Chocolate Espresso Sandwich Cookies
Written by joythebaker on August 11, 2009 – 10:05 am -<
Dear My Bank,
We’ve known each other for a long time. You know how I deposit my humble paychecks every so often, how I rarely use the ATM, and how I hate to use my debit card at the gas station. I know that you like to decorate with bullet-proof glass… guns, I get it… have pens that don’t always work, and always want me to sign up for your credit card. As much as I hate to admit it, we sort of have a thing going.
Let’s be honest Bank. We’re not friends. We don’t even really like each other very much. I know that you have rules. You know… if you’re being honest with yourself, that I do my very best to follow your rules. And I do… Bank…..! Unless, I suppose, I just forget to add one payment to my balance books, leading me to believe I have several hundred dollars in you, Bank… instead of less than zero.
Here’s my beef with you… Bank! Jerky bank. When you penalize me several times in a row for spending money that I thought I had, well… that doesn’t get me any closer to having the money that you’d like to take. How on Earth did you determine that $33 was an acceptable overdraft charge? Why are you allowed to take money that I don’t have? You know what I think? I think you’re taking advantage of my mistake. You know me, Bank. You know that I don’t like to spend money I don’t have… and when I do… accidentally… you use that as an opportunity to take advantage of me.
That’s reeeeeaal crappy.
Nobody likes you. I’ve done the research. It’s true.
Nobody will ever… not even once… make you cookies just because you’re nice. Why? Because you’re not nice.
Now you know.
Love,
Joy
These cookies inspired a delicious wave of selfishness. I did not want to share. Certainly not with my jerky bank… but not with anyone else either.
The wafer cookies are deep dark chocolate with a saltiness that demands that you devour at least three sandwich cookies in one sitting. They dough does not need any rest of refrigeration and goes straight from the mixer onto the table to be rolled.
The espresso filling adds just the right complexity to the cookie. It’s sweet, with just a hint of bitter. Divine with the chocolate wafers.
Hands down, the best darn cookie I’ve made in a long time. Dreamy good. Do it. Make ‘em!
Chocolate Espresso Sandwich Cookies
Don’t have espresso powder? Feel free to skip it, and just make these cookies without. You’ll have what looks like homemade Oreos!
adapted from The Essence of Chocolate
makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies
For the Filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
heaping 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
For the Cookies:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
15 Tablespoons (7 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, but into 3/4-inch cubes, at room temperature
For the Filling:
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate and espresso powder. Make sure all the chocolate is covered by the cream. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk the white chocolate until completely melted.
Transfer the filling to a small bowl and let stand until room temperature. You’ll need the filling thicker to assemble the cookies, so cover the filling and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or an hour, until a thick consistency is reached. If the filling hardens too much, it can be rewarmed in the microwave for a few seconds.
For the Cookies:
Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter a few pieces at a time. The mixture will have a sandy texture at first and then will begin to form peddle-size pieces. As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop the mixer.
Form and roll the dough straight from the mixer. The dough becomes hard to work with if chilled.
Transfer the dough to a board and use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to shape the dough into a block about 5 by 7 inches. Cut the block into two pieces.
One at a time, roll each block of dough between two pieces of lightly floured parchment paper until about 1/8-inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut into 2 inch rounds. Place 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. You can form and roll the dough scraps once after the first roll.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking. Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
To Assemble the Cookies:
Place half of the cookies upside down on a work surface. Whip the filling lightly with a whisk to loosen it. It will lighten in color and fluff up. Don’t overwhip or the filling may begin to separate.
Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. I just scooped my filling out by the scant teaspoonful. Pipe or dollop one teaspoon of filling in the center of each upside down cookie. Gently, using your fingers, press the cookies together until the filling comes just to the edges.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Tags: Chocolate, coffee, Cookies, espresso, recipe, sandwich cookies
Posted in Chocolate, Cookies, In the Kitchen, Recipes | 119 Comments »
Since there is a nice dose of caffiene infused in these, does that mean I can eat them for breakfast? Gosh they look and sound amazing!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, banks are evil.
I love your sense of humor. And I whole heartily agree with you, banks are mean and they should never get cookies!
Oh these sound so delicious! And even better that you don’t need to refrigerate the dough before rolling it out and baking!
