I love the taste of chocolate mixed with coffee. In desserts. But not in beverages. That’s right, I don’t care for mocha in beverage form. But I cannot get enough of it in desserts.

Coffee in its various forms (actual coffee/espresso, Kahlua or espresso powder) is probably my favorite flavor to add to chocolate desserts (although peanut butter is hot on coffee’s tail). I’m heavy handed with coffee in any dessert that calls for it and quite frequently I throw a tablespoon of espresso powder into any recipe I make that contains chocolate. In my opinion, the addition of coffee amplifies the chocolate flavor.

So, a couple of weeks ago when we needed a super quick dessert made, this recipe for mocha nut balls was an easy choice. I’d eaten them before at someone else’s house so I knew they were delicious. The cookies themselves are a dark and caffeinated version of the ever popular Mexican wedding cookies. They’re extremely easy to make and as long as you like pecans, coffee and chocolate, you’ll love them. I made the mistake of sharing a few with coworkers and they’ve been asking for more ever since.

The recipe I used is from the Taste of Home website and I think it was originally featured in their print magazine. The only alteration I made was my substitution of 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder for the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules called for in the recipe. My reason? I prefer espresso over regular coffee.

Mocha Nut Balls

Recipe from Taste of Home

Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (I used espresso powder.)
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
• Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa and coffee granules.
4. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
5. Stir in pecans.
6. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Cool on pans for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks.
8. Roll warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar.

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I wanted tiramisu. I haven’t made it in over a year. I make a mean tiramisu.

I didn’t make tiramisu. I made this trifle instead. I had eggs and cream and espresso and assorted liqueurs. I had all of the ingredients for homemade ladyfingers. But I needed one other ingredient and that ingredient is the reason I made the trifle.

Mascarpone cheese was what I needed and quite frankly I was too cheap to buy it. At the grocery store I stopped in on my way home from work, it was $5 per package and I needed two packages of it. I didn’t want to spend $10 on mascarpone cheese…so I made this hazelnut trifle as it didn’t require anything I didn’t already have at home.

For the record, I can now buy mascarpone for $3 a package at our newly opened Trader Joe’s. There will be tiramisu in the near future…and when I make it, I can spend that extra $4 on a cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s.

My trifle is adapted from a recipe in Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. It’s the first thing I’ve made from the book because most of the recipes in that cookbook seem ridiculous, expensive and over-the-top…and their trifle is no exception. Yet I still made it. I think it was the lure of Kahlua whipped cream.

Their recipe called for hazelnut pound cake. This sounded excessively heavy to me so I made ladyfingers. They’re pretty easy to make and much better than the store bought ones could ever hope to be. Not that I’ve ever knowingly eaten a store bought ladyfinger. I’m better than that…and anyone reading this should be better than that, too.

To assemble the trifle, I sandwiched ladyfingers together with Nutella. I then dipped them in a mixture of Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, Kahlua coffee liqueur and espresso. On top of the ladyfingers, I added alternating layers of chocolate pastry cream and Kahlua whipped cream as well as chopped hazelnuts.

The pastry cream was made with Nutella, melted chocolate and Frangelico. The whipped cream was made with Kahlua and espresso powder. Yes, this trifle was a little rich and boozy…but what’s wrong with that?

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