Italian Chifferi Cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar are a sophisticated and delicious twist on crescent cookies. They are perfect for Christmas cookie exchanges and Holiday cookie tins!
The minute I saw these Italian Chifferi Cookies I knew I was making them. Actually, if I am honest, I felt that way about these cookies and another one in the same article, but I have not gotten to that one yet. Darn germs! But anyway…
I love Christmas cookies. That must be apparent by now. And I love just about anything that celebrates holiday cookies–special issue cookie magazines, December/holiday issues of magazines, cookbooks, treasured family recipes, etc. Over time, some sources have proven to be particularly reliable, and one of those is the December/Holiday issue of Fine Cooking. It always includes recipes for candy or cookies by a name I trust, and out of the three years I have subscribed, I have immediately bookmarked the treats featured two of those years. I made Christine Tosi’s Potato Chip Oven Brittle two years ago. This year, when I saw that Domenica Marchetti had a feature on Italian Christmas cookies, well, it felt like a sign after our fabulous Italian summer.
As long as we are talking about holiday cookies, I do want to pause a moment, since this is a subject near and dear to my heart, and describe to you what makes a good holiday cookie–and then point you to the newly created Holiday and Christmas Cookies section of my archive (if you forget later, you can find it in the archive page above).
First, please know that if I do not consider a cookie a good holiday cookie, it does not mean I don’t think it is a good cookie. I think chocolate chip cookies, for example, make terrible holiday cookies and yet they are my favorite cookies in the world. Second, I do make some exceptions to my rules; invariably the exceptions are traditional holiday cookies from around the world. Those cookies may not satisfy my rules, but by dint of being consider a winter holiday cookie in their culture they will make it onto my index.
Now what are my rules, you ask? Simple. It needs to be able to last at least 3 weeks in a basic cookie tin. Because to me, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, the Winter Solstice, or some other holiday I don’t know about, the point is having cookies on hand because it is the holidays. Being able to whip out, at a moment’s notice, a beautiful tray of an assortment of cookies (and candies–check out my candy section too!) for guests to peruse. So my cookies tend to be biscotti, shortbread, butter cookies, meringues, wedding and crescent cookies, etc. Cookies that do not go stale easily. And I thought about doing a round-up, and maybe someday I still will, but guys I have so many Christmas cookies. Think of me as a resource you cannot afford to waste and go check it out!
These Italian Chifferi Cookies were totally new to me, aside, of course, from the fact that they are a variation on a wedding or crescent cookie. But the addition of espresso was new, as well as rolling them in cinnamon-sugar. Because of this, I decided to follow the recipe exactly.[Update October 2020: Fine Cooking appears to have been purchased by a different media conglomerate and removed access to their archives. This recipe was created by Domenica Marchetti of Domenica Cooks, so I am sending you to her site for the recipe.] I really like them, but the bitter edge from the espresso is a bit too much for Sammy and John (not sure about Alex–she has fixated on some other cookies and I am not sure she has tried them!). I would call them a sophisticated flavor. If you are concerned about it, reduce the espresso to two teaspoons. Personally I consider them the perfect wake-me-up cookie with a cup of coffee! Because I did not change anything, I have linked to the recipe at the beginning of this paragraph.
For the collage lovers….
I just love that sugar coating! Such perfect little cookies.
These are cute! I also LOVE cookies. Three weeks is a great rule! 😉
I love your cookie rules! I’d love to be a guest at your home this time of year to sample all your fancy baked goods. I’d start by eating a dozen of these.
All I need to see is cinnamon sugar and I am all over these!
These sound wonderful! I love cinnamon cookies!
Love that cinnamon and sugar coating! It looks fantastic!
These look and sound delicious! I’ll bet they have a great texture, too!
I think the combination of coffee and cinnamon sounds like a great combination and I put cinnamon in my coffee all the time. I like the way you think about making cookies that will last for 3 weeks. That is one of the biggest problems with Christmas cookies. Something else that I don’t like is when the flavors combine when you combine cookies in the same tin.
OMG I NEVER mix flavors in a tin lol! I am with you there, just didn’t occur to me to say so. My dining room table is littered with tins!
This looks amazing, love this holiday cookies!!!
Wedding cookies with cinnamon sugar AND espresso?! Count me in! 🙂
great Christmasy picture!
These cookies are amazing!!! Do not make them if you’re on a diet though because it is impossible to stop at one! Beautiful to give as a homemade treat any time. Thank you for this delicious recipe
Yay! I love comments like yours–thanks for stopping by and sharing!
I can only find the recipe for the hazelnut version and I am not a fan of hazelnut. I’d love to make the expression version.
Thanks
Hi: the espresso version is made with hazelnut meal. You could try substituting almond meal for the hazelnuts if that sounds better.
My family people love cookies so much!! They look so good 🙂 thank you!
I cannot find recipe for Italian Chifferi cookies. I have searched website and have had no success. Carole Pucci nonina@rogers.com
Hi: that is because I did not change anything in the recipe. In the last paragraph you will note a link at the beginning to the recipe. I wanted to keep credit with my source since I did not change enough in any way to make the recipe mine. Sorry for the confusion!
The link take us to an add and not the recipe.
Hi! Well it happened to me too (ack!) and some online digging revealed that Fine Cooking’s entire website is down. They are apparently getting some sort of makeover. Unfortunately there is not much I can do about that on my end. If the problem continues, I will hunt through my magazines and see if I can find the recipe, although after many moves and owning multiple cooking magazine subscriptions, let’s just say I hope they fix things! I am sure they intend to–their archives must have thousands of recipes.
The more I thought about it the more concerned I became. I want people to have this recipe! I did find my hard copy, but happily the original recipe author has it on her blog and I have changed the link to reflect that.