Mocha Cutouts... Oh Canada!

Time for a little patriotism!

These would have been perfect for Olympic celebrations... so we fed them to athletes you just might see competing at London 2012 or Rio 2016!

Quite early in the morning on a sunny Thursday in May, Amy filmed a profile piece of Lisa's swimming team... As a thank you to the girls and coaches for their patience, hard work, enthusiasm, and sense of fun, we made cookies for after the practice. After an early morning workout, the hint of coffee flavor was a nice wake-up boost.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens: The Ultimate Cookie Book (edited by Lois White, 2007).

Mocha Cutouts

Makes 18 - 24 cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon strong coffee

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

• Baking for adults? Try spiking these cookies! Instead of the tablespoon of strong coffee, add 1 tablespoon of Baileys Irish Cream or a coffee flavored liqueur.
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds on medium to high speed. Mix in brown sugar, coffee powder, cocoa, and salt. Beat in egg yolk and coffee.
• Gradually mix in flour. The dough will get very thick - use a spoon to stir in flour, if necessary.
• Divide dough in half. If you need to, cover and chill until easy to handle.
• Roll out one half of the dough at a time, to a 1/4 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to shape cookies. Place cookies on un-greased baking sheet.
• Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 12 minutes or until set. Remove from over and let cookies stand for a minute on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
• In small pot, melt together chocolate chips and shortening over medium-low heat. Stir until smooth. At this point you might want to put waxed paper under the wire racks to save on clean-up time.
• Dip cooled cookies into chocolate mixture. Let stand until chocolate sets.

Leave about an inch between cookies, just in case they spread.

A pile of leaves!

A perfect coffee cookie.