OK, let’s talk about these espresso/coffee chocolate chip cookies. I love cookies. And recently I shared the Cozy Chocolate Chip Cookies with you and they are pretty much one of the top recipes of 2017 on this lil’ blog.
A lot of people have made them and it makes me so happy. I met someone at a conference recently and she told me it’s her family’s new go-to cookie recipe and that made me pumped! One of the bonuses that we both agreed on: it doesn’t require to soften any butter so there’s really immediate satisfaction involved.
Testing Breakdown!
This is a coffee/espresso spin on that recipe. We tweaked it (and by “we” I mean Billy and myself) since he helped me figure out how to get the best espresso flavor into this cookie.
We tried it with instant espresso powder but WE HATED IT.
Instant espresso is really delicious in, like, a chocolate cake. You don’t taste it, it’s just there to accentuate the chocolate flavor. But in this cookie, it was a really overpowering flavor and it wasn’t a good one.
Instant espresso powder doesn’t yield a delicious cup of espresso. I don’t think any of us are surprised by that.
We started again and we tried it with delicious espresso grounds. Surprise! It was so much better!
Quality of Espresso/Coffee That You’re Using is Everything!
Ok, so REALLY good espresso is expensive. It can sometimes be, like, $15 a bag. I tested this with Allegro coffee brand of espresso and I didn’t even buy an entire bag. I bought a half bag, which made it around $5. WIN! If you buy fancy espresso grounds, use those! But I figured it’d be kinda silly to spend a lot of money on awesome espresso to only use it for this recipe.
How the Espresso Is Incorporated Into the Chocolate Chip Cookie is Important!
The butter is melted and then the espresso grounds are steeped in it, creating a buttery espresso mixture. I then just ran it through a fine mesh strainer. You may be tempted to run it through a coffee filter but this will NOT work. Butter is too thick. We found out the hard way so don’t do it!
We also added a bit of espresso grounds to the dry ingredients so it looked more espresso-like.
The coffee/espresso flavor is not overpowering but it’s there and it works with the chocolate so well. It’s totally delicious. WE LOVE IT!! I hope you love these espresso/coffee chocolate chip cookies as much as I do!
Ingredients
Espresso Butter Mixture:
- 1 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup espresso grounds
Dry Mix:
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon espresso grounds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Mix:
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces dark chocolate chunks
- Large flakes of salt, such as Maldon or Jacobson
Directions
To Make the Espresso Butter Mixture:
- To a medium saucepan, set over medium heat, add the butter. When the butter has melted, turn off the heat. Stir in the espresso and mix until it’s covered in the butter. Cover the saucepan and allow to steep for 20 minutes. When it’s done, pour it through a fine mesh strainer, into a large bowl OR the bowl of a stand-up mixer.
- Discard the used up espresso grounds. Set aside.
To Make the Dry Mix:
- To a medium bowl, whisk the flour, espresso grounds, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
To Make the Wet Mix:
- Grab the large bowl OR the bowl of a stand-up mixer (using the paddle attachment) with the melted/espresso butter in it. To that bowl, add the brown sugar and white sugar. Beat together until nice and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Pour in the vanilla extract and beat once more.
- In one batch, add the flour. You will probably have to lift up the head part of your mixer to be able to add it all at once. Cover the mixer with a clean kitchen towel and turn it on low speed. Mix until the flour is mostly combined and then increase speed until you no longer see any flecks of flour. Pour in the chocolate chunks and mix one last time. Transfer the dough to the fridge to chill for an hour or up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough. If it’s super chilled, you may need to push some dough into the scoop so it’s nice and compact and then release the lever. I like to add all the balls of cookie dough to a sheet of parchment versus scooping dough, as I bake.
- Transfer 6 to 7 balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a part because these do spread. Place in the oven and bake for about 7 to 8 minutes. If the dough is super cold, it may need up to 10 minutes to bake. They should be light to medium golden brown. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt upon exiting the oven. Repeat until you’ve baked all the cookies.
- To freeze, add the cookie dough balls to a baking sheet and stick in the freezer until very cold, about 20 minutes and then transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag.
