espresso Archives | The Vanilla Bean Blog

Chocolate Espresso Sugar Cookies

Sarah Kieffer — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 20:59:56 +0000

These Chocolate Espresso Cookies are a favorite recipe to make around the holiday season, and are perfect for gift-giving boxes. I have a non-espresso version in 100 Cookies, but I’ve found the inclusion of ground espresso and a dash of coffee-flavored liqueur adds really nice flavor, and compliments the chocolate perfectly. These cookies are rich with so much chocolate flavor, have slightly crisp edges the day of baking, and a tender, rich center that lasts for days. They incredibly easy to make, no refrigeration of the dough needed. And they freeze well, which helps when planning holiday get-togethers and recipes for your holiday cookie boxes. Ingredient Notes for Chocolate Sugar Cookies: All-Purpose Flour: Make sure your all-purpose flour is not too high or low in protein; I like to use Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose for cookie baking. At 10.5 percent protein it is a good, moderate choice to keep baked goods tender. Ghirardelli Majestic Cocoa Powder: When I was recipe testing with this cocoa powder, I noticed the difference with one bite of the cookies. Ghirardelli uses the heart of the cacao bean, called the nib, to create this premium dutch-processed cocoa. The nibs are ground, pressed, and pulverized to […]

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pan-banging molasses espresso cookies with chocolate

Sarah Kieffer — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 07:56:16 +0000

This recipe originally appeared in Bake From Scratch Vol 3, along with several other cookies recipes I contributed, and now is in the new Bake From Scratch Cookie Collection. And there’s an entire chapter of Pan-banging cookie recipes in my cookbook, 100 Cookies! These cookies have the crisp, ripply edges and gooey, chocolate center my original recipe is known for, along with a tiny hit of molasses and some ground espresso. If you make them, please let me know! You can tag me on Instagram, or tag #panbanging or #bangonapan (or, of course, leave a comment here if you aren’t on social media!). These chocolate and espresso laced cookies have crisp, ripply edges and gooey, chocolate center, made using my signature pan-banging cookie method!

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Espresso Bundt Cake

Sarah Kieffer — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 17:57:55 +0000

There has been a slight chill in the air the past week – so naturally I found myself in the kitchen baking bundt cakes. I used to make an Espresso Bundt Cake back in my bakery days, but I found the recipe slightly lacking and dry when remaking it in my home kitchen. I decided to revamp my Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake, and was very happy with the results. This cake is buttery and rich, with coffee flavor from both ground and brewed espresso, and, of course, one can never go wrong with chocolate glazed anything. ****************************** A few things *I’ve been reading up a storm the last few weeks, trying to get all my summer books in. I just finished Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple and Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Before that it was Leave it to Psmith by Wodehouse (which just might be my favorite Blandings Castle Wodehouse) and I just started The Women’s War by Dumas. *I got to see Over The Rhine perform last week, which was (and always is) amazing. They played a lot of songs from their new album, but also some favorite classics. The highlight of the evening […]

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Coffee Caramel Ice Cream Pie

Sarah Kieffer — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 15:42:37 +0000

This just might be a perfect summer dessert: a chocolate cookie crust, no-churn (and so easy!) coffee ice cream, with a topping of caramel whipped cream and candied cacao nibs. The crust and ice cream base can be put together a day or two in advance, which also comes in handy. If you aren’t into the candied cacao nibs, crushed chocolate covered espresso beans would also be delicious here. A few things: *The Coffee-Caramel combination on my ice cream cake is inspired by this Ice Box Cake over on ZoeBakes. *My summer reading has been fluctuating between Wodehouse (the Jeeves series) and the French Revolution, which has been an odd but interesting combination. I’m currently in the middle of the Twelve Who Ruled, which is a fascinating look at the Committee of Public Safety and their role in the Reign of Terror. *We recently splurged on an outdoor projector, so we could take our family movie nights outside this summer. We’ve just been projecting it onto our garage door, which works just fine! We’ve been showing our kids a bunch of our favorite movies from the late 80’s/early 90’s, and we’ve made it through Goonies, UHF, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, […]

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Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream

Sarah Kieffer — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 14:51:55 +0000

I’m not ashamed to admit I drink way too much coffee. I recently got an espresso machine, which has changed my life for the better. There is nothing like a freshly brewed, steaming hot Americano with a splash of cream to start a chilly morning off right. And because the machine is conveniently located in my kitchen, I’m also finding myself adding espresso to many of my baked goods like these pan-banging molasses espresso cookies, much to my families dismay (my husband has never been a coffee drinker, alas). So espresso buttercream happened, of course! I’ve been putting coffee in buttercream for years, but espresso has a stronger and bolder flavor, which I appreciate. Pairing the espresso with chocolate is my favorite way to cake (I used my snack cake base), but white cake would work here as well. Making this Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream The buttercream here calls for espresso, but you can substitute strong coffee. I’ve been using organic espresso beans from Alakef Coffee Roasters, which is located in Duluth Minnesota (I ordered the chocolate covered espresso beans from them as well). Alakef also owns City Girl Coffee, which is a sustainable and responsible coffee company who is […]

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Espresso Semifreddo

Sarah Kieffer — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 03:46:38 +0000

(1) Turn off the Radio. (2) Read all the good books you can, and avoid nearly all magazines. (3) Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again. (4) Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else. (Notice this means if you are interested only in writing you will have nothing to write about…) (5) Take great pains to be clear. Remember that though you start by knowing what you mean, the reader doesn’t, and a single ill-chosen word may lead him to a total misunderstanding. In a story it is terribly easy just to forget that you have not told the reader something he needs to know – the whole picture is so clear in your own mind that you forget that it isn’t the same in his. (6) When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I […]

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