Coffee Cake cookies are bakery-style cookies with perfect combination of a soft brown sugar cookie and buttery crumb topping! Let’s all eat cookies for breakfast!
Make sure to try my recipe for the best Coffee Cake ever! It’s perfection!
Table of Contents
- Coffee Cake Cookies
- What Are Coffee Cake Cookies?
- What Do They Taste Like?
- But Why Isn’t Coffee In The Ingredients?
- Ingredients To Note:
- Shortening vs Butter In This Recipe:
- Tips:
- How To Make Coffee Cake Cookies/Instructions:
- Could You Drizzle These With Icing Instead?
- Storing or Freezing Coffee Cake Cookies:
- Variations:
- More Coffee Cake Recipes:
- Get the Recipe
Of course we all love coffee cake. It’s not the most exciting breakfast option, but it’s a classic for a reason. So when I came up with the idea for these cookies so many years ago I knew I was onto something! This recipe has been inspiration for so many across the internet AND on one of my favorite cozy shows, Gilmore Girls. Who knew when I dreamt up this cookie they would become so popular?!
And since these cookies are so loved I decided to make a Pumpkin Coffee Cake Cookies too, perfect for autumn!
Oh you’re in for a real treat, these Coffee Cake Cookies are the perfect combination of a soft brown sugar cookie topped with loads of buttery crumb/streusel topping topping and a moist coffee cake.
- The cookies are easy to make, and the recipe makes 20 large cookies, so this is a great option for hosting a brunch or Easter.
- There is no chill time required for the dough.
- These are great to freeze after they are baked. Simply thaw them out at room temperature.
- Dust these with powdered sugar for a very pretty presentation. You could even make a quick powdered sugar icing and drizzle that on top!
What Do They Taste Like?
These are a vanilla brown sugar cookie, with a soft texture. The sweetness and buttery crunch added by the crumb topping is absolutely perfect and they’re so good served with coffee in the morning, or anytime of day for a sweet treat!
But Why Isn’t Coffee In The Ingredients?
I get comments on this all the time in any coffee cake recipe I make, “why isn’t the coffee in the ingredients?” The thing is, in America Coffee Cake is meant to be enjoyed WITH coffee…there isn’t coffee IN the cake. Make sense? The flavor is usually butter, vanilla, and cinnamon-y…which is the perfect accompaniment to coffee.
Ingredients To Note:
- I use Salted Butter for both the cookies and the crumb topping. Note this is a personal preference, and yes you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
- Sugars: This cookie recipe calls for a combo of light brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Vegetable Shortening. But you can swap this out for butter if you would like. I talk more about this below.
- Use large eggs in baking unless otherwise noted. You would be surprised how much an extra large egg can change the outcome!
- Powdered Sugar to dust on top. You can also make an icing by mixing powdered sugar with a splash of milk to drizzle on the cookies.
Shortening vs Butter In This Recipe:
I use a small amount of vegetable shortening in this recipe along with the butter. Like I stated above you can use all butter as well if that’s your preference. The reason the recipe uses some shortening is it prevents the cookies from spreading quite as much due to its lack of moisture. The cookies need to be thicker to hold up all the crumb topping you are going to put on top! If you do use all butter the cookies will spread a bit more, but they will still be delicious. TIP: if you choose to use all butter, you can chill the dough to help keep them thicker!
Tips:
- I always line my baking sheet with either parchment or a silicone mat…I like the way the cookies bake up when using a lined cookies sheet, and I also appreciate the clean up!
- Please note I used a large scoop of cookie dough. A three tablespoon sized scoop works great. I bought this 3 tablespoon scoop and I love if for nice big cookies.
- The amount of crumb topping is up to you. The recipe makes a lot of crumb because I think it’s the best part of a coffee cake. I recommend adding at LEAST one tablespoon to each cookie, but add more if you’re like me!!
Make the Crumb Topping: Mix all the crumb ingredients together in a medium bowl and cut together with a pastry cutter or a fork until it’s evenly mixed. Set it aside while you make the cookie dough.
Cookies: Mix together the butter, shortening and both sugars for 1-2 minutes on medium speed in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until combined and smooth.Then add in the cinnamon, eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until evenly combined.
Next add in your dry ingredients: baking powder, salt and flour and mix until dough comes together evenly.
Assemble the Cookies: Using a large cookie scoop, portion the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet, making sure to leave enough space for them to spread. If you don’t have a cookie scoop just form the dough into cookie dough balls!