52 Comments
Wow, you truly are an evil genius….I’m pining this! And thanks for sharing your mishaps with us. I bet the salt is a nice addition because one of my favorite treats is homemade coffee ice cream sprinkled with salt.
This recipe has my name written all over it! Can’t wait to try this one!
Gemma
http://www.fadedwindmills.com
These are the most shiny and gooey pockets of chocolate chunks ever! Completely smitten by these cookies and will have to make them one day soon.
Hello! I’m new to your blog and am in the mood to make cookies! I ‘m going to give your original version a whirl. I usually make Alton Brown’s “the chewy” as it starts with melted butter, too but requires a bit of milk and I don’t have any. Thanks for the motivation.
[…] Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies […]
OMG Yes!! I love your cozy choc chip cookies, i definitely don’t want to admit how many times i’ve made them…. and these? with espresso?? happening right now!!
Yum! These sound decadent. 🙂
These are my kind of cookies! You do have 1/4 cup espresso powder listed in the wet ingredients. I assume that is not supposed to be there?
[…] 2. Even though right now I’d do anything for one of these espresso chocolate chip cookies. […]
[…] 2 Auch wenn ich jetzt irgendetwas für einen dieser Espresso-Schokoladenkekse […]
How lucky. I’ve actually been googling recipes for espresso chocolate chip cookies non-stop this past week. I have made them twice already, and both times I disappointingly could not taste any coffee flavor after the cookies came out of the oven (adding a few tbsp of espresso powder to a cookie dough mix simply does not do anything). My last resort was to buy something like Trader Joe’s dark chocolate coffee squares and breaking them into chunks to mix into the dough. But I am tempted to try this method now… infusing the espresso into butter sounds pretty interesting! I am a huge coffee lover and given that you say the espresso flavor is not overpowering, I am curious if I should add more espresso to the mixture or will that cause the batch to come out bitter?
I make a similar recipe but I use instant espresso powder in the butter sugar eggs creaming process- which works great! Seems like much less work and less pots to wash!
I actually tried this recipe with instant espresso and hated the flavor! 🙂
So I did end up making these and similar to my previous experiences, I could not taste much coffee flavor 🙁 but it was worth a try, so thanks!
Adrianna how do you do it? You take an absolute classic and turn it into something far more amazing! I cannot wait to make these!
Thank you!
Yum!! Does that ever sound delicious! I love coffee and it does enhance the flavor of chocolate. I just made 5 batches of Salty Sweet Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies!! They are so decadent but I just wonder if I used your method of adding espresso to the dough — hmmmmmm!! It’s something to think about. I’m pinning your recipe to try later.
These sound so delicious! I have some fancy dark roast coffee. Do you think that’d work in place of the espresso? Definitely want to make these soon! Love your other chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Yes, I think that’d work great!
The cookies look amazing and super delicious! I will need to try them 😉
chiara
https://adventures-around-the-world.blogspot.co.uk/
These look delicious! You are a fantastic photographer! I make a mocha cake that is similar and I love it! I’ll have to try these out!
aww thank you so much! and that mocha cake sounds awesome 🙂
[…] Yes to tahini chocolate chip cookies and espresso chocolate chip cookies. […]
Your dessert photos give me some serious cravings! Just pinned this – will definitely be making this once the weather cools down, can’t wait!
xoxo,
Annie
http://whatannieseating.com/
These are the best looking chocolate chip cookies I’ve seen in a while and with espresso.. I can’t wait to give them a try.
These look incredible!! I love making cookies so I will definitely be giving these a go!
I tried making these and I can’t figure out what went wrong. The dough came out very dry and crumbly. I followed the instructions closely, the only thing I can think of is the fine mesh strainer I used may have been too fine? I don’t know what happened.
[…] A Cozy Kitchen: Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies- I don’t think these even need an explanation. […]
Just made this recipe and it was definitely worth all the time and effort! <3 I can taste the flavor of espresso, but it's not overpowering. And also, I got 50 cookies out of this recipe (I don't have a medium cookie scoop so I may have made them slightly smaller than the recipe calls for). This is so amazing because I now have 40 frozen cookie dough balls just waiting for the urge to strike! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
That’s so wonderful to hear! YAYYYY!!!