Your cookies look delicious – wish there was smellovision. I use to work for a bank and just to let you know banks alter the way your debits post, highest to lowest. The high dollar amount debits come out first whittling down your balance and then the lower amounts. You get more overdraft charges that way. If they reversed it and let the smaller items come out first then you may have only gotten one overdraft charge instead of several. They need to make money for their shareholders and it sounds like they socked it to you. You can ask for the overdraft charges back. Sometimes they do refund all or a partial amount. Love your site!
Your note to the bank was hilarious. I love when you do things like that. I had to share it with my hubby and he laughed pretty hard. Sorry about the fees, happens to me too. And I will definitely make those cookies, thanks.
oh, I especially love when I get an overdraft on a $3.00 charge!! My bank likes to run all my charges through BEFORE my deposit….pretty darn special, huh??!! Oh, but I will take those cookies, no overdraft needed. I really do love your blog!!!
i completely agree w/ you and understand how you are feeling. i hate banks.. but i can’t wait to try your cookie recipe, i absolutely love sandwich cookies.
sorry about the stupid bank–the cookies look like the perfect way to get over it though!
Sorry about your banking troubles–I used to work for one of the largest banks and always felt horrible when that happened to people. Just call them..they’ll reverse the fees if you don’t have a history of them. I love your blog by the way..it always makes me smile and wish I had an oven in my tiny Korean kitchen. =(
I have had 2 jerk bank fees in 2 weeks! the worst part is my bank is really slow at displaying transactions & having accurate account balances on display due to the fact it’s a visa debit card…so you spend money thinking you have some & then you get stuck with $35 overdraft fee + the money you spent in the first place gone! GRRR!
Moral of the story being that I need a raise, fast!
I’m sorry Joy
I worked in the bank for 6 years and still think $33 is an unacceptable charge. I feel you, if you didn’t have the money before, how is tacking on $33 for every time you used your debit card going to make it better.
I can tell you that they CAN reverse the charges, you just have to get the right banker and ask sweetly. I bet a nice plate of these cookie wouldn’t hurt either. And if that doesn’t work, tell them how many subscribers you have on your blog, then threaten expose them. Maybe name a cookie after them
Hi Joy! Quick question about the cookies… can I use instant coffee instead of the espresso powder? I happen to have some in my cupboard and I refuse to actually drink instant coffee, so I need to use it in something else. Thanks!!
Love your letter, and the cookies look amazing!
So sorry about the stupid bank though!
A couple of months ago, I had a $15 fee come out of my bank account. I called them because I happened to notice it right away. It turns out they were charging me a fee because someone wrote me a check that bounced! Seriously! I said to them, “Okay, so THEIR check bounced, and you’re punishing me with a fee?”
Their answer?
“Yes, but we suggest that you let the person know that you were charged the fee, and hopefully they will give you the money for the first check, plus the fee so you won’t be out the money.”
Nice. (gag!)
You all are just the most lovely people ever! Thank you for all the bank advice. I’m going to call those yahoos this week and try my hardest to get a few of those fees refunded. Thank you!
For the cookies, if you don’t have instant espresso powder on hand, give instant coffee a go… should work out just as well!
joy, if you can find a credit union to join instead of a bank its so much nicer. I am lucky enough to be in a state credit union and they are not jerks and even if I do overdraft, they only charge a small amount of money and only one time, not 80 billion times to steal as much money from you as possible. Credit Unions ftw, banks ftl!
How awful with the bank! I’m on friendly terms with mine but I can imagine how it feels when you’re not.
hi joy! something similar happened to me recently, and when i tried calling my bank to see if i could fix the situation, it was a frustrating nightmare.. i ended up going to my bank in person and left within five minutes, with most of my overdraft fees canceled. go in person if you can!
Joy,
Two words for you…credit union. If it were ever necessary, ours would transfer the money from our savings, money market, or Visa to avoid overdraft. (No charge for the transfer.)
The cookies look and sound wonderful.
