Tiramisu Cookies with Mascarpone Cream

Tiramisu Cookies

If you have ever scraped the last spoonful of tiramisu and wished that coffee soaked flavor could travel somewhere new, these tiramisu cookies are the answer.

They are thick, soft coffee cookies topped with a smooth mascarpone cream and finished with a dusting of cocoa powder, so the whole dessert lives in one hand held bite.

I tested this idea on a rainy Saturday, and by the third batch my kitchen smelled like a tiny espresso bar. Nobody in my house complained!

The concept is simple. A soft cookie dough gets its depth from instant espresso powder, and the mascarpone cream brings the same cool, lightly sweet richness you love in the classic dessert. The cocoa powder goes over the top at the very end, so it stays dark and fragrant instead of soaking into the cream.

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This is a dessert recipe, written in an American home kitchen style, and it makes 11 cookies. You will spend about 30 minutes on prep and roughly 11 minutes in the oven, plus time for the butter and the dough to chill.

The dough relies on simple pantry staples: butter, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, instant espresso powder and salt.

The topping comes together from mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract, confectioners sugar, agave or honey and heavy cream, with cocoa powder for the final dusting.

Because the batch is small, these cookies work beautifully for a dinner party, a coffee date, or a quiet weekend treat you keep all to yourself. If you enjoy coffee flavored baking, the same cozy mood shows up in Lemon Blueberry Cookies, Espresso Cookies and Coffee Cake Cookies, so there is plenty of room to keep exploring.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Three things make this recipe a keeper. First, it is genuinely easy, with one bowl for the wet ingredients, one for the dry, and a spatula doing most of the work.

Second, the cookies bake up big and soft, with a warm coffee flavor that tastes like a proper espresso dessert instead of a faint hint.

Third, the mascarpone topping whips up in minutes and finishes each cookie with a creamy swirl and a dusting of cocoa powder. Simple to make, lovely to look at, and impossible to stop at one.

INGREDIENT NOTES

Every ingredient here earns its place, and a few of them deserve a closer look before you start measuring.

Butter. Melt it in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat. Keep the heat gentle so it does not bubble and spatter, because you want to keep all of that liquid in the bowl.

Then let it cool back to room temperature in the fridge, which takes about 20 minutes. Salted or unsalted butter both work, so use what you already have.

Brown sugar. Dark brown sugar brings moisture, and moisture is exactly what gives these cookies their soft, tender texture. Please do not swap it out for extra granulated sugar.

Instant coffee powder. Any instant coffee powder will do, though the author uses Nescafe Gold espresso powder for its quick dissolving nature and 100 percent arabica flavor. If your powder is coarse, crush it a little so it blends evenly into the dry ingredients.

Cocoa powder. Use a high quality dutch process cocoa powder such as Valrhona or Ghirardelli for the dusting. Dutch process cocoa is darker and smoother, and it looks stunning against the pale cream.

Mascarpone cheese. This is the heart of the topping. Its mild, creamy richness is what makes the cookie taste like tiramisu rather than a plain coffee cookie. Let it sit out briefly so it whips smoothly.

Vanilla extract. Pure vanilla extract gives the best flavor in both the dough and the cream.

Here is the full lineup so you can check your pantry at a glance.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS, COOKIES

Gather an electric mixer, two large bowls and a spatula, and let’s make the dough.

1. Melt the butter. Melt it in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Do not let it bubble, since you do not want to lose any of the liquid. Pour the melted butter into a big mixing bowl and let it cool down to room temperature in the fridge. This takes about 20 minutes.
2. Whisk in the sugars. Once the butter has reached room temperature, add the granulated sugar and the dark brown sugar and whisk them together with a spatula for 1 minute. If you prefer, you can mix them in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment instead.
3. Add the egg and vanilla. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.
4. Stir the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, instant espresso powder and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix with a spatula until just combined. Stop as soon as the last streaks disappear.
5. Scoop and roll. Using a 2 tbsp or 1.3 ounce cookie scoop, scoop out 11 cookies and place them on a tray lined with baking paper. Roll each one between your hands into a ball.
6. Chill the dough. Place the prepared cookies in the fridge to set. The recipe card lists a resting time of 30 minutes, while the written method suggests about 1 hour, so aim for dough that feels firm and cold, somewhere in that window.
7. Preheat and bake. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180ºC or 355ºF and prepare a baking sheet with baking paper. Place 6 cookies per tray and bake one tray at a time for 10 to 11 minutes. Keep the remaining 5 cookies in the fridge until their turn.
8. Cool. Once baked, let the cookies cool on the baking tray for 3 minutes, because they will still be soft when they come out. After they have cooled a little, use a spatula to lift them onto a cooling rack and let them cool down completely.