Make an indentation in the center of the cookie dough using the back of a spoon and press as much crumb topping on top as you can get. There is plenty of crumble, so pack it on!
Bake: Bake the cookies at 350°F for 9-10 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet until edges start to get golden and then let them cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. And then dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Could You Drizzle These With Icing Instead?
Yes absolutely! If you want to take it another step further, take the powdered sugar you were going to use to dust the cookies and add a teaspoon or two of milk. Whisk it together and drizzle it on top! You could double or even triple that amount if you are an icing lover!
These cookies are great stored airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days. Alternately you can freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 30 days (for best freshness) and thaw out at room temperature. You will need to dust them with a little more powdered sugar after they’re thawed, but otherwise they’ll still be delicious!
Variations:
- Add nuts into the crumb topping. Chopped pecans or chopped walnuts would be great.
- Like I said above, instead of dusting these with powdered sugar make a quick icing from powdered sugar, milk, and a splash of vanilla to make a vanilla glaze icing and drizzle it on top.
- Add in pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon to make these great for fall.
More Coffee Cake Recipes:
Print
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 large cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Breakfast
Description
Coffee Cake cookies are the perfect combination of cakey cookie and buttery crumb topping! Let’s all eat cookies for breakfast!
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature (*see note)
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Cookies
- 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature (*see note)
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (*see note)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Crumb Topping: Mix all the crumb ingredients together in a medium bowl and cut together with a pastry cutter or a fork until evenly mixed. Refrigerate while making cookie dough.
- Cookies: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 1-2 minutes on medium speed, until combined and smooth.
- Add in the cinnamon, eggs, and vanilla and continue mixing until evenly combined. Turn the mixer to low and mix in baking powder, salt, and flour, until dough comes together evenly.
- Scoop the dough out, using a cookie scoop or spoon (about 3 Tablespoons) and place on lined cookie sheet. If using a spoon, form the dough into rounded balls. Make an indentation in the center of the cookie dough forming a well for the crumb topping.
- Spoon at least 2 tablespoons of crumb topping into the center of the dough pressing lightly to stick. (I add as much as I can get on there)
- Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, or until edges start to get golden and remove from oven. Allow to cool for 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
*I use salted butter in this recipe, but it is a personal preference. You can use unsalted if you prefer.
*I use shortening in the cookies as well as butter to give them a cakey texture. You can use all butter if you prefer. But the shortening prevents the cookies from spreading as much due to its lack of moisture vs butter. The cookies need to be thicker to hold up all the crumb topping you are going to put on top! If you do use all butter you might want to chill the dough to keep them thick!
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze airtight for up to 30 days for best freshness. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
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Are these able to be frozen?
Yes sure!
The Coffee Cake Cookies look so delicious and I can not wait to try them. I’m wondering if you have done a nutritional analysis on the cookies.
I just made these tonight with all brown sugar and 1 peeled grated apple the were so delish!!! It’s like an apple pie/coffee cake cookie i baked them 9 mins at 350! Everyone raved about them!!
That is SUCH a great idea!!
These are my absolute favorite cookie to make! These have never turned out anything but amazingly beautiful and tasty, something I can say for few other recipes. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
I feel like the flour measurement for the crumb is off. Did you perhaps mean 1/3C flour?
How much butter should we use in place of the shrotening?
equal portions
I’m not impressed with these cookies at all. Followed the recipe exactly, I found them dry and almost flavorless. The measurements for the topping yield way to much for what was needed. So instead of just throwing away (which would be such a waste) I ended up making a pie using the remaining topping.
I made these for a party and everyone loved them. I shoved as much topping into the cookies as I could, but I had a TON leftover. I probably had to chuck 2/3rds. It was sad to see such tasty go to waste. I’ll definitely cut back on that part of the recipe next time.
Good flavor and nice soft dough-I will make these again, likely a bit smaller and with some recipe mods…Very delish! I agree with the other comments that the ingredient volumes are not optimal. Next time I will add some cornstarch, chill the dough longer and reduce the volumes in the crumb topping. If you do the math on the crumb topping, it is far more than is needed. My recipe yielded 24 cookies and I used a #24 scoop for the dough, which is 3 tbsp, and a generous, generous 1 tbsp of topping/each cookie. I had 1 cup of topping left over.
So these are super easy and super tasty!! I made mine a little smaller (not that I don’t love a big cookie, but I needed these to stretch a little further) and ended up with 29 cookies. More cookies per sheet meant an 11-minute bake time. And less flour in the topping next time would be best I think, but these still turned out beautifully! Thanks for this keeper recipe!