chocolate coffee kisses

It’s nearly the weekend again ALREADY, happy days made even happier with these scrummy chocolate coffee kisses. Bite-sized melt-in-your-mouth chocolate biscuits kissed together with a really simple espresso icing.

Of course there are child-friendly variations, but once in a while it’s good to treat ourselves with a grownup flavour combination. Aars loves his chocolate biscuits kissed together with a vanilla icing (just in case you want to share these yummy treats with your kids!)

The biscuits are a variation on a lovely Scandinavian Christmas biscuit I learnt how to bake in Norway many years ago. They were simple vanilla balls of yum called “Melting Moments” – perfect title as they do just melt in your mouth. My friends brother made a huge batch of them at the start of the Christmas holidays, and then froze the lot. Every day when other families called round these delightful treats would magically appear, and tasted as if they’d just been baked. Wonderful!

Me being me had to play with the recipe when I had Aars so that he could enjoy them too. So I got rid of the dairy, egg and gluten, and once I had worked out how to retain their lovely melt-in-your-mouth quality with our alternative ingredients it was time to play with the flavours. YAY! We make cinnamon, vanilla, orange and chocolate biscuits and then create an icing with a contrasting flavour to kiss them together. I have a year-round fave and it’s these chocolate coffee kisses! At Christmas I love chocolate peppermint kisses.

These chocolate coffee kisses are really easy and fast to make. The biscuits are a really simple recipe, and the icing is too. They are a great little accompaniment to coffee when your friends pop by.

The biscuits freeze really well in zip-lock bags and don’t take long to defrost. We keep a batch of icing in an airtight jar in the fridge – it’s great because you can ration yourself! I find these delightful little chocolate coffee kisses very more-ish, so the restriction of having to defrost them works well for my waistline ;P. I freeze the lot, and when I fancy some take out 6-10 biscuits to defrost for about 30 minutes, then use a knife to splodge on a dollop of coffee icing from the jar in the fridge and voila I have 3-5 chocolate coffee kisses. And no temptation of eating more as the rest are safely frozen!

They are also great to whip out when you have surprise visitors, everyone loves a home-made chocolate coffee kiss! I hope you and your family give them a go and play with your favourite flavours too. Writing this has made me think of a flavour combo that has got to be a winner, which thus far we have not thought of or tried – chocolate and ginger kisses! Watch this space – I think that chocolate ginger kisses will soon be tried and tested in our home :).

vegan & gluten-free chocolate & coffee kisses

• Yield:

  64 biscuits (32 kisses)

• Cooking Method:

  baking

• Prep Time:

  15 mins

• Cook Time:

  15 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan

These chocolate & coffee kisses are a gorgeous combo for grownups! The little chocolate biscuits melt in your mouth, whilst the spot of coffee icing gives you a little caffeine hit & is fresh and flavoursome. A lovely little indulgence.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz sunflower spread
• 2 oz icing sugar
• 6 ½ oz gluten-free self raising flour
• 1½ oz raw cacao powder*
• COFFEE B*TTER CRE*M ICING
• 2½ oz sunflower spread
• 1C icing sugar
• 1 tsp cooled espresso or coffee essence

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC and prep a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl beat the spread & sugar thoroughly. When it's nicely creamed add the flour & raw cacao powder* and mix well.

   

2. Even though the mix seems wet & cloying it rolls into little balls surprisingly well. Place your little rolled balls of dough on waiting baking tray, then flatten them with two fingers. Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Place on a cooling rack once cooked and ensure they are cold before making into coffee kisses (otherwise residue heat will melt the icing!).

4. To make the coffee b*tter cre*m icing beat the sugar into the spread then add the coffee (espresso or essence). When the biscuits are cold you can put a dot of icing on one and then squidge another biscuit on top. Job done! 

Notes:

*if you don't have raw cacao powder use cocoa powder

The biscuits (with no icing) freeze brilliantly and take less than an hour to defrost so I tend to make a mass of them and pop them in the freezer in a sealed bag, ready to whip out if people drop by. I keep the icing in an airtight container in the fridge so the biscuits can be transformed into kisses at a moments notice. 

B*TTER CRE*M icing is butter-free, better-cre*m icing, it's 100% vegan and I use the *s to avoid confusion - as there is no butter or cream in our recipe.