Where did February go? What did I do? Apparently, I made coffee cake—that was a good idea. I joyfully stomped around in the giant puddles brought about by enormous mounds of snow melting in near-60° weather. I slipped and fell on my butt in front of the fire department the following day, when the melted snow turned to sheets of ice on a 12° morning. Not cool, Nature. Not cool. (And can you believe that not one strapping young fireman came running out to save me? Come on!) And what else? Oh, that’s right—I WORKED. Like crazy. For those who don’t know, here’s a quick insight into my job: I work from home doing book composition for a NY-based company. And even though I know this is the time of year when things begin to get hectic, it always seems to take me by surprise. On the plus side, my mild case of insanity has done wonders for my metabolism. I’ve been seriously over-using my stress-combating technique of stuffing cheese and crackers into my face while intermittently growling at my computer, and yet I’m losing weight. How? Who cares! Bring me more cheese!
Okay, enough about non-cookie-related topics. Oh wait, I’m sorry, just one more thing that happened in February. My very sweet boyfriend gave me a half dozen of these delicious and adorable chocolate-covered long-stem strawberries for Valentine’s Day.
Look at them—all dressed up!
Alright, now I’m done. On to the cookies that inspired a redesign of my blog (which was definitely overdue). I’ve had this Brown Eyed Baker recipe bookmarked for over a year now. On the day I finally decided to make it, I did so because I was craving brownies, but in a smaller, less dense form. Brownies I could eat two or three of without feeling like a big piggy. With a nice espresso kick too. And these things totally hit the spot. (I made them a little bit smaller than the ones on BEB, because I really wanted to be able to eat several of them in one sitting!)
Chocolate Espresso Cookies
(adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)
yield: around 3 dozen cookies
- 2⅔ cups (around 16 oz.) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 tablespoons of butter, softened
- 4 eggs
- 1⅓ cups of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup of all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon espresso
- 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat over to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, until a smooth mixture forms. While chocolate and butter are melting, combine eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and espresso. Beat chocolate and butter into the egg mixture until well combined. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder, and espresso until a smooth batter forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
(Note: Your batter should be rather runny [like brownie batter]. If you’d like to firm it up a little, just stick it in the fridge for half an hour or so.)
Drop tablespoons of batter on to your parchment paper–lined cookie sheet. Give them a little space, because they will spread out a bit. Bake for 8–10 minutes, or until they’re firm on the outside.
I so want to try making these on a skillet stovetop…they just look too irresistible to pass up. I’ll eat the darn dough if I hafta!
Gosh, I wonder if there’s some way to heat baking tiles on a stovetop and cover them to simulate an oven? I’ve definitely read about people throwing tiles or a stone on a grill and baking/grilling that way.
Alternatively, the raw batter is scrumptious. Salmonella be damned!
Holy crap, only 1/2 a cup of flour to a pound of chocolate? That is a ratio I can get behind. Must make! They look amazing.
Just made a dark chocolate-espresso cake to take to a dinner party tonight, but since I won’t be coming home with it, I may just have to make these tomorrow! I’m assuming I can use instant espresso powder?
Instant espresso powder should work just fine. Enjoy!
I love a good chewy chocolate cookie – especially if it tastes like a brownie. Yum!
would boiling-in-a-pot coffee powder work? I don’t think it’s espresso
The grind for drip coffee isn’t fine enough, which means you lose a lot of flavor.
For a while I was using my cheapo home coffee grinder to grind whole beans into espresso powder for baking. It didn’t do a good job at all, and the result was always something just slightly finer than normal coffee grounds, but nowhere near espresso. And you’d barely get a hint of coffee in what I baked with it. When I made these cookies, I went to our local coffee shop and asked for a couple tablespoons of their espresso blend ground on the Turkish setting (even finer than espresso). After I mixed up the batter and tasted it, I couldn’t believe the difference. The coffee flavor was so prominent, I was slightly worried I’d put too much in (but they turned out great).
If you have a mortar and pestle, you could use that to grind the coffee down into more of a powder—that should do the trick. Alternatively, you should be able to find espresso powder in the coffee aisle of any grocery store. Good luck!
These look fantastic!! I really want to make them as soon as i get home! I’ve never baked with espresso before… I just have one question, is the butter in this recipe salted or unsalted?
Oh, good question! You can use either, depending on your tastes. The Brown Eyed Baker recipe called for unsalted, but I’m a salty chocolate kind of girl, so I went with salted butter.
My boyfriend and I veganized these with a flaxmeal mixture in place of the eggs. 2 tablespoons of flaxmeal plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder plus 3 tablespoons water for each egg. So 8 tbsp flaxmeal plus 1/2 tsp baking powder plus 12 tbsp water. The batter is probably a little less runny, but the flaxmeal adds a really nice texture. Seriously delicious.
These came out amazingly! I baked them for my boyfriend and he was so upset that he forgot them at my house that he made me FedEx them to him! I put them in plastic baggies and they stayed fresh and soft for days. Thanks for the great recipe! :)
these were great! i’m on a no sugar/carb diet 6 days a week and so i only got to eat about 3 out of two batches i made. haha
i took them to a party and everyone enjoyed them.
i ended up using all semi sweet chocolate instead of the bittersweet because i couldnt find any at the store. also used a bit extra coffee.
thanks!
The batter for the dough is amazing, I could eat it all by itself. When I baked the cookies though they all melted together and created a massive mess. However I decided to change it up and I mushed it all up together, rolled into balls and rolled them in some powder sugar. Still awesome!
Ah! It is a pretty runny batter, for sure. Perhaps it would help to form the cookie dough rounds on the sheet, and then refrigerate the entire thing for 10–15 minutes before throwing it in the oven? I commend your improvisational remedy! That sounds delicious. It has me wondering if this batter might make a decent crinkle cookie. :)