Chocolate Espresso Irish Cream Thumbprint Cookies

These thumbprint cookies are a soft and chewy chocolate mocha cookie filled with a super creamy milk chocolate and Irish cream ganache. These cookies will leave the deliciously subtle taste of Irish cream dancing on your tongue. 

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THE COOKIES

Alright, let's get baking! To begin, you'll start by making the cookies first. No crazy ingredients needed. Here's everything you'll need:

• All-purpose flour

• Cocoa powder

• Baking soda

• Salt

• Espresso powder

• Granulated + brown sugar

• Unsalted butter

• Egg

• Vanilla extract

MAKING THE COOKIES

To start the cookies, begin by creaming together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Next, add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Mix until everything is combined and the dough has no floury streaks.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough, and roll it into a ball. Roll the ball of dough in the granulated sugar, and place on a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Place balls of dough about an inch and a half apart. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Using a ¼ teaspoon, gently press an indent into each ball of dough, being sure not to press down too hard. Pop in the oven and bake at 350°F for 8-9 minutes. Remove them from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and allow them to cool completely.

Now it's time to make the ganache! 

INGREDIENTS FOR THE GANACHE FILLING

Now it's time to make what might be considered the best part of the cookie-- the Irish cream ganache! This luscious ganache is going to get drizzled into the wells of each cookie. 

• Heavy cream

• Irish cream

• Milk chocolate, chopped

• Espresso powder

• Pinch of salt

MAKING THE GANACHE 

Measure out the heavy cream and irish cream. Microwave  Microwave it for 30 seconds. Give it a quick stir, and microwave for another 30 seconds. Chop up the milk chocolate and add it into the warm cream. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes, giving time for the chocolate to melt. After 5 minutes, add espresso powder and pinch of salt, and mix everything together with a fork or a small whisk.  Allow it to cool for about 20 minutes or so before filling your cookies. And that’s it– you’ve got your ganache!

**If you don't like milk chocolate, you can definitely use a different chocolate for the ganache. I've made these with dark chocolate, and a mix of milk and white chocolate, and all were delicious!

TIPS FOR THE BEST COOKIES

1. Re-press the wells of the cookies. As these cookies bake, the indents in the centers of the cookies will puff up slightly. Once the cookies are done baking and out of the oven, take a teaspoon measuring spoon and gently press the centers of the cookies back down.

2. Let the ganache set. Once you fill the wells of the cookies with the Irish cream ganache, be sure to give them a few hours to set, so that the ganache has time to harden a bit. If you try to eat the cookies right away, the ganache might be messy and drip out of the cookie. You can speed up the process by popping the cookies in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

I hope these thumbprint cookies add a little bit of joy and sweetness to your day!

Happy baking! ♥

Chocolate Espresso Irish Cream Thumbprint Cookies

Recipe by Chrissy

Servings

28-30

cookies

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

9

minutes

Total time

29

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup cocoa powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¾ teaspoon baking soda

• 2 tablespoons espresso powder

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed

• ⅓ cup granulated sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Ganache

• 6 oz milk chocolate, chopped

• ¼ cup heavy cream

• ¼ cup Irish cream

• ½ teaspoon espresso powder

• Sugar for Rolling

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Get a bowl and put the ⅓ cup of granulated sugar for rolling the cookie dough in and set aside.
• In a mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat together for about a minute until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix until combined. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Mix one more time until the dough forms.
• Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll into balls. Once rolled into balls, roll into the granulated sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheet, about an inch and a half apart.
• Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven. The indents will have puffed up a bit, so you will have to slightly press them down again with the ¼ teaspoon. Allow them to rest about 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat until all of the cookies are baked.
• Measure out the heavy cream and Irish cream into a microwave safe cup/bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Give it a quick stir, and microwave for another 30 seconds. Add the chopped milk chocolate to the heavy cream, and let it sit for 5 minutes, giving time for the chocolate to melt. After 5 minutes, add the espresso powder and pinch of salt and mix everything together with a fork or a small whisk. Allow the ganache to cool for about 15-20 minutes. It will thicken as it cools.
  
• Pour the ganache into the indents of the cooled cookies. Allow the ganache to set. You can speed up the process by placing the cookies into the fridge for about 30 minutes to allow the ganache to set. Once set, enjoy!