Baking Recipes,  Cookies

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies to kickstart the year

These Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies have that deep dark flavor that’s the work of chocolate and coffee working in harmony. Coffee lovers and lovers of bittersweet chocolate will especially enjoy this!



Despite having some lofty resolutions for the start of a new decade, I have so far been terrible at keeping them. One of the most basic things I wanted to do was sleep at least 7 hours a day, and/or be in bed by 11 PM at the latest. Well, since January began I have done that a total of ZERO times. I also went on record to say I have plenty of plans for the blog this 2020, and so far, it took me 7 days to get my first post up. Yikes.

To be honest, this recipe for Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies almost didn’t make it on the blog. I was really dissatisfied with my photographs! But then I contemplated about it a little more and decided these cookies deserve a place on the blog for no other reason than because they are REALLY GOOD. Also, I figured I might not be the only person who needs a little coffee jolt at the beginning of 2020.

I made these Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies at the end of November, as part of a goodie box I sent some people for Christmas. That day I had also intended to do my 2020 blog planning in a freshly opened, pretty little notebook. (It’s the notebook in the photo below.) My mind was so wrapped up in the excitement of all the ideas popping in my head, I just wanted to finish shooting these cookies and sit down to put my ideas on paper. At the time I hadn’t cared that the photos came out lackluster.

In Filipino we have this saying called, ‘Puede na yan.’ Roughly translated, it means, ‘That’s good enough.’ It’s a phrase that encourages mediocrity, and mediocrity has never been something I actively practiced in my life. I don’t know why I decided to fall into that trap at this time, because there’s certainly nothing mediocre about these cookies. And now I can’t help but feel like I’ve done them a disservice.

I could’ve done better. Lord knows I could have. This kind of avoidable regret is something I will make an effort to avoid beginning this 2020.

Recipe notes

I came across this Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies recipe on Food52. This recipe does not require refrigeration, which means you get instant gratification after you make these. The recipe is also fairly forgiving. My butter was a little too soft when I started this recipe, so my cookie dough came out a lot softer and stickier than it should be. However I still got some really good looking cookies!

This recipe starts out the same way as most cookie recipes do: with creaming the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then you add in the eggs, one at time. Make sure you incorporate each egg before adding the next. You do this step because you want to make sure the eggs are fully mixed in with the butter.

You will get a light and fluffy mixture at this point.

Next you’ll want to whisk together all your dry ingredients in a separate smaller bowl. That would be the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. This then goes into the butter-sugar-egg mixture you’ve already prepared. 

Now you want to incorporate that flour into the butter by working the dough as little as possible. So what I do is I fold the dry mixture into the wet using my spatula with strokes that scrape the bottom of my bowl. Scrape along the sides as well as you fold. You want to make sure all the ingredients are fully combined with one another, but you should stop the moment you see no more streak of flour remaining. You never want to overbeat when you’re baking.

At this point, you fold in the chocolate chips. Again, work the dough as little as you possibly can. Stop once the chocolate chips are sufficiently distributed in the dough. I used Ghirardelli Baking Chips, and being 60% cacao, they added a lot of delicious depth to the cookies! (Anyone know where I can source them by bulk in Manila?) You can do all these steps with a stand mixer, but I like to do it by hand because I like to kind of get a feel of my dough or batter when I’m baking. You know what I mean?

Now your dough is ready to be scooped onto baking sheets. As I mentioned, my dough looks softer because I over-softened (is that a word?) my butter before I began the recipe. They will still be pretty easy to scoop so there shouldn’t be a problem. Place them on your lined baking sheet by heaping teaspoon-full measures, 2 inches apart to give them room to spread. I like to stagger them on my baking sheet. And then, before slipping them into the oven, I sprinkle them with just a bit of coarse sea salt on top.

Bake the cookies in your 350°F/180°C preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. I always bake my cookies a sheet at a time since my oven isn’t really that large. I want to maintain even heat circulation so my cookies come out the same between batches. 

You can’t really see the sea salt in the finished batches, but you can definitely taste it! You can omit it entirely if you don’t like salting your cookies. You can also prettify your cookies by pressing a few pieces of chocolate chips on top before baking. That way, when the cookies spread, the chips will be resting on top.

I hope that despite my bad photos, you guys will give these Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies a go. Leaning more on the soft side, they are such a pleasure to nibble on while you study or get some paperwork done. They really make a great pick-me-up, being a bit sweet, chocolatey, and packed with coffee flavor all in one. They also have a lovely touch from the salt I decided to sprinkle on top. Whether you eat them with milk or coffee, I find that these cookies taste even better the next day!

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies

These Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies have that deep dark flavor that’s the work of chocolate and coffee working in harmony.

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ sticks, 255 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup 200 grams sugar
  • 1 cup 200 grams light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups 355 grams all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup 64 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons instant espresso or coffee powder
  • 2 cups 340 grams semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Even though I suggest baking one sheet at a time, you will want to have a cool sheet to alternate baking with.
  • In a large bowl, cream together butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at time, making sure to incorporate each before adding in the next. You should get a lighter and fluffier mixture.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as you go. Mix everything until the ingredients are just fully combined, but do not over-mix.
  • Fold in the chocolate chips until just distributed. Again, do not over-mix. Using a scoop that's equivalent to a heaping teaspoon, portion out the dough onto your prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.
  • Bake cookies one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes. They will be soft out of the oven so let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Adapted from Food52

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