"Night Owl" Mocha Cappuccino Lace Cookies

A decadent chocolate and coffee flavored lace cookie with a mouth-watering mocha cappuccino creme center. You won't believe how easy these beautiful cookies are to make, and with the extra kick from the coffee, the mocha deliciousness will have you hooting for more!

Step 1: Ingredients:

Cookie recipe:
2/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. Instant Mocha flavor coffee
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups Oatmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
 
Filling recipe:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup Jiff Mocha Cappuccino Spread, or Nuttella
1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
 
Topping:
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup finely chopped chocolate covered coffee/or espresso beans

Step 2: Making the Cookies:

 
1) Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees
 
2) Place the hazelnuts onto a cookie sheet, and toast in the oven for around 8 minutes, or until they are light golden brown and you can smell the aroma of deliciously toasted hazelnuts. Remove from the oven to cool.

2) Make the cookie batter:
Melt 2/3 cup of butter in a saucepan over medium heat until very lightly browned.
Add the instant mocha-flavored coffee powder, brown sugar, milk, and corn syrup, stirring to combine.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add  the flour, oats, salt, chocolate, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
 
3) Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Spoon 1 small teaspoon of batter for each cookie onto the parchment paper, leaving about 3" between each cookie. Don't crowd them, as the batter will spread to make a thin "lace" cookie as it bakes.
  
3) Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. 
 
4) Remove from the oven. If your cookies have spread far enough to touch each other, simply take a butter knife while the cookies are still hot, and tidy up the edges by pushing them back so that they no longer touch. You can also round the shapes slightly if yours are a bit too wonky for you  :)

 Allow the baked cookies to cool completely on the parchment paper.
 

Step 3: Filling & Decorating

To make the filling:
 
With a mixer, cream together 1/2 cup of room temperature butter, and 1 cup of Jiff Mocha Cappucino OR Nutella spread. Gradually add Confectioner's sugar until fully incorporated, then blend for an additional 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. You can add either more confectioner's sugar, or milk (1 teaspoon at a time) until your filling reaches your desired consistency.

Assembling the cookies:
Turn a baked cookie upside-down, and gently spread approx 2 Tablespoons of filling onto the surface of the cookie with a frosting spatula or butter knife, keeping the filling fairly thin in the center and making sure to spread the filling just slightly beyond the edges. Place a cookie of similar size and shape on top of the frosted cookie to make a 'sandwich'.
 
Topping:
Rub the toasted hazelnuts between your fingers to remove the skins. Discard the skins, and finely chop the toasted hazelnuts. Chop the chocolate covered espresso beans into little bits, and mix the hazelnuts and chocolate covered coffee bean bits together on a small plate. Roll the edges of your filled cookies in the chopped toppings.
 
Voila! These cookies are an elegant, delicious, and indulgent treat, an impressive gift, or a late-night snack that will have your family and friends begging for the recipe.