The dough is soft and sticky right after mixing, so the chill is doing real work. Cold dough spreads less, which is how you get thick, bakery style cookies instead of flat discs.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS, MASCARPONE + ASSEMBLING

Now for the part that turns a good coffee cookie into a tiramisu cookie.

1. Whip the cream. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, whip together the mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract, confectioners sugar, agave or honey and heavy cream until the mixture reaches stiff peaks and holds its shape. If you are making it ahead of serving, place it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap until you are ready to assemble.
2. Pipe the swirls. When you are ready to serve, add the cream to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip, such as a Wilton 2A. Pipe the mascarpone cream on top of the cookies in a swirl, starting from the middle and moving outwards.
3. Dust with cocoa. Add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to a fine mesh sieve and finish the cookies with a dusting of cocoa powder. Serve right away for the prettiest contrast between the dark cocoa and the pale cream.

EXPERT BAKING TIPS

A few small habits make a big difference here.

• Weigh your ingredients. The author recommends a kitchen scale, and the recipe’s default measurements are given in grams. Weighing flour and sugar takes the guesswork out of the dough and keeps every batch consistent.
• Finish with a gentle fold. After the dry ingredients go in, give the batter one last gentle fold with a spatula so nothing hiding at the bottom of the bowl is missed. Just do not overwork it.
• Choose the right pan. Use a light aluminum baking pan greased with butter and lined with baking paper. Light colored aluminum attracts less heat and bakes more gently, which keeps the cookies soft. Dark pans absorb more heat and can produce a darker, drier crust.

If you remember only one thing, let it be this: gentle mixing and a cool dough give you that thick, tender crumb that makes these cookies feel special.

STORAGE

Once the cookies are assembled, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy them within 1 to 2 days for the best quality. The mascarpone cream can also be whipped ahead of time, covered with plastic wrap, and kept chilled until you are ready to pipe.

Add the cocoa dusting just before serving. It stays looking fresh and dark that way, and the first bite tastes like it was just made.

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Tiramisu Cookies

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Tiramisu Cookies If you have ever scraped the last spoonful of tiramisu and wished that coffee soaked flavor could travel somewhere new, these tiramisu cookies are the answer. They are thick, soft coffee cookies topped with a smooth mascarpone cream and finished with a dusting of cocoa powder, so the whole dessert lives in one hand held bite.

• Total Time: 71 min
• Yield: 11 cookies 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

COOKIES
110 g butter
100 g granulated sugar
100 g dark brown sugar
1 egg egg, 57-60 g with shell
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
230 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
½ teaspoon salt

MASCARPONE CREAM
180 g mascarpone cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90 g confectioners sugar
20 g agave or honey
120 g heavy cream
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, for dusting

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Instructions

COOKIES
1-Melt the butter in the microwave or: Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. You don’t want it to bubble, so as to not lose any of the liquid in the butter. Pour the melted butter into a big mixing bowl and let it cool down to room temperature in the fridge. Takes about 20 minutes.
2-Once the butter has reached room temperature: Once the butter has reached room temperature add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and with spatula whisk it together for 1 minute. Alternatively, mix it together in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment.
3-Add the egg, vanilla extract and mix: Add the egg, vanilla extract and mix it in until combined.
4-In a separate bowl, stir together flour,: In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, instant espresso powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and with spatula mix it together until just combined.
5-Using a 2 tbsp/ 1: Using a 2 tbsp/ 1.3 ounce cookie scoop, scoop out 11 cookies and place them on a tray lined with baking paper. Then roll them between your hands into a ball. Place the prepared cookies in the fridge to set for 1 hour.
6-Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180ºC /: Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180ºC / 355ºF and prepare a baking sheet with baking paper. Place 6 cookies per baking tray and bake one tray at a time for 10-11 minutes.
7-Once baked, let them cool down on: Once baked, let them cool down on the baking tray for 3 minutes as they still will be soft when they are done. After they have cooled down a bit, use a spatula to lift them onto a cooling rack and let them cool down completely.

MASCARPONE CREAM
8-In a medium bowl with an electric: In a medium bowl with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, whip together all of the ingredients until it reaches stiff peaks and it holds its shape. If making ahead of serving, place in the fridge, covered by plastic wrap, until ready to assemble.
9-When ready to serve, add the cream: When ready to serve, add the cream to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip e.g. Wilton 2A. Pipe the mascarpone cream on top of the cookies in a swirl, starting from the middle and moving outwards. Add a tablespoon of cocoa to fine mesh sieve and finish the cookies with dusting of cocoa powder.

Last Step:

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• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 11 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 328 kcal
• Sugar: 20g
• Sodium: 265mg
• Fat: 19g
• Saturated Fat: 12g
• Carbohydrates: 41g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 4g
• Cholesterol: 46mg