Tiramisu Cookies with Mascarpone Icing

I've made a few different iterations of tiramisu, as it's my favorite Italian dessert, but these cookies? They are an entire vibe in and of itself. I don't usually eat the cookie batter, but with these, I couldn't stop!

Trusty Tips and Key Reminders

1. Do NOT Over Mix - Over mixing cookie dough batter will cause the cookies to be overworked, chewy, gummy, and not very airy. Switch to using a spatula when it comes time to fold in the flour and the espresso powder. It will help!
2. Use a Scale - In my years of learning from trials and recipe development, I've come to lean heavily on my kitchen scale. I love my Zwilling scale, but you can always buy another kind. When it comes to baking, having precise measurements helps the texture, taste, structure, and mouthfeel stay consistent every time you bake.
3. Add Enough Flour - Weird as it sounds, adding more flour actually HELPS give the cookies the thickness and shape we want when we think about a classic chewy cookie.
4. Chill Time - Putting the cookies in the fridge to chill helps eliminate any unwanted extra spreading as the cookies bake. I've tested these cookies several times with and without chilling before baking, and I can guarantee, the chill time makes a world of a difference.

The Ingredient List

For the Cookie Dough:

1. Butter - To get the chewiest texture in these tiramisu cookies, we use melted butter. I've tried making cookies a few times with more butter, less butter, room temperature, and melted, and the melted butter is absolutely a necessity in this recipe.
2. Sugar - A combination of light brown sugar and cane or granulated sugar helps to give the cookie batter sweetness, chewiness, and a little caramel flavor.
3. Eggs - Room temperature eggs help make the batter insanely smooth. Also, we only use one whole egg and one egg yolk. The yolk helps to give a decadent and dense chew.
4. Vanilla Extract - Vanilla helps to bring out other flavors of the ingredients.
5. Espresso - I bought a Nespresso machine for myself and have never looked back. I love having that option to make a homemade espresso martini, or just use the espresso for other coffee drinks. If you don't have the option for fresh espresso, cold brew or cold coffee works great!
6. Espresso Powder - Using espresso powder enhances the overall flavor of the coffee in the batter itself, and brings a beautiful nutty brown color to the dough.
7. Baking Soda - The baking soda helps to give a gentle rise and lift without being too dense and hard to chew.
8. All Purpose Flour - The trusted type of flour I use in all of my baked goods. All purpose flour provides structure for the cookies.

For the Mascarpone Icing:

1. Powdered Sugar - Powdered sugar is a main ingredient in making icing, frosting, glaze etc. It mixes with a liquid to become thick, creamy, and super delicious on baked goods.
2. Mascarpone - An Italian cream cheese, super creamy, mild in flavor, and perfect for making an Italian icing.
3. Espresso - While this it totally optional to add to the icing, it just gives more of a tiramisu flavor to these cookies and I am always here for that.
4. Half and Half - The half and half helps give the smooth texture and finish to the icing when mixed with the powdered sugar and mascarpone.

Simple Swaps and Subs:

• Swap out the espresso for cold brew concentrate or plain old iced coffee.
• Use a trusted 1:1 gluten free flour instead of all purpose.
• If you want to use dark brown sugar you can, but the texture and chew will change slightly.

How to make tiramisu cookies

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, combine together the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract.

Step 2: Add in the cold espresso coffee. Continue to whisk until the ingredients come together.

To make the Mascarpone Icing:

Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the powdered sugar, mascarpone, half and half, and espresso.

Step 2: Whisk until very very smooth and thick ribbons drip of the whisk when held over the bowl.

Tiramisu Cookies FAQs

Check out these other drool-worthy cookie recipes!

Tiramisu Cookies with Mascarpone Icing

Morgan Peaceman

Coffee flavored cookies with a decadent mascarpone icing on top. These tiramisu cookies take an Italian classic and make it bite size.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Chill Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 18 servings

Calories 250 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  hand mixer
• ▢
  mixing bowls
• ▢
  kitchen scale optional but highly recommended
• ▢
  sheet pan
• ▢
  spatula

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 330 grams All Purpose Flour 2 ¾ cup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Espresso Powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Baking Salt
• ▢ 12 oz Butter melted, then cooled
• ▢ 100 grams Light Brown Sugar ½ cup
• ▢ 100 grams Cane Sugar ½ cup
• ▢ 1 large egg + one egg yolk
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Cold Espresso

For the Mascarpone Icing

• ▢ 8 oz Mascarpone room temp
• ▢ 1 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Half and Half
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Cold Espresso or Cold Coffee

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the light brown sugar, cane sugar, and melted butter. Add in the vanilla bean paste and whisk until combined.
• To the creamed sugar and butter, pour in the cold espresso, egg, and egg yolk. Whisk again until fully combined.
• Once the wet ingredients are mixed, gently pour in the all purpose flour, baking soda, and espresso powder.
• Switch to a spatula and fold gently until the flour and espresso powder and well combined.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then using a large cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough batter into balls, then place on the baking sheet.
• Repeat until all the batter is formed into cookie balls, then chill for an hour in the fridge.
• About five minutes before the chill time is up, preheat the oven to 350º, remove the cookies from the fridge, and bake the cookies in batches of 6, evenly spaced. Bake for 11 minutes, then let cool and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling for 30 minutes.
• While the cookies cool, whisk together the mascarpone, half and half, powdered sugar, and espresso. Whisk until very very smooth and there are no lumps.
• After the cookies are completely cooled (approximately 15 minutes), use a spoon and spread in a circular motion on the top of the cookie in an even layer. Dust with some espresso powder and serve.

Notes

Use a Scale - In my years of learning from trials and recipe development, I've come to lean heavily on my kitchen scale. I love my Zwilling scale, but you can always buy another kind. When it comes to baking, having precise measurements helps the texture, taste, structure, and mouthfeel stay consistent every time you bake.

Nutrition

Calories: 250kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 2gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 183mgPotassium: 46mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 487IUVitamin C: 0.001mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg

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