Mocha Coffee Blossom Cookies is an easy sugar cookie mix recipe amped up with cocoa and instant espresso, rolled in sugar, and topped with Hershey's Kisses Hugs. Decadent chocolate coffee cookies that taste like a mocha and look adorable on your holiday goodie platter.
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Coffee lovers, have I got the perfect cookie recipe for you! Soft and chewy Mocha Coffee Blossom Cookies have big, bold coffee flavor, a hint of chocolate, and a Hershey's Hug on top!
This chocolate coffee cookies recipe is super easy to make with a handy store-bought sugar cookie mix dressed up with a little cocoa powder and a lot of espresso powder.
These cute little espresso cookies are crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and have all the flavors of a cup of coffee!
Try these chocolate cookies next
- Chocolate Cherry Cookies
- Chai Spice White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Mocha Chocolate Chip Macaroons
- Hello Dolly Bars
Why You're Going to Love This Recipe
Easy sugar cookie mix recipe
Soft, chewy coffee cookies with big, bold coffee flavor
Pretty cookies for your holiday party or gift giving
Mocha cookies with that classic chocolate coffee flavor combo
Ingredients
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients for this coffee cookie recipe.
Sugar cookie mix. One 17.5 ounce pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix gets this coffee sugar cookies recipe started.
Butter. Let the butter soften to room temperature so it will easily mix with the cream cheese.
Cream cheese. A little bit of softened cream cheese makes these cookies so soft, tender, and chewy inside.
All purpose flour. The sugar cookie mix is formulated to make cookies that are flat and spread when baked. Flour thickens the dough to create thicker cookies that are hefty enough to hold a Hershey's Hug.
Cocoa powder. A little bit of natural unsweetened cocoa powder adds the perfect amount of chocolate flavor to enhance the coffee.
Instant espresso powder. The big bold coffee flavor in these cookies comes from instant espresso powder. If you don't have it or can't find it in stores, you can use instant coffee crystals, but it won't have the same deep, intense coffee flavor.
Turbinado or granulated sugar. I like to use turbinado sugar for rolling cookies because I love the crunch factor that the big sugar crystals give to cookies. White sugar also works perfectly.
Hershey's Kisses Hugs. The blend of creamy white chocolate and rich milk chocolate go hand in hand with coffee. Use any kind of Hershey's Hugs or Hershey's Kisses you love.
How to Make Coffee Cookies: Step-by-Step
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until completely incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and espresso powder to remove any lumps. Add the sugar cookie mix to the flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined into a thick dough.
With a tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop out 1 tablespoon portions of cookie dough and roll them into 1-inch balls. Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar and place onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are set and firm and the tops are soft and puffy -- 9 minutes is the perfect time in my oven, but yours may be different.
Immediately after removing the coffee cookies from the oven, gently press a Hershey's Hug in the center of each cookie. You don't want to press it all the way down through the cookies, just nestle it into the top of the cookies.
Let the baked cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool all the way.
The Hershey's Hugs will get very soft -- so soft you could press an almond or pecan half down on top of it if you wanted to (cute! yummy!). Give the cookies up to a couple of hours to completely cool and harden. You can also place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to speed up the process.
Storage
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for up to one week.
- Store unbaked cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Make Ahead
- Freeze baked cookies in a ziptop freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months.
- Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 2 months. To bake, no need to thaw -- just add a minute or so to the baking time.
How to Keep Cookies From Spreading
This cookie dough does not require chilling time to achieve the rounded shape that's needed to nestle the Hershey's Hugs into. But if your first batch of cookies spreads, it could be because the butter and/or cream cheese were too soft, not enough flour was added, or the dough was placed onto hot cookie sheets.
To troubleshoot any of these issues, try these steps:
- Chill the dough for a couple of hours, up to overnight
- Knead a couple more tablespoons of flour into the dough
- Use a cool cookie sheet for each batch of cookies
Expert Tips
- Use a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon or cookie scoop to portion the dough so you have uniformly sized cookies.
- Be gentle when you press the Hershey's Hug into each cookie so you don't press it all the way through the bottom of the cookie.
- It can be hard to tell when brown cookies are done. Check that the edges are firm and set and the middles are soft and puffy.
- Use a cool sheet pan for each batch of cookies.
- The Hershey's Hugs will soften when placed onto the hot cookies and will take 1-2 hours to firm up again. Speed up this process by placing the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer.
Recipe FAQs
Instant espresso powder is made from brewed espresso that has been dried and crushed into a very fine powder. It has a very concentrated flavor and is best used in baking -- not so much for making a cup of espresso.
A good substitute for instant espresso powder is instant coffee. Because instant coffee granules aren't quite as potent as instant espresso, you may want to use up to 2 (!) times more. I recommend starting by swapping it 1:1 and adding more so the taste doesn't become too bitter.
Gently press the Hershey's Kisses or Hugs onto the cookies immediately after the cookies come out of the oven. Take care not to press the Kiss or Hug all the way through the cookies.
Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The chocolate candy will get very soft and can take up to 1-2 hours harden again. You can speed up this process by placing the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer.
More Yummy Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Mocha Coffee Blossom Cookies
Ingredients
- 17.5 ounce sugar cookie mix
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- ½ cup turbinado sugar or white granulated sugar for rolling
- 48 Hershey's Hugs or Hershey's Kisses
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until completely incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and espresso powder to remove any lumps. Add the sugar cookie mix and whisk to combine.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Roll cookie dough into 1-inch balls, then roll them in sugar.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are firm and the tops are soft and puffy.
- Immediately -- and gently -- press a Hershey's Hug into the center of each cookie. Be careful not to press it all the way through the soft cookie.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool all the way. The Hershey's Hugs will get very soft and may take 1-2 hours to cool completely cool and harden. You can speed up the process in the refrigerator or freezer.
Storage
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for up to one week.
Make Ahead
- Store cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months. Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 2 months. To bake from frozen, add a minute or so to the baking time.
A new favorite for friends and family! Soft and pillowy, just enough espresso without being bitter; just enough cream cheese to be smooth without the tang. I sifted all of the dry ingredients (including cake mix) because of the summer humidity, and also refrigerated the dough. Made a batch last weekend for a family get-together and another this morning, and both have come out perfect!
Thank you, Jennifer! I'm so glad you found a new favorite, thank you for the nice note :). Cara
Just made a batch & these cookies are amazing!!😋 My daughter is a coffee lover & taking some to share with her tomorrow!!❤️
Joy, that makes me so happy to know how much you enjoyed them, and I hope your daughter loves them, too! Thank you for the nice note, you made my day :). Cara