell you a little bit about my mother. She was an amazing cook! But was she a baker? Not even a little bit. Nor am I. Love to cook, hate to bake. (Oddly enough, my dad is actually the gifted baker. His lemon meringue pies are to die for!)
So anyway, back to the story…. she had the brilliant idea that we (the non-baker and the junior high kid) would bake the cookies this year! At a book sale at work she had picked up some cookbook compiled by lots of old Italian ladies who named their dishes “Italian Chicken IV” or “Italian Cookies II.” Apparently the Italian Cookies II and Italian Chocolate Wedding Cookies sounded yummy because that’s what we went with.
We mixed up the dough for both the Italian Cookies II and the Italian Chocolate Wedding Cookies and start to roll them into balls. And roll. And roll. Oh. My. God.
Go read the title of the cookies again: Italian Chocolate Wedding Cookies. They weren’t lying. The recipe made enough to feed a wedding! Something like 12 dozen cookies. And the Italian Cookies II made 9 dozen. That’s 21 dozen cookies, or 252 little rolled balls. And, being baking novices, we had no idea that we should have let the dough sit overnight because it was a sticky, gooey mess. It took hours!
The moral of that story is that when I tell you “cut this recipe in half, at least” I’m not kidding! Oddly enough, that was the only year the cookies baked into actual little round balls. Every year since they have flattened out.
The Cookie Recipe
If you are looking for a coffee-flavored cookie or something that tastes like coffee ice cream (ew), these are not for you! These are actually really cool because when you bake the coffee and chocolate together, a sort of science-experiement happens. The ingredients transform each other. The coffee makes the chocolate Über-rich and decadent. The chocolate, on the other hand, somehow mellows out the coffee and removes the bitterness.
The cookies are very moist, dense and like I said, decadent. But somehow they are rich and chocolatey without being sickly sweet or overpowering.
- Taste: ?????
- Skill: Easy…….. but very sticky.
- Serves: Um. Makes 12 dozen cookies. But I could eat them all. So serves 1.
- Time: baking = 10 minutes but you really should chill the dough overnight to make it easier to roll.
Ingredients
Cookie Batter: Click here to cut the recipe in half!
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 2 Cups very strong coffee (hot)
- 4 cups Flour
- 1 1/2 Cup Crisco
- 1 1/4 Cup Cocoa
- 1/4 cup Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
- Pinch of Salt
- Optional Add-ins: Nuts, White or Dark Chocolate Chips or *Swirled White & Dark! (*Highly recommend!)
Glaze & Toppings
- 1 box confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cups Hot water (probably will need more water)
- Mix sugar with water to make glaze to your desired thickness!
- Optional toppings: coconut, nuts, sprinkles, powdered sugar
To Make Cookies:
- Melt the Crisco in a glass bowl. Then add the warm coffee, sugar, and vanilla and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix Flour, Cocoa, Salt, Baking Powder, Cinnamon.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients from Step 1 into dry ingredients of Step 2 and mix well.
- Dough will be sticky!!! Let stand at least 15 min! Original recipe says that. I let mine sit at least a day. Sometimes two.
- Stir in optional add-ins (I like to make several different kinds so I separate the dough into a few bowls)
- Roll dough into small balls (if dough is sticky, this is a pain. Flouring hands can help) If you have a melon scooper, this is the time to use it!
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
- Move to cooling rack & Glaze/Top while hot!
- Eat them!
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Strong Coffee
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 Cups Crisco
- a little less than 3/4 Cocoa
- 1/8 cup Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Category: Coffee Recipes
About the Author (Author Profile)
Both Jennifer Taglione and her website Stiletto Sports, run on coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Well, maybe not lots. She can run all day on just 3 cups. Jennifer became addicted to coffee at the early age of about 4 or 5 when she would beg her mom to put a few teaspoons of coffee in her milk (because that what she thought mommy was drinking too and didn't want to be left out). As she grew up and had to get up earlier and earlier for class and then work, coffee became a necessity in her life. But make no mistake, Jennifer is a coffee-needer, not a coffee-lover or even liker. She needs coffee to survive and if she doesn't get her morning fix, don't bother talking to her all day! She rarely drinks it for the pure pleasure of drinking it. Mostly because if she has caffeine anytime after 4 p.m. she will be awake until 4 a.m. She likes her coffee to taste nothing like coffee. Flavored coffees and creamers are her specialty. And she prefers Dunkin Donuts over Starbucks any day, except in Peppermint Mocha season.Subscribe
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double yum!!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thanks Rose! They are very yummy!!
