Chocolate Espresso Cookies From Martha Stewart

We had a lot going on today, so rather than experiment, I decided to go with something tried-and-true. This recipe for Chocolate Espresso Cookies was sent to me to me by a friend in Manhattan.

It's a Martha Stewart recipe, so you can find it right here. There's even a video of Martha baking it with its creator, an architect named Merritt Palminteri.

I made these twice. First, after realizing I was out of butter, I made them with butter flavored shortening. I was not happy with the results because they tasted a little too chalky. I blamed it on the shortening, but it could have been that I was too heavy handed with the flour. I got rid of the first batch before adding in the fancy chocolate.

The second batch, which I made with butter, was excellent. I followed Martha's directions precisely and used Lindt 70% chocolate.

The cookies are rich, but unlike some of my other chocolate cookie recipes, taste more like actual cookies that chocolate baked into cookie form. Given that, the dough makes an excellent binder for adding as much chocolate as you want. It also lets the flavor of the dark chocolate stand out, so it's worth using the good stuff here.

One more thing, I used natural cocoa and the cookies rose very well. You might be able to use Dutch process cocoa, but you wouldn't get the same leavening action. There's a good explanation of why, right here. Also, the more subtle flavor of the natural cocoa added more contrast with the huge chunks of Lindt.

• Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
• Martha Stewart Chocolate Malt Sandwich Cookies
• Martha Stewart Dark Chocolate Frosting
• Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies
• Martha White Muffin Mix Biscotti

Recipe

Chocolate Espresso Cookies From Martha Stewart

Cookie Madness

Chocolate Espresso Cookies are large, double chocolate cookies with a fairly strong coffee flavor. If you don't have espresso powder, you can use instant coffee crystals instead.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 18

Ingredients

 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 260 grams
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 40 grams
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or 2 packets instant coffee 1 T. total
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon water
• ¾ cup 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar 200 grams
• ½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped

Instructions

 

• Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
• In a small bowl or custard cup, stir together espresso powder, vanilla, and a tablespoon of water; set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and yolk; mix until incorporated. Add espresso mixture; mix well, scraping down the sides of a bowl with a spatula.
• Stirring with a large spoon, add the flour mixture gradually stirring until fully blended. If you are using a stand mixer or a hand held mixer with a very low speed setting, you can use that.
• Stir in chocolate chunks.
• Line a couple of dinner plates with plastic wrap. Using a ¼ cup measure or a large cookie scoop, scoop heaping balls of dough onto plastic. Cover and chill for 2 hours or until ready to bake.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Place scoops of dough about 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake until cookies are set, about 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool completely before removing cookies.

Notes

Espresso powder is great, but I often have packets of instant coffee around and use that instead. 2 packets (or about 1 tablespoon total) gives enough coffee flavor for us. Using 2 tablespoons of espresso will give you a stronger coffee flavor. I also chill the dough before baking.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!