Espresso Biscuits

Ah, chocolate and coffee. What a combination. These delectable little biscuits are among my favorite cookie confections. This recipe is from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook (2000), page 516.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp espresso powder or finely ground espresso beans
  
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with two racks centered. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and espresso powder; set aside. Cream the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add the flour mixture into the bowl, mixing on low speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl twice. Pinch off small wads of dough (about 2 tbsp each) and roll between your palms to form a ball about 1 inch across. Place balls on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Using a fork, press the tines into the dough twice, creating a cross-hatch pattern and flattening the dough into a biscuit shape. Bake until just firm to the touch, rotating the sheets between the oven racks halfway through to ensure even baking, 10-15 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Because there are no eggs, baking soda, or baking powder in these cookies, and one uses powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, the end result is an intensely-flavored, dense, finely-grained biscuit that crumbles on the tongue.

I got 25 biscuits from this recipe when I made it yesterday because I make my dough balls slightly smaller than the recipe originally calls for (2 1/2 tbsp of dough for a total of 16 biscuits). They pack a mighty punch anyway so a small biscuit is just enough! Of course, I usually find myself eating several at a time...