These Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies have delicious coffee notes that complement the dark chocolate chunks. These cookies are chewy, soft and deliciously rich, topped with flaky sea salt.
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.
What Are Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies?
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!
Use Good Quality of Espresso and/or Coffee
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 to Incorporate Coffee and/or Espresso Into a Chocolate Chip Cookie
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!
How to Make Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Melt butter. And then turn off the heat.
- Pour in the espresso and give it a mix until all of the granules are coated in the butter. Cover the saucepan and let it steep; this is really going to give us that deep espresso/coffee flavor.
- Pour the butter through a fine mesh strainer and press the coffee granules so it releases as much of the melted butter as possible. If it's a particularly cold day, and the butter may have solidified, reheat the butter just until it's melted.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. We have all-purpose flour, espresso grounds (just a teeny bit), baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Beat together the espresso butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla.
- Pour in the dry ingredients and mix just until the speckles of flour have disappeared.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix.
- Chill the dough in the fridge. Why do we chill dough in the fridge, you ask? Well, we do it because if we bake it right away, they'll bake flatter. If the dough is SUPER cold, they may not spread.
- Scoop out cookie dough balls. I like to scoop everything all at once, put them on a baking sheet and bake them from there. It means that I can clean up while I'm baking the cookies.
- Bake the cookie dough. I like to bake about 8 at a time. And then continue baking the batches of cookies until you've worked your way through the cookie dough.
- Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt. And serve.
- If you want to freeze them and bake them up later, I have a whole post on that giving detailed instructions.
Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Espresso Butter Mixture:
- 1 ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup espresso grounds
Dry Mix:
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon espresso grounds
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Wet Mix:
- 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces dark chocolate chunks or semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Large flakes of salt such as Maldon or Jacobson
Instructions
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.
Notes
Equipment
Nutrition
Looking for more cookie recipes? Here are some favorites:
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Strawberry and Cream Cookies
- Berry Crinkle Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Afiqah says
How long should the dough be chilled?
Isha says
Do you think straining the butter through a cheesecloth would work? Or should I buy a tea strainer?
Barbara says
My cookies came out great! I left them in the fridge overnight and gave them 7-8nmins in the oven. The only thing I would chanage is LESS coffee powder. I thought the cookies were too strong for my taste and the browned butter was absent because of it. I also added the coffee straight to the batter, not butter.
Stacey says
This was obviously your problem. You made it so differently and had an issue. Geez.
Ginny says
I forgot to add in my comment that I used 1 extra egg to make sure they were moist cookies.
Ginny says
Took the last bunch of cookies out of oven. Tasted the dough and thought how yummy. Kitchen and home smell so good. Best air freshener. Haha.
Tasted one cookie and thought these are the best cookies I ever made in 70 years.
Instead of using espresso I substituted 2 teaspoons of decaffeinated instant Crystal's in melted butter and 2 teaspoons of same in with flour mix. Also, used 10 Hershey mini dark chocolate bars, broke up in small pieces
I refrigerated entire mixing bowl for 6 hours before scooping out dough. Perfect size.
Emmi says
These cookies work well. I am making them for a second time in about a year after finding this recipe. To be honest, I skip “steeping the espresso grounds” in the butter.
I add the espresso ground straight into the batter itself. I prefer this. I use 70% Lindt Dark Chocolate Bar roughly chopped, and add 1/2 cup of finely crushed pecans into the batter. I only use 3 cups AP flour. I use salted butter.
I actually skip scooping the cookie dough into balls THAN refrigerate. I refrigerate the whole bowl of dough for 1 hour.
I turn on the oven once I have pulled the chilled dough out of the fridge. One big change I do is this:
I use a 1/4 cup to scoop out my cookie dough balls.
This creates larger cookies without adding additional time in the oven.
Try it for a larger finished cookie to eat.
Cassie says
My cookies turned out hella weird. They spread really badly even after cooling, and they were super super greasy. Any ideas on what I did wrong? I followed the recipe exactly.
SL says
These came out so great and your instruction are absolutely perfect! I have never had cookies come out this good lol everyone in my family loved them, thanks!
Adrianna Adarme says
wow amazing! so glad to hear 🙂
Chi says
I have no idea what went wrong
Mine didn’t turn out at all
The dough was crumbly
They didn’t spread when I baked them
Will try again tomorrow
Amanda Saenz says
My cookies didn’t cook correctly and they’re falling apart and still doughy after 15 mins in the oven, what did I do wrong? ):
Sara says
Delicious!! Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out so yummy. I only have a small cookie scoop so I ended up with 53 instead of 36. The neighbors are going to love me! Will definitely be returning to this recipe.
Adrianna Adarme says
hope your neighbors love them too! 🙂
Alicia Seay says
Typically I change something in a recipe but these were easy and came out perfect. I did not like the dough at first...it seemed a little crumbly and espresso flavor a little strong. Was not a fan of the raw flavor. Baked up rich and chocolate (not espresso) was the primary flavor. Don't change a thing!
Adrianna Adarme says
love hearing this!
sharon says
Will instant coffee powder work?
Adrianna Adarme says
actually it won't. it'll taste super gross. i recipe tested it with instant coffee.
Rachel says
Gave this recipe a go and it did not disappoint! I’ll definitely be making these again and sharing this recipe! I had to switch the white sugar for more brown and forgot the salt but they still turned out wonderfully! Thanks for creating and sharing this wonderful treat!
Adrianna Adarme says
love hearing this!
Jeanette Rebeske says
My dough was a bit crumbly when I finished mixing the dry ingredients in so I added a third egg to bring it together and it was perfect! (Maybe my eggs were on the small side?) These cookies are incredible!! Great recipe! I think it’s a winner for sure. Perfect amount of espresso flavor without being overpowering. Just yum!
Verna Carberry says
I’m very excited to give these sweet treats a try. I ❤️ The idea of steeping the ground espresso is the butter. I ❤️ Toasted Coffee, what are your thoughts to give this cookie a toasted flavor? Would you add coconut extract? Or toast some coconut? Or maybe both?
Thanks for sharing!
Adrianna Adarme says
the toasted coffee would be great! i think coconut could be good too. i think some shredded coconut could be tasty.