Liquid Cocaine (Espresso-White Chocolate) Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Modeled after the secret menu drink from Starbucks called Liquid Cocaine, these crispy-edged chewy-inside cookies are full of espresso and white chocolate. 

This month’s Creative Cookie Exchange ingredient is white chocolate, which I must admit is not my favorite. I find it rather sweet without the essential bitterness of the cacao. But matched with the strong espresso in the dough, this cookie balances that sweetness out beautifully.

A couple of years ago, for Muffin Monday, our ingredient was coffee so my younger daughter suggested that I research alternative Starbucks recipes and then turn one of them into a muffin. It was an excellent suggestion! I chose one called Liquid Cocaine, with four shots of espresso and four pumps of white chocolate. I couldn’t resist recreating it in cookie for this white chocolate challenge, sans the wild party pics, although I did add a little alcohol to the actual cookie.

Party down with muffins: Liquid Cocaine (Espresso and White Chocolate) Muffins

Ingredients for about two dozen cookies (I got 27.)
4 teaspoons espresso powder
1 tablespoon Kahlua
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, at room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz or 170g good quality white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli.)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°f or 180°C and prepare your cookie sheet by lining it with parchment or a silicone liner.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix your espresso powder in with the Kahlua till it dissolves.

In another larger bowl, measure out your dry ingredients and stir well.

Cream the butter with the sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg.

Then add the Kahlua/espresso syrup  and mix again until thoroughly combined.

Sift your dry ingredients into your batter and mix well.

Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Drop the dough in scoops on your prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 18-20 minutes. With the first pan to go in the oven, I pressed all but one of the balls down to flatten them. I wanted to see what that one ball would do.

Turns out, it makes a more interesting and pretty cookie to leave them in a ball and let them flatten out themselves, so the second pan to go in were all left in balls.

These guys are crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle, which is pretty much my perfect cookie.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our organizer, Laura of The Spiced Life for this month’s white chocolate challenge. If you are a blogger and would like to join us for future challenges, scroll down after the link list to see how.

Check out all the great white chocolate cookie recipes we have for you this month!

• Black Bottomed Banana & White Choc Chunk Blondies from Baking in Pyjamas
• Cashew and White Chocolate Chips Cookies from SimplyVeggies
• Citrus Olive Oil Biscotti with White Chocolate Chunks from The Spiced Life
• Cookies and Cream Blondies from Sidewalk Shoes
• Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies from Magnolia Days
• Japanese Yuzu Citrus Biscotti from NinjaBaker
• Key Lime White Chocolate Chip Cookies from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Liquid Cocaine (Espresso-White Chocolate) Cookies from Food Lust People Love
• Matcha and White Chocolate Cookies from Spice Roots
• Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips and Toffee Bits from A Baker's House
• Vanilla, Currant, and White Chocolate Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• White Chocolate Lemon and Oats Cookies from Baking Yummies
• White Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake Cookies from Made With Love
• White Chocolate Pumpkin Bars from Upstate Ramblings
• White Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Our Good Life

If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes--be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts. You can find all of them at The Spiced Life. We post a new cookie on the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze #BloggerCLUE

Rumored to be just like the ones from a well-known coffee chain, these beautifully spiced pumpkin scones with spiced glaze are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. 

If you’ve been reading along here for a while you’ve already heard me say how much I’ve enjoyed getting to know fellow bloggers during the last three years of public blogging. I sincerely wish I had time to read and comment on every blog that I love every time there is a new post, but that wouldn’t leave any time for my own cooking and writing and other fun stuff, so something’s got to give. I do try to get around to them as often as I can. But what if reading another blog was part of a group assignment? Well, I’d have to do that, right?! Have you guessed already that I have joined another bloggers group to justify my blog reading obsession? You are so smart.

Bloggers C.L.U.E. Society
This one’s called Bloggers C.L.U.E. Society and the premise is that we are matched up with another food blogger each month and we need search his or her blog for a recipe to fit that month’s theme. And make it. We’ll introduce ourselves and our readers to each other with each post, until perhaps someday, we’ve made a recipe from and gotten to know every blogger in the group.

This is our inaugural Bloggers C.L.U.E. post. I was assigned Bakeaway With Me and our theme is Thanksgiving. As I browsed through Kathy’s blog, I had to put on my detective cap to figure out more about her since her profile doesn't reveal anything. Hunting for clues was part of the fun though! I discovered that she is married to a man with Dutch heritage and they live with their children in New Jersey. Her mother’s family is of Lebanese descent and her father’s family came over from Hungary, so she has a fabulous and eclectic mixture of ethnic recipes on her blog, as well as a bunch from another group she participates in called French Fridays with Dorie. Deciding on just one recipe to try was going to be a challenge!

