Cappuccino Flats

Happy autumn everyone! September is here! I love this time of the year.

 Yes, autumn is my favorite season ever…  and I have a strong suspicion this goes back to the nostalgia I feel for back-to-school days not-so- long-ago.  September to me is smelling the crisp autumn air in the morning. It takes me back to September mornings in college, as I used to wake up and get ready for class. I remember being on my way to English Lit class, walking from one end of the campus to the other,  blinking the sleep away from my drowsy eyelashes as I heard the crunching sound of dead leaves under my shoes.

September, to me, is seeing the trees change their summer foliage to the dramatic crimson and gold colors ; it is watching the squirrels busily hoarding acorns for the winter, and pint-sized kids trundling up fully-kitted with backpacks, lunch bags and colorful coats to wait for their yellow school bus. Fall makes me want to break in new school shoes, sharpen some pencils, and, oh, bake yummy treats. For there are few things I love as much as curling up on a comfy couch, on a cool September evening, and read a good book while munching on home-baked treats to relax after the hectic pace of the day.

For some reason, these musings led me to randomly remember two things…

The first is a poem by the Scottish poet F. Louis MacNeice. MacNiece was an Irish poet and  playwright part of the “Auden group” -a group of British and Irish writers active in the 1930s that included W. H. Auden and Cecil Day-Lewis.  Some of his best poems were originally written for radio and later published. Anyway, I am posting the “September” poem here below… In case I haven’t already sold you on how awesome and dramatic the fall season is…

“September has come,

It is hers whose vitality leaps in the autumn,

Whose nature prefers
Trees without leaves and a fire in the fire-place;
So I give her this month and the next
Though the whole of my year should be hers who has rendered already
So many of its days intolerable or perplexed
But so many more so happy;
Who has left a scent on my life and left my walls
Dancing over and over with her shadow,
Whose hair is twined in all my waterfalls
And all of London littered with remembered kisses".

The second thing that came to mind is this Cappuccino Flats recipe starring in today’s post. There is no rhyme or reason for my choice here, it is just a whim. I tried the recipe a year ago during the fall time. The combination of chocolate, cinnamon and coffee flavors makes this cookie unique, rendering it just a wee bit of sophistication…   

I can’t think of a more perfect cookie to savor with a cup of coffee during the fall season, so I hope you enjoy it too.

Cappuccino Flats

Prep: 20 min.

Bake: 10-12 min.

Makes: a dozen and a half

2 ounces melted semi sweet chocolate

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼  teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals

1 tablespoon hot water

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1/3 cup of chocolate chips, melted

1) Beat butter till smooth and add the white and brown sugar to it.

2) In a separate, small bowl, stir coffee crystals in the hot water and stir vigorously until well dissolved.

3) Add the dissolved coffee, the melted chocolate, the egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar.

4) In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon and salt.

5) Gradually incorporate the flour mixture to the butter mixture and form dough into a smooth ball.

6) Chill cookie dough for 1 hour.

7) Remove dough from fridge and separate and shape into two cylindrical rolls of dough. Chill for 6 more hours or overnight.

8) Remove dough from refrigerated and cut 1/4 inch-thick slices, placing them on an ungreased baking sheet.

9) Bake cookies  during 10-12 minutes in a oven preheated to 350F; cool cookies.

10) If desired, dip each cookie in the melted chocolate chips until one half of the cookies are coated in chocolate. Let chocolate-coated cookies cool and harden in the refrigerator for a few minutes.