Ube Coffee Shortbread Cookies

If you need a cookie to have with your morning coffee, these ube coffee shortbread cookie are for you. Inspired by neapolitan ice cream, these cookies are filled with ube and espresso flavor separated into beautiful purple, white, and brown layers. In this post, learn how to make these unique Asian inspired cookies.

Last year my mom called me and asked me if I had ever thought about making a ube vietnamese coffee latte since I was so into making ube flavored desserts like ube brownies and ube cookies. At the time, I thought ya why not, but never got around to writing the recipe. Well today, that changes! I finally got around to it (sort of) with these ube coffee shortbread cookies.

How I developed this cookie recipe

This recipe is adapted from my strawberry matcha shortbread cookies. Instead of strawberry powder and matcha, I used ube extract and espresso powder. In testing, I experimented with how much of each to use. In my first test, I used 1 tbsp of espresso powder but found that the color and flavor were not strong enough. In Vietnamese culture, we like a strong coffee flavor, so I opted to add 1/2 tablespoon more for extra flavor. However, if you like a lighter flavor feel free to use less espresso powder.

Making my ube coffee shortbread cookies (with tips!)

Prepping the dough

1. Grease a 9×4 loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
   • Tip #1: Use butter paper (the parchment paper wrapped around store bought butter) to grease your pan!
2. Mix together 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, and 1/4 tsp of salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 cup of unsalted butter and 1 cup of granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add 1 egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
5. Combine the dry ingredients from step 2 with the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined and clumps start to appear.
6. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and add each portion to a small bowl. I like to weigh the dough and then divide that number by 3. The total amount should be ~743 grams, and each portion should weigh ~247 grams each.
   • Tip #2: There may be some variation between each batch of dough, so the best way to get even layers is to weigh the total dough then divide that number by 3.
7. Add 1 1/2 tbsp of espresso powder to one bowl and 1/2 tsp of ube extract to another. Mix both dough pieces until the espresso and ube flavor are incorporated well.
8. Press the brown espresso dough into the bottom of the prepped loaf pan. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but try to get an even layer. Follow with the vanilla dough and then the purple ube dough. Cover and let it cool in the freezer for 1.5 hours.
   • Tip #3: In testing, I found that using your hands to press the dough into the pan created the straightest line between each dough.

Baking the cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Prep 2 baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper.
2. Once the dough is cooled, lift the dough out of the loaf pan. Release the top and bottom edges using a knife then lift it out using the parchment paper.
   • Tip #4: I did find it hard at times to lift the dough out. The key is to separate the parts of the dough touching the loaf pan.
3. Remove the parchment paper. Cut off the edges so the dough is straight on all sides. The remaining piece of dough should be 7.5 x 3.5 inches. Cut it in half width-wise so you have 2 long pieces that are 7.5 x 1.75 inches. Then slice 1/2 inch pieces from each piece. You should get ~15 cookies each for a total of ~30 cookies.
   • Tip #5: Your cookies might spread a bit, but one trick I like to use is using a knife to push the spread out parts back into the cookie, so the edges are straight.
4. Place the cookies on the prepped baking sheets about 1 inch apart and bake for 10-12 minutes.
5. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

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