Coffee biscuits (koffiekoekies)

Koffiekoekies (coffee biscuits), with its coffee-fudge filling, was Marietjie's father's ultimate favourite biscuit.

Indeed, these biscuits are regarded as a bit of a luxury in South Africa because they are delicious, and also because it's hard work to make them. But the result is such a delightful mixture of textures and flavours, that it's well worth the effort.

This recipe makes about 64 sandwiched biscuits.

Ingredients

Biscuits

  • 600 gram cake flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 230 gram butter
  • 200 gram sugar; use Demerara (yellow) sugar if you have it
  • 230 gram golden syrup
  • 7.5 ml (1½ teaspoon) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla essence
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) very strong black coffee (you can use a strong instant coffee such as Moccona, but should use at least 3 teaspoons)
    or
    ¼ cup (60 ml) cold brew coffee. See the notes below.

Coffee fudge filling

  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) strong instant coffee (for instance, Moccona) and 2 tablespoons (30 ml) boiling water
    or
    30 to 40 ml cold brew coffee. See the notes below.
  • 200 gram (1 cup) white sugar
  • 100 gram butter
  • 50 ml milk
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

  1. Melt the butter, salt, sugar, and golden syrup in a large saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
  2. Add vanilla and coffee.
  3. Add the bicarbonate of soda and mix through. The mixture will become foamy.
  4. Add flour and mix well to form soft dough.
  5. Line a baking sheet with foil and tip the mixture onto it. Shape into a flat brick and cover.
  6. Let it rest for at least two hours. You can now cut the dough into strips.
  7. Use a sausage maker with a cookie fitting to form long strips of dough. You'll need a second person to help you! Although her mother used an electric mincer, Marietjie use an old Meat Mincer / Sausage Maker that is cranked by hand.
  8. Cut the cookies into even lengths. A square 5 cm cookie cutter is ideal.
  9. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 200 ºC for about 12 minutes until golden brown and baked through.
  10. Cool the biscuits on wire racks.
  11. To make the filling, dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and add the remaining ingredients, except the vanilla.
  12. Boil for 8 minutes, uncovered.
  13. Remove from the stove, add the vanilla, and beat with a wooden spoon or electric hand mixer until thick and cooled.
  14. Sandwich the biscuits together with the coffee fudge filling.

Notes

For cold brew coffee, you will need:

  • 100 g coffee. Plunger (French press) grind works the best, but filter grind will work too.
  • About 250 ml cold water. You may need to add a little bit more, depending on the coffee you use.
  • Two to three days.

To make cold brew:

  1. Put the ground coffee into a 500 ml measuring jar, and add 250 ml cold water.
  2. Stir and cover the jar with cling film.
  3. After 24 hours, the grounds should have settled, and you will see clear, dark coffee above that. Because you used a measuring jug, you can now estimate how much coffee that is. If it's less than 100 ml, top up with water.
  4. Stir, and put it in the fridge.
  5. Leave it in the fridge for another day or two.
  6. When you're happy with the cold brew, carefully pour it out. If you're doing it slowly, the coffee groun sediment will remain behind.

Tip: you can also put a paper coffee filter in a food funnel, to filter out the last coffee grounds.