Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Today is National Coffee Day! While a lot of blogs and Instagram feeds will be whipping up coffee drinks and cocktails for you today, that’s not the only way to take your coffee. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I love more than a large cup of coffee or espresso with plenty of frothy milk. I’ll take it steaming or iced, with vanilla or chocolate, hazelnut or cinnamon. Honestly, as long as it’s good coffee, I’ll take it pretty much any way you want to give it to me. As long as there’s no pumpkin! I don’t understand the whole pumpkin spiced thing. Pumpkin spice has it’s place but it most certainly isn’t in coffee!
You know what does go well with coffee, though? Chocolate! Chocolate and coffee go together as well as milk and cookies. You’ll frequently find a cup of coffee served with a cookie or two. It’s how I often end a meal, don’t you? But what if instead of a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies you combined the two? What if you put the coffee inside the cookie? Now you can have your coffee and eat it, too. (See what I did there?)
For years I’ve heard about how adding coffee to brownies made them richer, denser and just all around better. Well, I tried it and guess, what? It’s true! (It works with a nice, heavy stout as well.) So, I figured if you got better brownies, why wouldn’t you get better cookies? I mean, if you love mocha (and who doesn’t), you’ll probably love a mocha cookie, right?
But like all recipes, the ingredients you use will make a difference. The better the ingredients, the better the recipe. I was recently gifted a couple bags of Silverback Coffee and was blown away. This coffee is rich, strong and so damn good! But it’s also coffee for a good cause. Silverback is committed to helping rebuild Rwanda (where its founder and CEO is originally from) and its wildlife by giving back to the people who were affected in the 1994 genocide.
While the coffee is absolutely delicious in a cup with a splash of cream, it’s amazing in these cookies. I’ve had lots of different coffees in my 40-something years and there’s one thing I’ve learned in all that time: weak coffee is pure crap. What’s the point of drinking coffee if you can’t taste it? That’s absolutely not a problem with Silverback. This is some seriously strong coffee. Coffee whose smell and flavor will absolutely get you going in the morning.
But what’s really great about Silverback, is that it doesn’t lose any of that amazing flavor once baked into a cookie. As a matter of fact, it shines. While I could absolutely see making a plain coffee cookie, pairing it with a rich, dark chocolate intensifies both flavors. They meld so well, it’s hard to tell where the coffee ends and the chocolate begins. But the coffee and chocolate weren’t enough for me. Once I added them to browned butter (which I use for pretty much all my cookies) and brown sugar, I got a richer, denser treat. These cookies may be the most decadent cookie I’ve ever made. But just like a strong cup of coffee, you’re going to want some milk to go with it. That works well though, because I only take my coffee with cream anyway.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1-3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup ground coffee
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, coffee, salt and baking soda and set aside.
- Place the butter in a small pan and melt over medium-low heat, swirling the whole time until it turns a golden brown and develops a nutty smell. (Make sure you watch it closely, otherwise your brown butter will turn to burned butter and we don’t want that.) Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Beat the brown butter and sugars together in a large bowl until combined. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture until just combined. Don't over mix. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour and up to overnight.
- Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into balls, and place them on the prepared sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve.