I’ll second that thanks for sharing Jen. The blog post gave me a much needed evening to catch up on some work and other things. Now, if only I could get you to make me some more of those cookies, I’m really craving them.
I’m really craving them now too! I had a few left in my freezer from the holidays but I ate them while I was writing the post…. you know, just as research to remember what it tasted like. Now I want more!!!
We have a great baker for our shop and our cookies fly off the counter, but this is a recipe I’d love to try at home. I will have to alter it since their are egg allergies in the family, but am excited to give it a whirl. Thanks!
Hi Tara! Please let me know if you do try it! And without the eggs! I’d love to know how they come out. Now you have me wanting to fly to your shop and eat all your cookies! I’m definitely a cookie a-holic!
These look amazing, thanks for sharing the story and the recipe.
I’m glad you liked the story! Everytime I taste a bite of the cookie it makes me think of Christmas and my mom—even though they are not traditional holiday tasting cookies. It’s very comforting!
These look fantastic! I’m going to try them. I’ve been looking for years for another cookie recipe, however – if you can find it please post. A small Italian market nearby used to sell ricotta cookies for $.99/each, and I bought at least one every time I went there. The woman died or something, they no longer have them, and don’t have the recipe – post if you can find.
Let me know how they come out Suzanne! I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled for your ricotta cookie recipe. I’ll ask my family to & see if they have heard of anything like them but as far as I know we’ve never made them. My grandmother would make Ricotta Pie for easter which is basically a cheesecake—but better! But never the cookies.
Hey Suzanne, I googled Italian Ricotta Cookies and got a ton of responses….maybe one is close to the ones you used to get? I know cooks.com had a lot. And i looked through some google images but since I don’t know what kind you had, I couldn’t do much! Hope that helps a little
Jen – Thanks for coming back and responding to the comments, however, now I’m craving some of the cookies again.
Can I just say THANK YOU!! You made my Christmas complete. I have been looking for this recipe for a few years and could not figure out what the secret ingredient was until I saw yours and was like wow it is coffee! I am so excited I made a huge batch and they even came out round and raised. Thanks again for sharing you don’t even know how much it means to me.
Anne, I passed your comment along to Jen. We were both really excited that we – she could really help you out! Your very welcome and I’m so glad that we could help you out.
i want to make these for my sister’s wedding but i’m confused. i don’t see eggs in the recipe but one of the comments talks about leaving out the eggs due to egg allergy…am i missing something??
Hey April, I double checked my recipe and nope, there are no eggs in it! Maybe she just misread it? And I know when I commented back to her about it, I hadn’t had enough coffee in me and wasn’t fully awake!
Hope they come out great!
Hey jennifer, thanks! The recipe sounds delicious. I’m not known in my family for my baking skills but hopefully your recipe will improve my reputation in that department!!
Thanks again!
April
Jenni, thank for sharing the preparation of delicious cookies. I will try this to impress my hubby.
I was looking for a chocolate cookie recipe made with coffee, of course, when I discovered your blog. I do like the story behind the cookie recipe. Thanks.
I’m so glad you guys like this recipe! My mom would be thrilled!
It’s that time of year again to start whipping up some batches! I can’t wait. I know they are a year round cookie but they always remind me of the holidays!
Enjoy!
I just typed “Italian Chocolate Cookies” in Google and these cookies came up, which only means one thing….I’m making these today. I wonder though, if I can keep the dough in the fridge overnight?
Nevermind…I re-read the article and see it says very clearly that the dough can sit overnight! Does it sit in the fridge or on the counter? It seems it can sit on the counter since there are no fragile ingredients such as eggs.
I like how Google thinks! I don’t know where it’s supposed to sit over night, but I’ll see if I can get you an answer.
I made the dough and it’s currently sitting on the counter.
I’m a little late to reply (sorry, I haven’t been on my computer since Sunday afternoon!)
You can definitely leave the dough overnight. However, I would strongly recommend putting it in the fridge unless your house is really chilly.
The whole reason you are keeping over night is to help the dough harden to help you roll them out and help them to keep their shape. If you leave it on the counter, the dough will probably still be sticky.
How did it work out for you?
My batches are in the fridge right now! One with nuts, one without and a new kinda this year…. going to try a batch with peppermint mocha chips and kahlua! Stay tuned, I’ll let ya know how they turn out!
I have twice used this recipe, in multiple quantities, as the basis for a wedding cookies. Absolutely fantastic!