Joy, I feel for ya. Every time I have to have any dealings with my own bank outside of a basic deposit/withdrawal scenario the idea of keeping my money in an ol’ jar on top of the fridge becomes more and more attractive. I guess the silver lining is that these cookies seem to be designed to make anyone feel better about financial woes! Sounds delicious and I’m definitely trying out the recipe with my gf later tonight. If you have a moment to give some advice to a novice baker, it’d be great if you could recommend some other ways to flavor the filling to mix things up a bit.
sounds like it’s time for a new bank, one that’s a bit nicer. been there and finally found one.
oh how you are such a tease when it comes to baked good. I must admit I try my best to stay away from your blog, not because I don’t like you but because you baked goods are just such a tease on my hips.
AHHH I hate overdraft fees! Here is my U.S. Bank fun story, from back when I was working 2 jobs (at a shoe store and a theater company) to make ends meet.
So I deposit my paycheck on Friday. Then I use my debit card to purchase coffee at Caribou and a couple of other small, piddly things (milk maybe?). Then on Monday I go to the dentist and have some extensive work done, which I put on my debit card (which was probably my mistake – I should have written a check or put it on my credit card, but … I didn’t)
Guess which order the transactions go through in. Yup. First the massive dentist payment which causes me to overdraft. Then the little piddly things, which, since I”m already overdrafted, cause me to overdraft several more times (even though I actually made these purchases BEFORE I went to the dentist). THEN my paycheck, which I deposited before making ANY of these transactions, goes through. Long story short I now owe about $125 in overdraft fees for an overdraft that technically never happened. Special.
This is several years in the past. But it still makes me mad when I think about it.
p.s. I forgot to mention the cookies look amazing, and like just the perfect cure for a bad banking day
Yeah, that happened to me 6 months ago…I made a credit card payment with one too many zeros, and had a mini panic attack when I saw that $1000 had been debited instead of $100. I think I got hit with $350 worth of overdraft fees. Thankfully they were very helpful and waived the fees!
Joy – I love cookies and these look yummy! As for the bank trouble….if this is your business account, then tell them you might have to switch banks if they will not waive the fees. They like those business accounts.
I’m with you on this 100%! The same thing happened to me. It’s horrible. But your cookies look amazing!
Loving your letter to the bank… I’ve been there when some jerks stole my card number and racked up over $600 in charges- In a state I’d never even been to! It was a mess… here’s hoping your situation gets better soon.
I think we probably bank at the same place because that’s exactly what they charge at mine. They recently covered up their old logo with a big blue one. You know, I get that we make mistakes. We’re humans! So I’m not totally up in arms on the concept of overdraft fees. But 33 bucks? Now that’s insane and opportunistic. There’s gotta be a smaller fee we can all live with. And not charge it every single day so it turns into a hundred bucks or something.
I hear you about the bank…and i want some of those cookies
Uggh, been there, it stinks
I agree with all the advice advocating a new bank, they’re not all created equal. In the meantime, thanks for the great recipe 
These look yummy!
You crack me up. And make really pretty cookies
This is the summer of the overdraft, I think. Mitch and I have both been hit. He’s good at talking the bank down, though. I need to work on this.
That stinks to hear about your bank. Have you tried a credit union? As someone who has worked for one for almost a decade, I can happily tell you that they don’t usually go so heavy handed with the fees. They generally have a field of membership, so just see what they require. (I know I reverse fees almost all day. No big deal, usually.) But, holy cripes! $33 for an overdraft fee?! WOW! Yeah, I’d agree with the others and say “Reverse my fees or I’m going somewhere else!” Sheesh. As for the cookies, they look great and I can’t wait to try them, once I have some space in my kitchen! =)
I hope your banker reads this then they’ll be really jealous about the fact that they don’t get any of these amazing cookies!
Ridiculous fees…makes no sense whatsoever.
Chocolate oreos! Yum!
Boo to the Bank, but yea! for the cookies. Try calling them and explaining the situation to them. A while back we had this same issue and they refunded a few of the charges, not all, but enough to keep us happy.
Good luck!
These cookies look perfect! I was JUST looking at the Tribeca Treats website yesterday (www.tribecatreats.com) and thinking that I should find a way to make some of their really cute and delicious looking sandwich cookies. Now I have a jumping off point thanks to you… so Thank You Joy!
Joy,
Thanks for living the motto, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” When the bank treats you disrespectfully and unfairly, you could be cranky. But no, you turn around and make FABULOUS cookies that make all your readers VERY HAPPY. Thank you for putting all this lovely chocolate and espresso out into the world.
So, who’s got the better karma now, Mr. ATM, hmmmm??