Since our theme is Thanksgiving, I finally settled on one that I know my daughters will love. I’m not much of a sweet eater but I must confess that I took my usual taste test bite from one scone and ended up eating it all. I’ve never had the real thing from Starbucks so I can’t compare but, boy, are these good! I’ve decided that they are going to be breakfast for Christmas morning. (My girls won't be home for Thanksgiving, more's the pity!) Kathy says that they freeze well, so I tested that statement and can report that she is telling the absolute truth. I glazed them and froze them in a single layer and they thawed beautifully, looking and tasting just like fresh baked. Which will make Christmas morning even easier.

Here’s Kathy’s recipe. Hope you love it as much as I did! I’ve added the metric measures for those of you who prefer to use a scale for baking.

Pumpkin Scones (Starbucks Copycat)

Yield: 8 scones
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 15 min
adapted from Todd Wilbur

Ingredients
For the scones:
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/3 cup, packed, or 65g brown sugar,
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted COLD butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup or 120g pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1 large egg
2 tablespoons maple syrup

For the spiced glaze:
1 cup or 125g confectioners' or icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons milk

Method
Preheat oven to 425°F or 220°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt.

Add cold butter, and using a pastry blender, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs. You want to see some very small pieces of the butter.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, cream, egg and maple syrup.

Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until a soft dough forms.

Working on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times until it comes together.  With lightly floured hands, pat the dough into a rectangle measuring roughly 7x9 inches or 18x23cm. (I patted with my hands then used my rolling pin to just lightly stretch the dough to the right size.)

Using a large knife or a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut into 2 even pieces crosswise, making four rectangles. Then cut each rectangle into two triangles, making 8 triangles.

Place scones onto prepared baking sheet. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make the spiced glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and milk. Whisk until smooth.

When the scones are done, cool for 10 minutes, then drizzle the glaze over each scone, and spread with back of spoon.

Allow glaze to set before serving.

These scones freeze beautifully.  So save some for later!

Enjoy!

Just look at the gorgeous inside! I can't even express how GOOD these are!

Here are a few links in case you'd like to join me in connecting with Kathy and Bakeaway with Me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

I’m pleased to introduce you to more of my fellow Blogger C.L.U.E. Society members:

• Arugula Salad With Baked Goat Cheese And Rosemary Honey by Aly from Cooking in Stilettos 
• Black Walnut Cake by Christy from Culinary Diva 
• Cauliflower with Garlic and Sage by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch 
• Chicken Curry by Christiane from Taking On Magazines
• Crispy Tandoori Smashed Potatoes by Janet from From Cupcakes to Caviar 
• Honey Glazed Carrots with Cherries by Kelli from Kelli's Kitchen 
• Lemony Cheese Risotto by Debra from Eliots Eats 
• Lisa's Brussels Sprouts by Kate from Kate's Kitchen
• Onion Biscuits by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet 
• Orange Fluff Jello Salad by Ramona from Curry and Comfort 
• Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin Spice Cake by Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
• Pumpkin Spice Spiked Latte by Kathy from Bakeaway With Me 
• Roasted or Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cilantro and Lime by Kim from Liv Life 
• Spicy Cheesy Bacon Ranch Muffins by Anna from Anna Dishes 
• Spinach Soufflé by Susan from Create Amazing Meals
• Susu’s Grand Marnier Orange Cranberry Sauce by Alice from A Mama Baby and Shar-pei in the Kitchen 
• Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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Liquid Cocaine (Espresso and White Chocolate) Muffins

Having fun with muffins:  Our Muffin Monday ingredient today is coffee.  My younger daughter/art director suggested that I research alternative Starbucks recipes and then turn one of them into a muffin.  (The photo set up above was also her brilliant idea.)  Who knew there is a whole list of secret drinks that aren’t on the Starbucks menu?  Neither did I!  But a simple search turned up lots of fun and delicious choices.  I couldn’t resist the one called Liquid Cocaine.

Here’s how to get one at your nearest Starbucks:  Order 4 shots of espresso and 4 pumps of white chocolate syrup over ice in a grande cold cup.  Stir and enjoy.

Or make these muffins.

Ingredients
1 cup or 160g white chocolate chips (reserve about 1/8 cup or  20g to sprinkle on muffins before baking)
2 cups or 250g flour
1 cup or 225g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup or 80ml milk
4 shots espresso (1/2 cup or 120ml), cooled
1/2 cup canola or 120ml other light oil
1 egg

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°f or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing or lining it with muffin papers.

Put your white chocolate chips (reserving some to sprinkle on before baking) in a microwaveable bowl.  With the microwave on 50 percent power, heat for about 1 minute.  Remove from the oven and stir.  If it’s not completely melted, microwave for 30 seconds more.  Stir well and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In another small mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, canola, egg and espresso.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, until just mixed.  Some flour may still show.

Pour the melted white chocolate into the bowl and fold gently until just mixed.  There should still be some swirls of while showing a little bit.

Divide your batter between the 12 cups.

Sprinkle with the reserved white chocolate chips.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes and them remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy the pick-me-up!

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street, a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week.  Drop Anuradha a quick line to join her on this journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.  Make sure to go and check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with this week!

Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins, right here at Muffin 101.