[…] made bcuz SANTA. And then there are the sisters of Miss Basic Chocolate Chip: Miss Masala-Chai and Miss Espresso. Both have a bit of attitude and we love them for […]
I could not agree more! I have used instant coffee and was less than impressed. Hated like the taste! I wanted to try your recipe but I’m not certain what espresso *grounds* are. Do mean like coffee grounds but espresso? Could you elaborate?
Thank you!
Hi! So if you want to make espresso at home, you buy espresso grounds–not coffee grounds. That’s what you’re looking for. It has a much stronger flavor than coffee. Espresso grounds are labeled as such! If you can’t find it, feel free to use coffee grounds!
thank you for finally saying it- instant espresso powder sucks! followed this recipe and used home roasted espresso beans and omg.
This recipe is AMAZING. I’ve made it twice now and they’re the best cookies I’ve ever made (and I usually mess up baking!)! Sooooooooooooooo good. And chewy. Omg. Thank you!!
YAY! Love hearing this! 🙂
We love the espresso/chocolate taste! I veganized the recipe by use Earth Balance butter and using 3 flaxseed “eggs” (1 TBS ground golden flaxseed + 3 TBS warm water per “egg”). Also, I found it helpful to take the ice cream scoop of dough and gently press it between my palms to slightly flatten it so that the salt flakes could be spread out more. Also, I put the flakes on before baking. Thanks so much for you and your partner for working on this recipe!
Wonderful! Love that you successfully veganized them!
Hi! I’ve been following your instagram for a very long time now, with great envy of whoever gets to taste test all your creations! I think this will be the first recipe I finally get around to trying. To infuse the espresso into the butter, does it just sit in the butter or should the butter still be on low heat for the whole 20 mins? Thanks!
Sorry just seeing this! You should turn it off the heat completely! 🙂 Let me know how it goes!xo
Made Mine With 1 TBS Instant Espresso in the batter, and a 1/4 cup Strong Cold Brew Coffee in the batter.
Turned out great! Not heavy on the espresso flavor, but a nice rich back note. The brown sugar is the strongest flavor, I added 3 tsp vanilla extract. Used salted butter. 53% cocoa dark chocolate chips. And I topped with big flakes of grey Celtic Sea Salt, yum!
Will be making these again…. but will be making Cold Espresso Shots, similar to making homemade cold brew coffee. The flavors, notes, and temperament of cold brew coffee and espresso are highly consistent and remain constant, as oppose to hot coffee and hot espresso shots. That’s essentially what the espresso butter is doing, is making hot espresso, wondering if cold shots added will be stronger in addition to the instant espresso directly into the batter.
Overall the cookie batter was easy to work with, the cookies puffed up a ton due to the baking soda and powder being equal amounts but as the cookies cooled they deflated to flatter disks. I baked mine for close to the full 10 minutes, even after chilling the dough/batter for an hour it was still soft but I baked them anyway. Baked each round of 6 dough balls for 9-1/2 minutes. I got about 20-30 cookies out of the dough.
Maybe I was making mine slightly bigger, lol.
When using espresso powder, how much should be used in this recipe?
not sure–didn’t test it that way–sorry!
These cookies are amazing, beautiful flavours but the baking time is off. I used medium cookie scoops and the cookies were in the oven between 12-15 minutes. Nonetheless, the espresso butter is an amazing flavour and adds many dimensions to these cookies!
YAY! Love hearing this!
Just made these cookies two days ago and froze half of the dough. But they’re so GOOD I’m baking the frozen half today. Any tips on baking the frozen dough?
Oh amazing! When you bake them from frozen, they’ll most likely need an additional 2 to 3 minutes on top of the regular bake time. 🙂
So simple! Thanks!
I used medium sized cookie scoopers, but they baked larger and longer than the description. DO you know why? Regardless, i love this recipe the FLAVOUR IS AMAZING!
hmm i’m not sure. perhaps the cookie dough wasn’t chilled? that’s my only guess. glad they were still amazing!
Hello,
Just made these cookies. They were dry and did not spread just stayed in ball form. Followed exact instructions. What happened?
Love it. Easy, fail proof and extremely yummy! Absolute crowd pleaser! Already made it twice in just one week. Thanks for sharing.