Christmas

Kaffee Plätzchen (German Coffee Cookies)

by:
November  1, 2015
4.3
3 Ratings
Kaffee Plätzchen (German Coffee Cookies)
Photo by Julia Seiter
  • Makes 90 small cookies
Author Notes

Every Christmas my grandmother works her magic and bakes her usual array of German holiday cookies. Lebkuchen, Zimststerne, Helenenschnitten and Springerle will be served on big plates all day long. But for some reason, these elegant little coffee cookies are always the first ones to disappear. I've loved the combination of chocolate & espresso ever since I was a child - and bake these cookies not only during the holidays but all year round. —Julia Seiter

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 200 grams Flour
  • 140 grams Butter
  • 50 grams Powdered Sugar
  • 20 grams Dutch Cocoa
  • 1/2 tablespoon Espresso Powder
  • 2 tablespoons Dark Chocolade Shavings
  • 200 grams Semisweet Chocolate
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 175° Celsius or 340° Fahrenheit.
  2. Beat butter and powdered sugar together until creamy, for about 3 minutes.
  3. Sift the dry ingredients together and carefully incorporate them into the butter/sugar mixture.
  4. Using your hands, form a smooth, rather dry dough. It should not be too wet.
  5. Now gently roll little balls the size of hazelnuts out of it. Place them on a lined baking sheet and use a fork to flatten and mark the cookies with a striped pattern. Make sure to coat the fork in flour every time you use it or it will stick to the surface of the cookie.
  6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes.
  7. Melt the semisweet chocolade over water. Dip each cookie in the chocolate and place it on parchment paper to cool.
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7 Reviews

Victoria
Victoria December 16, 2023
I've made this recipe 8+ now over the last two years (not just Christmas!) and keep being asked to share it as well. Absolutely love it.
 
Melissa
Melissa December 5, 2017
I wanted to love these cookies, but I had a lot of trouble with the dough. I know it was supposed to be dry, but it fell apart in my hands. Do you have any suggestions?
 
Julia S.
Julia S. December 9, 2017
So sorry to hear that! Have you tried adding a splash of milk? I'll edit this recipe now to avoid problems like this in the future.
 
Julia S.
Julia S. December 29, 2017
Hi again, I've reduced the amount of flour in the recipe to 200 grams. Sorry for your troubles, it is indeed frustrating to work with a dough that's too dry. I've tried it out over the holidays and adding a bit of butter to the dough did the trick for me. I hope you give these cookies another chance!
 
Windischgirl
Windischgirl February 14, 2016
The flavor is very good, but I found this dough very difficult to work with. It was so dry the balls were crumbling, so I added 1 Tbs. of cream and could have added another. It was necessary to warm the dough with my hands in order to get the dough to form. I also used a size 100 cookie scoop to measure out the dough and got 4 dozen cookies...I don't think making them smaller would have worked; too crumbly! Julia, are there more instructions on how to shape the dough? The chocolate dip was a nice accent; I used a blend of half milk and half dark chocolate.
 
Julia S.
Julia S. February 15, 2016
Hi there, thanks so much for your comment! Maybe it would help to reduce the amount of flour. I would try to start with about 150g and then adjust it as the dough comes together. But be careful, if the dough is too wet/not dry enough, the cookies might "melt down" in the oven. This happened to me once - they were delicious nontheless. I hope this helps!
 
Sarah
Sarah December 9, 2015
I enjoyed these cookies especially with a glass of cold milk. I sprinkled mine with coconut after dipping in chocolate. However, I had a hard time getting it to come together, even keeping in mind that it was supposed to be dry. I ended up adding a lot more butter but it's possible my calculations were off because I had to convert to cups.