Coffee Cake Cookies

Edibles Oct 16, 2015

Let’s take a minute and think about all the top heavy desserts we love… cupcakes, berry crisp, muffins, coffee cake… It’s not that the whole package isn’t good but let’s be real, the top half is the best part!  Now I love all those things pretty equally except coffee cake.  Love coffee, love cake, but coffee cake? Meh.  I could live without it.  Whenever it’s around I really only eat the top crumbly goodness half and the rest just sort of goes to waste (unless Mama Starling is around- she eats it for me). So when National Coffee Day came by a few weeks ago I thought long and hard about what coffee dessert I wanted to make going back and forth between coffee shortbread cookies or some kind of coffee flavored cake then my mind skipped over to coffee cake then back again since I don’t ever really like coffee cake then really thought about that crumbly yummy top… and then it hit me. Why not make just that crumbly yummy top but on a cookie so the cake part doesn’t go to waste.  Surely I was not the only one who ever thought of this and sure enough I’m not.  I looked over several different recipes before tweaking it down to what we have here.

  

This recipe makes about 20 large cookies
Here’s what you’ll need!
Crumbly Yummy Topping
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup flour
Cookies
  • 10 Tbsp butter
  • ⅓ cup shortening
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1½ tsp cinnamon
  • dash of nutmeg
  • dash of clove
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3⅓ cup flour
  • powdered sugar for dusting
Here’s what you need to do
  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone liner. Set aside.
Now it’s time to prepare the crumbly yummy topping
  1. Mix all the crumb ingredients together in a medium bowl adding the butter in last and cut together with a pastry cutter or a spatula until evenly mixed. Place the crumbly topping in the refrigerator while making the cookie dough.
Now for the cookie base (really just the vehicle for the crumbly yummy topping)
  1. Mix together the butter, shortening and both sugars in a bowl on medium speed for a few minutes, until combined and smooth.
  2. Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, eggs and vanilla and keep mixing until everything is evenly combined.
  3. Turn mixer to low and mix in baking powder, salt and flour, mixing until dough comes together evenly.
  4. Scoop cookie dough out, using a cookie scoop or large spoon (about 3 Tablespoons) and place on your lined cookie sheet. If you’re using a spoon, roll the dough into rounded balls.
  5. Make an indentation in the center of the cookie dough like a little bowl.
  6. Scoop at least 1 Tablespoon of crumbly yummy topping into the center of the dough.  I kept doing this until I used up all the crumbly yummy topping I had!
  7. Place your tray in the oven on the center rack and bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, or until they start to get golden.
  8. And now for the most difficult step…. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.  RESIST EVERY TEMPTATION TO EAT THEM IMMEDIATELY!
  9. Dust with powdered sugar then eat to your hearts content!
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