Gingerbread Latte Cookies

So last week I posted about making gingerbread cookies for the first time. I loved them and they were super tasty. Later in the week my sweet friend Joanna invited me to a cookie exchange at Soho House. I needed to bring 24 cookies. I used the second sheet of frozen gingerbread cookie dough that I had in my freezer and cut out 48 small cookies. After I baked them and let them cool, I made an easy coffee buttercream icing to go between the cookies.

I didn’t take many pictures of making the icing, but I want to post the recipe because these were so delicious! If you are thinking about making the chewy gingerbread cookies, I would think about making them tiny and filling them with this coffee buttercream!

Recipe – Chewy Gingerbread Latte Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 12 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature and cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
• 2 tbsp milk
• baking spray 

Icing

• 1 tbsp hot water
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla 

Instructions

Cookies

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda
2. Run the machine for about 10 seconds or until all the ingredients are combined
3. Add butter and mix until mixture resembles damp sand about 10 seconds
4. Spray your measuring cup with baking spray before measuring out the molasses to help the molasses pour out and clean up easier
5. While food processor is running, slowly add the molasses and milk. 
6. Dump out half the dough on a piece of parchment paper and cover with a second sheet. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Don’t roll it too thin (especially the edges) 
7. Do the same with the second half of the dough
8. Put both pieces of dough with their parchment paper onto a sheet pan and put them into the freezer for 30 – 45 minutes
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set shelves to upper-middle and lower-middle positions.
10. Remove one sheet of dough from the freezer. Peel parchment off one side of the dough, replace parchment, flip over, and peel off the other side of the parchment. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and place cookies about 3/4 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
11. Gather your scraps on the parchment paper and cover it again with another piece of parchment paper. Re-roll to 1/4 inch and cut out shapes. If the dough gets too soft, put it back in the freezer to firm up. You can re-roll and chill the dough as many times as you need to finish. 
12. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Check that you can slightly move the cookies on the cookie sheets without them completely falling apart.  Do not over bake or they will not be as soft. 
13. Pull the tiny cookies off the tray right away and cool on a cooling rack!

Icing

1. Combine butter, sifted sugar, vanilla and coffee in a medium sized bowl
2. Mix with a hand mixer until all the ingredients are combined and smooth (it will look like the mixture is dry at first, resist the urge to add more liquid)
3. Put into a piping bag and pipe on the back of one cookie
4. Sandwich another cookie on top
5. Enjoy! 

Recipe Adapted from Allie and the Oven and the Cooking Channel