The Spiced Life

Musings & Recipes From My Kitchen

  • Home
  • About Me
  • FAQ
  • Dishes By Region
  • Archive and Index
  • Creative Cookie Exchange
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / coffee desserts / Italian Chifferi Cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar

Italian Chifferi Cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar

December 18, 2015 By Laura 22 Comments

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Twitter
  • Email

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!

Italian Chifferi cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar

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.

Italian Chifferi cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar

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!

Italian Chifferi cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar

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….

Italian Chifferi Cookies with Espresso and Cinnamon-Sugar are a fun twist on wedding cookies.


Filed Under: coffee desserts, cookies, hazelnuts, Holiday and Christmas Cookies, Italian Tagged With: christmas, coffee, cookies, crescent cookie, espresso, hazelnuts, Holidays, Italian, nuts

« Holiday Biscotti Bar: #CreativeCookieExchange
Gruyère Potato Gratin »

Comments

  1. Katie @ Recipe for Perfection says

    December 20, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    I just love that sugar coating! Such perfect little cookies.

    Reply
  2. Erin says

    December 20, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    These are cute! I also LOVE cookies. Three weeks is a great rule! 😉

    Reply
  3. Michelle @ The Complete Savorist says

    December 21, 2015 at 2:15 am

    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.

    Reply
  4. Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

    December 21, 2015 at 7:43 am

    All I need to see is cinnamon sugar and I am all over these!

    Reply
  5. Marye says

    December 21, 2015 at 10:11 am

    These sound wonderful! I love cinnamon cookies!

    Reply
  6. Sabrina @ Dinner, then Dessert says

    December 21, 2015 at 1:44 pm

    Love that cinnamon and sugar coating! It looks fantastic!

    Reply
  7. Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

    December 21, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    These look and sound delicious! I’ll bet they have a great texture, too!

    Reply
  8. Linda @ Food Huntress says

    December 21, 2015 at 6:47 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Laura says

      December 21, 2015 at 11:55 pm

      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!

      Reply
  9. Mary R. Paik says

    December 21, 2015 at 10:27 pm

    This looks amazing, love this holiday cookies!!!

    Reply
  10. Kimberly Ann @ Bake Love Give says

    December 21, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    Wedding cookies with cinnamon sugar AND espresso?! Count me in! 🙂

    Reply
  11. mother says

    December 23, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    great Christmasy picture!

    Reply
  12. Kay Fenton says

    January 19, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Laura says

      January 21, 2017 at 12:41 am

      Yay! I love comments like yours–thanks for stopping by and sharing!

      Reply
  13. Pattie says

    April 1, 2018 at 3:29 am

    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

    Reply
    • Laura says

      April 1, 2018 at 11:40 pm

      Hi: the espresso version is made with hazelnut meal. You could try substituting almond meal for the hazelnuts if that sounds better.

      Reply
  14. Emilyjackson says

    May 18, 2018 at 1:24 am

    My family people love cookies so much!! They look so good 🙂 thank you!

    Reply
  15. Carole Pucci says

    December 16, 2019 at 10:24 pm

    I cannot find recipe for Italian Chifferi cookies. I have searched website and have had no success. Carole Pucci nonina@rogers.com

    Reply
    • Laura says

      December 16, 2019 at 11:26 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • Victoria says

        October 23, 2020 at 4:26 pm

        The link take us to an add and not the recipe.

        Reply
        • Laura says

          October 23, 2020 at 11:38 pm

          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.

          Reply
        • Laura says

          October 25, 2020 at 11:38 pm

          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.

          Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Instagram
Enter your email here and never miss a post!

Copyright © 2008–2025 The Spiced Life