With St. Patty’s day this weekend, what better way to celebrate than with Irish coffee shortbread cookies? These cookies are filled with finely ground coffee so they pack a coffee punch, and are sandwiched together with an Irish cream chocolate mixture which gives just enough boozy flavor to call these cookies Irish.
Irish coffee shortbread cookies
- 1 stick (½ cup) salted butter at room temp
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon finely ground coffee or espresso
- 1 egg yolk at room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
For the chocolate filling
- 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon Irish cream liqueur
- 1 tablespoon butter
For the cookies, cream together the butter, sugar and coffee grounds until the mixture is light and fluffy. I use a stand mixer for this, but you could use a hand mixer as well. Next add in the egg yolk, salt, and vanilla and mix to combine.
Add the flour ½ cup at a time and mix until the cookie dough holds together. It will be dry but should hold together if you squeeze it in your palm.
Dump the cookie dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and shape it into a roughly 5” by 3” rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours in the fridge.
I chose to make rectangular “dunker” style cookies, but you could absolutely make them small and square depending on what you want. This recipe yielded me 12 rectangular sandwich cookies, or 24 total sandwich halves. I haven’t tried it but if you decided to make small square cookies I assume it would make about double the cookies.
Once the dough has chilled for at least two hours, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Slice the Irish coffee shortbread cookies into ¼ inch slices and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. They won’t expand much so you can put them fairly close together on the baking Sheet. I was able to fit all 24 slices on one sheet tray!
Bake at 325 degrees for 13-14 minutes until the cookies are slightly firm to the touch. They will continue to harden as they cool.
Let the cookies cool completely, and once they are cooled, you can begin to work on the filling. Place 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon of Irish cream liqueur, and 1 tablespoon of butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at 20 second intervals and stir after each interval until chocolate is melted. The mixture may end up looking more like frosting than like glossy chocolate, and if that happens, that okay! Spread the chocolate mixture on half of the cooled cookies, and top with the remaining half of the cookies to make sandwiches out of the Irish coffee shortbread cookies.
Once you have sandwiched the Irish coffee shortbread cookies together, let the chocolate set for about an hour or so. Store these in an airtight container at room temperature.
Happy baking!