Mocha Nonpareil Cookies

Prepared with good baking cocoa, these Mocha Nonpareil Cookies are dipped in melted milk chocolate and covered with everyone’s favourite sprinkles! The cookies are firm and crisp, but they melt in your mouth. Baked with a splash of coffee extract, everyone will be trying to guess why these cookies taste so good!

We’ve all had coffee-flavoured chocolate before, but have you had chocolate flavoured with coffee? Yes, there is a difference! When you flavour chocolate with coffee, you don’t taste the coffee. The coffee is meant to enhance the flavour of the chocolate itself. These Mocha Nonpareil Cookies will convince you otherwise if you’re in doubt!

Sure, you get a lot of chocolate flavour. The cocoa powder pretty much guarantees that much! In the instance that you don’t care for coffee, don’t worry, because you won’t taste it at all. In our home, we are divided when it comes to coffee. I love it. John.e is a tea drinker. But, he loves these cookies, because the coffee does not flavour the chocolate.

For some people, there’s such as thing as too much coffee. I have yet to feel that way! If you’re like me, you can certainly go ahead and add a teaspoon or two of ground espresso powder to these cookies. In fact, you can also use coffee liqueur instead of coffee extract. Instead of topping these cookies with sprinkles, try chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans!

I’m going to tell you all about this cookie recipe and how you can make it in your home this holiday season, but first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. I know we’re getting closer to the big day, so it’s time to get to the cookie recipes! Before I get into this brand-new series, let me make mention of the three previous holiday confection countdowns that I just finished up this year.

Back in October, I kicked off the holiday season with a holiday recipe series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Donuts and followed that up with a second series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers. And now, I’m starting out on this new series, which is the sixth annual instalment! I cannot believe that this is the sixth year in a row that I’ve shared Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas! But, before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for today’s recipe, let me tell you about this series and more!

LORD BYRON’S 24 COOKIES OF CHRISTMAS SERIES

Another holiday series, Lord Byron? Yes – why not!? Welcome, Dear Reader, to the fourth of my annual holiday recipe series for this season! This one is called Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas – Volume 6! I will try to keep the recipes in this series quick and easy, just like in previous years. Even if a recipe looks complex, I promise you that it is not! My goal, as always, is to share recipes with you that are not too complex to whip up as a holiday treat for your family. 

Like every other holiday series I’ve shared over the years, this series will share a new recipe every day for the next 24 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday recipes year after year?

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series! Even though this is the fourth series for this holiday season, you can always look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this Mocha Nonpareil Cookies recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is softened and at room temperature.
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown the batter as it bakes.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Coffee Extract – You can substitute with coffee liqueur or just use plain vanilla extract if you wish.
• Flour – This recipe has only been tested with all-purpose, unbleached flour.
• Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! If you don’t have dark, you can use regular cocoa.
• Baking Powder
• Milk Chocolate Chips
• Nonpareils

HOW TO MAKE MOCHA NONPAREIL COOKIES

In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat into the butter until well combined. Add the egg and the coffee extract. Beat into the butter mixture. Next, add the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Beat on low speed, and blend into the butter mixture just until the flour is incorporated.

Divide the cookie dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and roll the dough a 1/4 inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a full 10 minutes of the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire cooling rack. DO NOT REMOVE THE COOKIES FROM THE BAKING SHEET UNTIL A FULL 10 MINUTES HAVE PASSED.

Once the cookies are fully cooled, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl on high speed in 30-second increments until fully melted. Be sure to stir well between each increment. Hold the cookie upside down and dip it straight down into the melted chocolate. Gently shake the cookie over the bowl allowing the excess chocolate to drip off and fall back into the bowl. Next, dip the cookie, chocolate side down, straight into the bowl of nonpareils. Place on a drying rack until the chocolate has set.

COCOA POWDER

Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! I have two types of cocoa that I use when baking. In cookies like these Hot Chocolate Cookies, just a regular, inexpensive cocoa powder will do just fine. Even though I don’t care for Hershey’s chocolate, I do like to use Hershey’s cocoa powder for cookies.

If, however, I’m making a cake or a cookie recipe with very few ingredients, I want to use better-quality cocoa powder. For me, Fry’s Premium Quality Cocoa has all that I’m looking for. It has a stronger chocolatey scent than other cocoa powders. When it comes to flavour, Fry’s wins out again. The only thing that Fry’s doesn’t offer is a deeper, chocolatey colour like you see in the photos. I find that Hershey’s does a better job in terms of colour.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Mocha Nonpareil Cookies, you certainly can! Pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer-friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out on a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. If packaging, wait until the condensation has evaporated. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!