Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Chocolate espresso cookies are heavenly treats with a chewy texture and puddles of gooey chocolate in every bite! 

Each one has the perfect balance of chocolate and espresso. They’re the ideal dessert for any chocolate lover or coffee enthusiast. 

They feature soft, fudgy centers, crisp edges, and a ridiculously rich depth of flavor. They’re almost mocha-flavored. 

Give them a try. They may become your new favorite afternoon pick-me-up!

Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Intense Chocolate Flavor: These cookies combine cocoa powder, espresso powder, and chocolate chips. Together, they create an incredibly rich, bold chocolate flavor.

Perfect Texture: As mentioned, the texture of these cookies is out of this world. They have delightfully crisp edges and soft, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth centers. 

Versatile Treat: Enjoy these as an indulgent dessert, an afternoon snack, or even for breakfast. Their versatility makes them a year-round favorite.

Ingredients

• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Be sure to get unsweetened. It gives you a rich, intense chocolate flavor without added sugar. 

• Instant Espresso Powder: Add just 2 tablespoons. It provides a concentrated coffee essence to amplify the chocolate notes. 

• Granulated Sugar: For sweetness. It also helps create crisp edges. 

• Unsalted Butter: Melt and slightly cool the butter before creaming it with the sugar. Doing so will give the cookies a nice, tender texture. 

• Large Eggs: The binding agent. Set them out early, as room-temperature eggs mix more easily into the batter. 

• Vanilla Extract: A flavor enhancer. It lends subtle yet important background notes to round out the overall taste. 

• All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to use a kitchen scale or the spoon-to-measuring-cup method for measuring. Flour is the dough’s foundation. You need to be precise. 

• Baking Powder: This simple leavening agent will help the cookies rise and keep them from becoming too dense. 

• Salt: Another flavor enhancer. It helps balance the sweetness and enhances all the other flavors. 

• Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Chunks: You can’t get those gooey pockets of chocolate in every bite without these. Use a high-quality brand like Ghirardelli.

How to Make Chocolate Espresso Cookies

As with most baking and cookie recipes, this one has a few steps. Don’t let that throw you off. The cookies are actually quite easy to make. 

1. Combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a large bowl. Then, add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth. 

2. Combine the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. 

3. Finish the dough. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. 

4. Chill. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. 

5. Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. 

6. Bake. Scoop tablespoons of the chilled dough. Roll the dough into balls, and place them two inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until done. 

7. Cool and serve. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy! 

Tips for the Best Chocolate Espresso Cookies

When making your cookies, be sure to incorporate these tips: 

• Quality is key. Use high-quality ingredients. Especially when it comes to the cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate. You can also use Dutch-processed cocoa powder. 

• Dial down the espresso. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons, and that’s perfect for me. If you don’t want a strong coffee flavor, you can reduce that somewhat. 

• Scoop consistently. Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop. Either way, be sure your dough balls are uniform in size and shape for even baking. 

• Bake one tray at a time. If you’re making a large batch or doubling the recipe, don’t bake both trays simultaneously. Instead, bake one tray at a time on the center rack of the oven. 

• Don’t overbake! On the contrary, you want to slightly underbake the cookies. Their centers shouldn’t be fully set when you pull them from the oven. 

Variations

While these cookies are delicious as is, feel free to experiment. Here are some of my favorite variations: 

• Give them a salty twist. After placing the chilled dough balls on the baking sheet, sprinkle them with coarse sea salt. It’ll balance the sweetness and provide a terrific contrast to the rich ingredients. 

• Try fun add-ins. Chocolate chips and chocolate chunks aren’t your only options. First, you can try other flavors of chocolate chips like, white, dark, etc. You can also mix in chopped nuts, toffee bits, or even dried fruit. 

• Double your sugar pleasure. Swap half of the granulated sugar out for brown sugar. The combination of both yields sweet, soft, chewy cookies. 

• Add M&Ms. Instead of adding 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, add only 1 cup. Then, add 1/2 cup of M&Ms – plain, peanut, or whatever kind you like best!

• Drizzle the finished cookies. After removing them from the oven, drizzle them with melted chocolate, caramel, or Nutella. 

How to Store

Looking for make-ahead directions or storage options? I’ve got you!

To Make Ahead: Follow the directions on the recipe card below, but stop after rolling the dough into balls. Freeze the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet until frozen solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. 

To Bake From Frozen: Let the cookies thaw at room temperature. Then, bake them according to the recipe card below. Or, you can bake them straight from frozen. Simply add a few extra minutes to the baking time. 

To Store: Let the cookies cool completely before transferring them to an air-tight container. Store them at room temperature for 1 week or in the fridge for 2 weeks. Let them thaw to room temperature before serving them. 

To Freeze: Arrange the cooled cookies on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Then, place them in airtight, freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.