–Bonnie
Tooo funny your letter to the bank. I wonder would they accept payment in cookies? I’m telling you a batch of these should more than cover their made up fees.
Ouch…looks like they missed out bigtime…..really….Big mistake.
I’m sooo making these for a BBQ this weekend. thanks!
Funny letter! You tell em’! These cookies look delish!
Awesome!
Jerky bank! Boo
Hey all, I feel your pain. Bank, heat, delicious cookies that are NOT in my mouth RIGHT NOW. To help alleviate some of the frustration, here’s a recipe for NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE/PEANUT BUTTER GOODNESS. Not trying to steal your thunder Joy, not at all. I don’t think these are on the same plane as the recent cookie post. Just thought I’d offer a lil’ something to those sweatin’ out August.
Peanut Butter Trailmix Bars
from Smuckers Natural PB Cap
3c rice krispies
3c old-fashioned oatmeal
1 1/2 c raisins (or craisins, or chopped dried apricots, or chopped dried dates)
1/2c flaked almonds or walnut or pecans, toasted (use 9×13 pan BEFORE GREASING, and toast under broiler quickly for about 1 min.)
1 c honey
1/2 c sugar (white or brown)
1, 16 oz. jar Natural PB, stirred to even consistency
1 tsp vanilla
1 c bittersweet choc. chips (Ghirdelli are nice)
Lightly grease 9×13″ pan with butter.
Combine rice krispies through almonds in LARGE mixing bowl.
In med. saucepan, on med-low heat, melt honey and sugar. Simmer 1 minute. Add PB, chocolate chips, and vanilla.
Stir until PB and chips are melted. Remove from heat.
Pour over cereal mixture, mix with rubber spatula until evenly combined.
Pour trailmix into 9×13″ pan and firmly press with spatula. Allow to cool then cut and eat. Unless you have little willpower and licking the bowl isn’t enough, then dig into the gooey dessert.
Banks suck. The jerks that run them get millions in bonuses and they still can’t break even – they have to charge us for nonsense. Once my husband lent some woman on the train 20.00 (dumb I know…but) – she gave him her business card – and I emailed her – asking where our $20 was – she said she mailed it to us in cash. Liar liar pants on fire. Then she apologized and sent us a check. . . – hear that noise – bouncing bouncing bouncing. They bank charged us $20 for her bad check – so now we’re out $40.00 – stupid bank, stupid lady, stupid nice husband….love your site!
BANKS SUCK. Sorry for the yuckiness you’ve experienced Joy. I think you SHOULD bring them some cookies-it might help your cause! Especially if they’re THIS good. You rock Joy.
Banks have profited over 38 BILLION dollars this year alone from overdraft fees!! My bank charges $35, I was just dinged $70 this week!! Greedy, nasty banks!! Can you say “Catch-22″?? Just try to cash a check without having a bank account of your own!! I got my fees refunded by informing them that their online statement info was not up to date, leading me to believe I had money to eat with!! I’m out of work & desperately needed that $70!
On a lighter note, I LOVE your site & check in everyday! Can’t wait to see what yopu come up with next!!
This happens to me all the time. Fortunatly I’m with a credit union so the charge is a bit smaller $25 each time.
I love your good taste, yummy pics, your writing style and your whole site!
Hi Joy! My bank and I are not exactly kindred spirits either, but I have have that calling customer service and politely explaining the situation will usually lead to reversed fees ESPECIALLY in this economy. Banks don’t want to lose you as a customer, so they can be really accomodating!
The sandwich cookies look deliccccious!!!!!! They seem like perfect finger food at a cocktail party! Thanks for sharing the recipe and your beautiful photos!
Oooooh I need to make these! I’m a chocolate nut, TheHusband is a coffee junkie and this cookie brings the best of both worlds together. What’s not to like?
Hi Joy! I’m totally with you on the bank issues. What I really like is when they make it almost impossible to stop the automatic deposit from your checking account into your savings account, causing the account to overdraft. Is it my fault their dumb website is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate when it comes to trying to cancel something? And well we just won’t mention that I kinda miscalculated my payment schedule… lol.
On a more uplifting note I cant wait to make these cookies! They look like the perfect housewarming gift for a friend. Thanks!
[...] I’m definitely going to make these cookies. [...]