espresso shortbread kissesa little twist from the normal shortbread kisses using M&Ms instead of hershey’s ~(^◇^)/

Recipe adapted from Baking Obsession

Ingredients

espresso shortbread kisses

Espresso cookies
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup confectioner’ sugar, sifted
1 tsp Kahlua
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp finely ground French roast coffee beans

Ganache
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp very coarsely ground French roast coffee beans
1 tbsp light corn syrup
6 oz white chocolate, very finely chopped
3 tbsp (45 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp Kahlua

Directions

espresso shortbread kisses– first prepare ganache ~ In a small saucepan combine the whipping cream and the coffee. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 20 minutes. Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth into a clean saucepan, add the corn syrup and reheat to a boiling point again
– Meanwhile, pour about 1-inch of water into a frying pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and wait for a couple of minutes to cool. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl, then place the bowl with the chocolate into the hot water, just for a moment, to premelt the chocolate and buffer a shock of adding the hot liquid later. Remove the bowl from the water bath, add the butter
– Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for two minutes without disturbing. When the time is over, gently stir the mixture with a rubber spatula in circular motion (from the center to the sides of the bowl) until the chocolate melts and the ganache is smooth. Gently stir in the liqueur. Allow ganache to room temperature and thicken before piping onto cookies

espresso shortbread kisses– prepare cookie dough by sifting together the flour and salt. Set aside
– Beat the butter and the sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the Kahlua and vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Mix in the ground coffee. Finish mixing with your hands. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
– When ready to bake, center the oven rack. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat
– Measure out half-teaspoon portions of the dough and roll into tiny balls. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before baking. Bake the cookies for 10 to12 minutes, until they appear dull and set, but not coloured (only the bottoms should be golden brown). Cool on the baking sheet on a rack. Once cooled, filled with the ganache – pipe a small mound (garbanzo bean-size) onto every other cookie and sandwich them together. Refrigerate until the ganache set. Store the cookies in an air-tight container in a cool place up to a week

Personal notes:

espresso shortbread kisses– i used a small ice cream scoop, and made 26 individual shortbread, i.e. 13 reindeer cookies
– my cookies were baked for 11 mins
– prior to baking, i decorated my cookie with pretzels (broken into half), M&Ms (with peanut) and black nonpareils (as eyes), and further chilled the dough for an hour before baking
– reindeer’s hair is piped on with melted chocolate after baking
– i used 2 tbsp of normal instant coffee granules for the ganache and omitted the light corn syrup. i find the ganache a little sweet and will consider cutting the chocolate down to 4oz instead in the future

IMG_5676my pot of shortbread kisses….. they are absolutely gorgeous… coffee, is romanticism to me (≚ᄌ≚)ℒℴѵℯ❤

I am submitting this to the “Baby Sumo’s Christmas Recipes Collection 2013” event which is hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out

Pollution index: 25 (excellent)

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