These festive cookies are inspired by The Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets sequence, in which coffee and sugar plums are two of the flavours used to conjure a fanciful world of decadent diversion. Anything from a hard candy to a candied fruit can qualify as a “sugar plum” and, in the case of these cookies, the sugar plum is represented by the amarena cherry. Coffee’s bitterness balances the sweetness of the fruit and the rich butteriness of the dough, while the oat flour adds a dash of shortbread-like delicateness.
Sugar plum and coffee cookies
Prep 10 min
Chill 30 min+
Cook 35 min, plus cooling
Makes 36
185g room-temperature butter
75g sugar
2 tsp instant coffee/espresso powder
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
½ tsp vanilla extract
⅛ tsp fine salt
180g plain flour
85g oat flour
36 amarena cherries in syrup
Turbinado sugar, or pearl sugar or icing sugar, for dipping
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, coffee powder, cocoa, lemon zest, vanilla and salt, at first on low and then medium speed, until creamy and fluffy.
Add both flours and beat just until combined with no dry flour remaining; don’t overbeat because this can toughen the texture. (Alternatively, this can be done with a hand mixer or wooden spoon.) Compress the dough into a mass, cover the bowl tightly (or transfer it to an airtight container) and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 48 hours.
Heat the oven to 190C (175C fan)/375F/gas 5 and line two 33cm x 46cm baking trays with greaseproof paper. Line a large plate with two layers of kitchen towel and, using a slotted spoon or fork, put the cherries on it – the paper towels will absorb most of their excess liquid. Put some cold water in a small bowl and your preferred decorating sugar(s) in another small bowl (or bowls, if using multiple sugars).
Divide the chilled dough into 36 equal pieces of about 15g each, then roll each one between your palms to make 2½cm balls. Arrange these evenly in three rows of six on each of the lined trays.
To form the craters that will welcome the cherries, press an index finger into the centre of each ball close to the bottom to create a dimple. A little cracking is OK, but if any large cracks form, smooth them much as you would clay. If your crater-forming finger is sticking to the dough, lightly dip it into the bowl of cold water (shake off any excess) before pressing it into the dough.
Press the top of each cookie into the decorating sugar(s) to coat evenly and plentifully, then return them to the baking tray. Gently nestle a cherry into each cookie crater, then bake for 13-14 minutes; the cookies will expand slightly and have tiny cracks, and the cherries may be lightly bubbling.
Let the cookies cool on the trays on cooling racks. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
