What is it?

Instant espresso powder, though it doesn’t make the greatest cup of joe, is a delicious addition to baked goods and sweets of all kinds. Espresso is a natural partner with rich flavors like chocolate, nuts, and caramel, and boosts flavor in cookies, pies, tarts, cakes, dessert sauces, and more.

Espresso powder is made by grinding the beans, brewing the espresso, and then taking the already-brewed grounds and drying them. These dried ground are then crushed further into a very fine powder. You can make your own instant espresso powder by drying and grinding the grounds yourself, or you can buy one of many commercial brands.

Don’t have it?

You can substitute regular instant coffee, preferably a dark roast. When cooking or baking, instant coffee will yield the same results, but it may lack the rich, roasted flavor of espresso.

In a real pinch, you can substitute very finely ground coffee or espresso, but use less since these grounds haven’t been brewed.

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Recipes

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  Chocolate Espresso Cream Pie

  A layer of rich chocolate ganache under mocha pudding might seem like overkill, but is heaven sent for chocolate lovers. A little espresso powder gives the whipped-cream topping some edge.

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  Milky Swirl Brownies

  These rich, almost creamy brownies are an amazing treat for chocolate lovers. The condensed milk lightly caramelizes at the brownie edges during baking. You might not want to share those…

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  Mudslide Cookies

  These chewy, gooey cookies pack a double dose of chocolate and a hint of coffee. The better the quality of the chocolate, the better the cookies will be.

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  Coffee Hazelnut Chifferi

  These buttery, delicate crescents from the Italian Alps are similar to cookies from Germany and Austria. In fact, this recipe is inspired by one given to my mother by a…

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  Espresso-Chocolate Marble Chiffon Cake

  Use your choice of chocolate for the glaze—milk chocolate will contrast the coffee flavor and sweeten the cake, while dark chocolate will add a rich, pleasantly bitter edge.

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  Cappuccino Macaroons

  You know what goes great with a macaroon? A cup of coffee. So why not combine them?

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  Chocolate Bourbon Balls

  These deep, dark confections are a bit like truffles (though much quicker to make), with sophisticated, toasty flavors from nuts, coffee, and bourbon.

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  Moveable Feast

  Roasted Strawberries with Dark Chocolate and Smoked Chile Sauce

  Fruit gets dynamic in this dessert that—with its sauce of dark chocolate, cayenne, and tequila—nods to the flavors of Mexico.

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  Sticky Toffee Pudding with Cranberries

  This pièce-de-résistance dessert is ideal for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other cold-weather holidays. To the much-loved British classic, it adds seasonal fresh and dried cranberries; the former dot the luxuriant sauce.…

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  Chocolate Irish Whiskey Cake

  This recipe reimagines the classic whiskey-spiked Irish coffee as a decadent mocha layer cake filled with coffee-whiskey whipped cream and topped with white and dark chocolate shavings.