Frosted Tiramisu Sugar Cookies Recipe

Classic tiramisu is a delicious layered Italian dessert that combines coffee-soaked ladyfingers, whipped mascarpone, cream, and a light dusting of cocoa powder. It's often flavored with some form of alcohol — coffee liqueur, amaretto, or rum are typical additions. The slight bitterness from the coffee contrasts with the sugary cookies and tangy cheese, and the dessert is delightfully moist and creamy. It's this very quality, however, that makes it a bit too messy to take on picnics or to potlucks. 

With this recipe for frosted tiramisu sugar cookies developer Jessica Morone gives us tiramisu in a portable package. She tells us, "I love these because they are a fun twist on tiramisu, you get all the flavors and satisfaction of tiramisu in a convenient cookie form." Though classic tiramisu involves a few steps it isn't that complicated of a dessert to make, and neither are these cookies. As Morone explains, "You are basically baking a simple espresso-flavored sugar cookie and making a mascarpone frosting to top it with." 

Once the cookies are frosted, Morone notes that they'll need to be refrigerated and estimates that they will only last for about two days. Unfrosted, they will keep at room temperature for five days. The frosting needs to be refrigerated and will last for three days. You can bake the cookies, freeze them, and when you're ready to eat them, you can whip up the frosting to apply once the cookies are thawed.

The cookie dough is made with flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, rum extract, and espresso powder. Morone notes that instant coffee isn't a good substitute for this last ingredient, explaining, "Espresso powder is more concentrated, so you would need a lot more instant coffee to get the same flavor that you get in these cookies." Espresso powder is great for any baked desserts that are meant to be coffee-flavored, and you can also add it to chocolate desserts to intensify the chocolate flavor. For the frosting, you'll also need mascarpone, heavy cream, and powdered sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer to beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter together until smooth.

Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, and rum extract until combined, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.

Add in the dry ingredients until incorporated.

Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, fitting about 6-8 cookies per sheet. Press the cookie dough down slightly to flatten the tops.

Bake in the preheated oven for 11-13 minutes until the cookies are golden on the edges. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat the mascarpone, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract with a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cooled cookies.

Dust with cocoa powder if desired, then serve.

Mascarpone is a soft and creamy type of cheese that originated in Italy. Its 70 to 75% fat content is on the high side, so it adds a rich flavor to baked goods and sauces. Mascarpone is the traditional cheese used to make tiramisu, and Morone calls it "the perfect creamy, tangy cheese for the frosting." If you can't find mascarpone though, you can substitute a different dairy product with a similar texture and flavor.

Crème fraîche, which comes from France (hence the name), is a soured cream that's not generally referred to as a cheese, and yet it is so similar to mascarpone that the two can usually be swapped out on a one-to-one basis. Cream cheese also makes a great mascarpone substitute, although since it tends to be a bit stiffer than mascarpone, you may need to let it soften before combining it with the cream and sugar so your frosting won't have any lumps. Yet another idea for a rich and creamy substitute is to beat 8 ounces of cream cheese with ¼ cup whipping cream and 2 tablespoons butter and use the mixture to replace the mascarpone in this recipe.

Morone makes her cookies with rum extract because many modern tiramisu recipes include rum. You will also find recipes that call for marsala wine, coffee liqueur, or brandy, all of which you may use in place of the rum extract, while you could also use rum. With each of these substitutions, though, you might need to increase the amount to a tablespoon or so because the rum flavor in the extract is more concentrated.

If you want to avoid alcohol in your cookies, you will need to replace both the rum and vanilla extracts because both typically contain alcohol. Vanilla extract can be swapped for vanilla powder, while you can find alcohol-free rum extract, which is often made with propylene glycol. You can, however, omit the rum flavoring entirely without sacrificing any authentic tiramisu flavor. Tiramisu, it seems, was originally made without alcohol and many Italian recipes still omit the stuff, so all you really need is the mascarpone and coffee to make your sugar cookies taste just like this classic dessert.