Betsy Davis reinvents Low Calorie Toffee Coffee Cookies

Betsy Davis made a yummy cookie for the February Historical League meeting.

Her comments, "I'm so happy that everyone liked the cookies.  It was a new recipe for me - I got bored one day and googled "low calorie cookies" and this is one of the recipes that popped up.  I actually modified it a little bit and I think they turned out pretty well!"

Toffee Coffee Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies
Serving Size: 1 cookie
Calories per cookie: 78, 9.7 grams of sugar per cookie

The coffee flavor pairs well with the sweetness of the toffee.  These cookies are really soft and will stay that way for a week if stored in an airtight container.

Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbs butter
2 Tbs instant coffee (I imagine you could use instant espresso too if you wanted a stronger coffee flavor)
2 egg whites
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 c. brown sugar, light or dark.  I used dark as I prefer the stronger molasses flavor.
4 Skor bars, broken up into small bits in the food processor, or chopped very small with a knife

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cornstarch and salt.

2. Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Pour into a medium sized bowl.

3. While the butter is still hot, add in the instant coffee and stir vigorously until almost all of the coffee dissolves.  It's important to mix the coffee into hot butter because it dissolves better and this reduces the amount of coffee speckles in the cookies and distributes the coffee flavor better.

4. Mix the egg whites and vanilla into the butter coffee mixture.  Then add the brown sugar, smearing out any clumps on the side of the bowl.

5. Combine the two bowls of and stir until incorporated.  I used my electric mixer on a medium setting.

6. Mix in 6 Tbs of the crushed up Skor bars.

7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for a couple hours.  Or, throw it in the freezer for 20 minutes.  You can refrigerate it overnight if you want to make the batter one day and bake the cookies on the next.

8. Preheat the oven to 350° and line to baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with cooking spray.

9. Using a Tablespoon measure, scoop out flat tablespoons of dough and make them into balls and place onto the prepared cookie sheet.  Spray the back of a spoon with non-stick spray and use it to flatten the cookies.  The, spoon a little bit of the leftover crushed Skor bars into the center of each cookie and press the topping into the cookie so it will stick there.  Eat any leftover bits of Skor bar ;)

10. Bake at 350° for 9 - 11 minutes.  I baked mine for 9 minutes.  They will look and feel slightly underdone.  Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet; they will finish cooking there.


Lots of great dessert recipes in Tastes & Treasures cookbook also.