Our Coffee Cookies with Baileys Frosting are delicious cakey cookies infused with just a hint of coffee and topped with our creamy, Baileys Irish Cream frosting.

Closeup on a plate filled with Coffee. Cookies with Baileys Irish Cream Frosting sitting next to a glass of Baileys.

That first sip of coffee … is there anything better?  Normally I would say no.  But that was before I had one of our Coffee Cookies with Baileys Frosting.  Yum!  These cake-y cookies have the perfect hint of coffee flavor and our topped with our delicious Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting.  It’s a little bit of heaven in the shape of a cookie.

How to Prepare the Coffee

1/4 measuring cup filled with Espresso sitting next to a package of Starbucks Instant Espresso mix.

Step 1: Dissolve 2 tablespoons of Instant Coffee in 1/4 cup of water.  We used a strong French Roast to infuse a strong coffee flavor in the cookie.  But let your taste buds be your guides on this.

Silver mixing bowl filled with Coffee Cookie dough.

Step 2: In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Mix in the coffee and Half n’ Half. Mix in the baking soda and salt.  Finally, mix in the flour.  Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Baking Instructions

Collage image showing the coffee cookies before going in the oven and after coming out of the oven.

Step 3: Roll the dough into balls and slightly flatten them as shown in the picture above.
Step 4: Bake the Coffee Cookies in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

How to Make the Baileys Irish Cream Frosting

Six Coffee Cookies sitting on a white table arranged around a bottle of Bailey Irish Cream.

Make up a batch of our delicious Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting. You can find the recipe and detailed instructions on how to make it right here.

Frosting the Cookies

Closeup on a Frosted Coffee Cookie topped with shaved chocolate.

Step 6: Frost with Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting.  Before the frosting has a chance to set up, add some chocolate shavings.

Expert Tips and FAQ’s

Use Room Temperature Ingredients

Both the eggs and the butter should be at room temperature which will help your cookies turn out lighter and fluffier.  For the eggs, room temperature simply means not cold out of the refrigerator. If you forget to take the eggs out before you start making cookie dough you can put the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes to warm them up.  The butter also needs to be softened to room temperature which means if you touch it you should leave an indentation on the stick of butter. Do not use butter that has been over-softened or melted.  If that happens you should use a different stick of butter or put it back into the refrigerator to let it set up.  We have a whole post about How to Soften Butter, click here if you need more information on how to do that.

Do you need to use a Mixer?

Yes. In our opinion, you need some kind of a mixer to make a good cookie dough. A stand mixer, while expensive, is a great investment if you believe you have a lot of homemade baked goods in your future. An electric hand-mixer also works well and you can probably find one for around $20. You can hand mix cookie dough in a pinch (which is how we did it growing up), but you will really have to use a lot of muscle to cream the butter and sugar, and eggs properly.

Cookie Dough Mixing Tips

Creaming the butter, sugar and then mixing the eggs in is the most important part of the cookie dough mixing process. Creaming is when you fully incorporate the butter and sugar together and add some much-needed air to the dough. We recommend creaming the butter and sugar for 2 minutes at medium-high speed and then mixing the butter/sugar/eggs for another 3 minutes at the same speed. Once you add the flour, you want to mix the dough as little as possible. Mix it too much and you will get tough cookies. Mix in the flour at low speed and continue mixing ONLY until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough. Make sure you scrape down the sides and the bottom to make sure all the flour has gotten mixed in.

Prepping the Cookie Sheet

We always line our cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper, it keeps the cookie from sticking to the sheet and from over-browning. You can find parchment paper either in rolls or in pre-cut sheets in most grocery stores, and we highly recommend it. Ideally, you should use at least 2 cookie sheets when baking cookies. You don’t want to add the raw cookie dough to a cookie sheet that is hot out of the oven. The dough will start baking even before you get it in the oven.

Oven Tips

Everyone’s oven is different. We recommend starting with a test bake with a single cookie to help you hone in on the exact baking time for your oven. You should set your timer for 2 minutes less than whatever the recipe recommends. Once the timer goes off, open up the oven and see how your cookie is baking. Make corrections accordingly. Our oven has a hot spot in the back so we always rotate the cookie sheet halfway through the baking time to get a more even bake. Although this may seem like an unnecessary step, it is better to do this than burn a whole tray of cookies.

Storage/Freezing Tips

Cookies should always be stored in an airtight container.  They should be completely cooled before storing them. We usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container to protect the frosting.  Cookies stored at room temperature should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can also keep them in the refrigerator and that extends their freshness for up to a week. If you need them to last longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. You can pull them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for 1 hour and they will be ready to eat.

Closeup of a stack of Coffee Cookies sitting next to a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream.

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Coffee Cookies with Baileys Frosting

Yield 18-20 cookies
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Our Coffee Cookies with Baileys Frosting are delicious cakey cookies infused with just a hint of coffee and topped with our creamy, Baileys Irish Cream frosting.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Butter (softened)
  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 2 tablespoons Instant Coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Half n' Half
  • 3 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 batch of our Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting
  • Chocolate Shavings

Instructions

  1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
  2. Add the eggs and mix until incorporated.
  3. Mix in the Instant Coffee that has been dissolved in water and the Half and Half.
  4. Mix in the baking soda and salt.
  5. Finally, mix in the flour.
  6. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
  7. Roll the dough into balls and slightly flatten them.
  8. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes.
  9. Allow the cookies to cool.
  10. Make up a batch of our delicious Baileys Irish Cream Frosting
  11. Frost the cookies and add chocolate shavings.

Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!