CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO COOKIES

I usually don’t have a very big sweet tooth, but I got a really strong craving this week for some chocolate espresso cookies. After looking through several different recipes, I decided on this one, by Giada de Laurentiis. I liked the fact that she used chocolate covered espresso beans in hers to give it a stronger Espresso flavor.

Double Chocolate and Espresso Cookies

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (recommended: Ghirardelli)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup dark chocolate-covered espresso beans
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (recommended: Nestle Toll House)

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

In the bowl of a food processor, finely chop the chocolate covered espresso beans. In a medium bowl, whisk together the chopped espresso beans, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, water, and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients and stir until thick and smooth. Fold in the melted chocolate. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, scoop level 1/4 cupfuls of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until slightly puffed and the tops begin to crack, 18 to 20 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets and serve.



Chocolate covered Espresso beans after going in the food processor



Melted semi-sweet chocolate and unsalted butter

Flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and chopped Espresso beans

The dry mixture above with the egg mixture added

With melted chocolate and butter added

So here's where I made a little mistake. I got the cookies on the baking sheets, in the oven and realized I completely forgot to stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips!!! Smooth move, Rachel. Instead of yanking them out of the oven, throwning my chip-less cookies away, and starting from scratch, I decided to let them finish baking and see how they turned out. I'm glad I let them finish because, they turned out great! Since they already have so much chocolate in them, it wasn't a deal-breaker that the chips were missing.

To make up for my little chocolate chip snafu, I decided to put a big scoop of my favorite mint chip ice cream between two of the cookies and make an ice cream sandwich.

I would definitely reccommend making these cookies--but with the chips! Even though they turned out just fine without them, I bet they'd be that much better with them.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm heading out to Colorado to visit my brother--fingers are crossed for nice weather!

R