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
- Melt the butter, salt, sugar, and golden syrup in a large saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Add vanilla and coffee.
- Add the bicarbonate of soda and mix through. The mixture will become foamy.
- Add flour and mix well to form soft dough.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and tip the mixture onto it. Shape into a flat brick and cover.
- Let it rest for at least two hours. You can now cut the dough into strips.
- 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.
- Cut the cookies into even lengths. A square 5 cm cookie cutter is ideal.
- Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 200 ºC for about 12 minutes until golden brown and baked through.
- Cool the biscuits on wire racks.
- To make the filling, dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and add the remaining ingredients, except the vanilla.
- Boil for 8 minutes, uncovered.
- Remove from the stove, add the vanilla, and beat with a wooden spoon or electric hand mixer until thick and cooled.
- 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:
- Put the ground coffee into a 500 ml measuring jar, and add 250 ml cold water.
- Stir and cover the jar with cling film.
- 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.
- Stir, and put it in the fridge.
- Leave it in the fridge for another day or two.
- 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.