FIGS & WALNUTS ESPRESSO SANDWICH COOKIES

December heralds the arrival of cookie season, for Christmas will be at our door steps before we know it. Also, this is the best time here for baking cookies of all sorts coz humidity is at its lowest and shall remain so for the coming two months as well. So, yours truly shall make the best of this time and roll out cookies from of her kitchen. Festivities certainly call for something extra special and therefore my espresso walnut cookies got a makeover and turned into something decadent. Love anything coffee and the coffee ganache filling makes these cookies an absolute pleasure to indulge in. The figs add a touch of sweetness against the coffee and the walnuts give a nice texture and bite to the cookies. You can safely consider these scrumptious cookies as dessert cookies. The last word on these cookies – they are a coffee lovers delight! Do not miss out on making them 🙂

For Cookies

1½ C All Purpose Flour (Maida)

1 tbsp ground Espresso Coffee

100 grams Walnuts (see notes)

75 – 100 grams dry Figs (finely chopped)

130 grams unsalted Butter

¾ – 1 C Sugar (we like ours mildly sweet, hence ¾ Cup)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

A few tablespoons Instant Coffee granules (optional)

For Ganache

1 tbsp unsalted Butter

½ C Cream

1 tbsp strongly brewed Coffee

¾ C Semi sweet Choco Chips

METHOD

In a bowl mix together the flour, espresso coffee, finely chopped figs and walnuts.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar, along with vanilla extract, till fluffy.

Stir in the flour mix and mix it till well incorporated. (I prefer doing it with my hands. Wash and dry your hands before doing this job)

Wrap the dough in a cling wrap and freeze the dough for 20 – 30 minutes

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 – 15 minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer and using half the dough, roll to ¼ cm thickness. Using the cookie cutter of your choice, cut out the dough and place it on slightly greased baking sheet keeping a gap of a few centimeters between each cut out cookie dough.

(I sprinkled each cut out cookie dough with some instant coffee granules, however this step is purely optional.)

(If you are using two cookie baking sheets, then you can use roll and cut out all the dough at one go)

Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes or till the edges of the cookies begin to turn brown.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before removing them on a wire rack.

Allow the cookies to cool completely.

Bake the rest of the dough in a similar way till all the dough is exhausted.

For Ganache, heat the coffee, cream and butter on low heat till it begins to bubble at the edges.

Remove from heat and stir in the choco chips. Once they choco chips begin to melt, whisk the mixture to attain a smooth and glossy ganache. Cool completely and refrigerate for half an hour so that the ganache thickens. Whisk the ganache again before you begin using it for the filling.

For Filling, take a heaped teaspoon of ganache (the amount of filling will depend on the size of your cookies) and add it right in the centre of the cookie (on the side that was touching the baking sheet). Take another cookie and place it on top of the ganache. Press it down gently to spread the ganache evenly between the cookies. I used a spoon but feel free to use a piping bag for this job. Finish the whole batch the same way.

Note – I crushed half the walnuts to a coarse powder and added the rest of it finely chopped. This made the texture a little chewy. So, if you like crisp cookies, you might want to finely chop the walnuts instead of pulsing half of them to a coarse powder, like I did.

Note – We enjoy intense coffee flavor in our cookies therefore I had used 2 tbsp of espresso coffee in the cookies however I have mentioned only 1 tbsp in the list of ingredients. (suit yourself)

Yield – 10 – 12 Sandwich Cookies

Thanks for your visit. See you soon again with another exciting recipe!

11 thoughts on “FIGS & WALNUTS ESPRESSO SANDWICH COOKIES

  1. Oh wow these cookies look so good! I love the combination of espresso, walnuts and figs – never though of it and it sounds interesting. I have to try these ♥

    1. They were fab together Evelyne. Do try the combo. I believe they would make great pair even in a glass of cold coffee.

    1. I was really happy the way they turned out. I hope you and your family enjoy them as much as we did 🙂

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