Coffee Cookies

Coffee lovers rejoice! These coffee cookies are crispy, chewy and absolutely packed with punchy coffee flavor!

With a husband who would probably grab the coffee beans first on his way out of a burning house, I am constantly being asked to make coffee desserts. We've enjoyed my Coffee Cupcakes and my Chocolate Espresso Cake, but this coffee cookie recipe is so wonderfully simple that it can be whipped up at a moment's notice to satisfy the sweet tooth and coffee craving simultaneously.

These chewy coffee cookies have a wonderful texture that you just can't get from store-bought cookies - crispy around the outside and soft and chewy in the middle - and full of punchy coffee flavor.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Can I Use Espresso Instead of Espresso Powder?
• Variations
• Storage
• Recipe

Ingredients

These few simple ingredients are going to come together to make the best coffee cookie you have ever had!

• Butter - Use unsalted butter or leave the additional salt out of the recipe if you use salted butter.

• White Sugar - White sugar gives us structure and helps to get those crispy edges. Use extra fine sugar (caster sugar in the UK)

• Light Brown Sugar - The brown sugar deepens the flavor and helps create that chewy center, it works really nicely with the coffee flavor.

• Egg - We'll use the whole egg, use a large egg and free range if you can. Make sure the egg is at room temperature.

• Espresso Powder - This is the super fine powder, also sometimes called instant espresso. This is different from instant coffee granules which are coarse and won't pack as much flavor.

• Vanilla Extract.- Use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, this provides a nice base for the coffee cookies.

• Flour - Use all-purpose flour for these cookies, this will give the best texture and structure.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

This coffee cookies recipe comes together so easily with just a few simple steps.

• Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. You may want to prepare two baking sheets so you can bake the cookies in batches.

• Sift dry ingredients into a medium bowl, including the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

• Put the instant espresso powder into a small bowl and mix together with a splash of hot water to form a paste. Set aside.

• Melt the butter in the microwave, and then pour the melted butter into a large bowl along with the white sugar, brown sugar, and espresso mixture.

• Beat together until combined. You can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, an electric mixer on medium speed, or you can just use a wooden spoon.

• Add the remaining wet ingredients, including the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Make sure you scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl.

• Add the flour mixture and stir together until a thick dough forms.

• Chill the coffee cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. The chilling time doesn't have to be exact, it's purely to make the coffee cookie dough easier to handle.

• Use a small scoop or a tablespoon to portion out walnut-sized lumps of dough, then roll them into cookie dough balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
  
  I usually fit about 6 cookies per sheet pan, this is why I use two sheets, so one batch can cool on the sheet while the next one bakes, but you can also just wait in between if you don't have two cookie sheets.
  
  Or if you have a very large oven and can fit the entire batch on one tray! Just make sure there is enough room for the coffee cookies to spread as they bake.

• Place the first tray of cookies into the preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes until they are a deep, golden brown.

• Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. The cookies continue to bake from the heat of the sheet, so if you put them on the cooling rack right away they will be underbaked.
  
  I find it helpful to use a cookie lifter to transport the baked cookies from the tray to the rack without breaking them.

Tip: For the perfect cookie, gently run a circular cookie cutter, just bigger than your cookies, around the outside of the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven to 'scoot' the edges into a perfectly round shape.

Can I Use Espresso Instead of Espresso Powder?

You could use a real shot of espresso to make these espresso cookies, but the amount of espresso you would have to add to achieve the same level of powerful espresso flavor would mean that you have to add far too much liquid to the cookie dough, which would make it sticky and hard to work with, and affect the end texture of the cookies.

Espresso powder allows you to get a strong coffee flavor without adding too much moisture to the dough.

Variations

Chocolate Chip - Add chocolate chips or chocolate chunks to add an extra level of indulgence to your coffee cookies. Coffee and chocolate are a match made in heaven after all! Personally, I think dark chocolate goes best with coffee, but use whatever kind of chocolate you like.

Mocha Cookies - To turn this coffee cookie recipe into a mocha cookie recipe, add 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the espresso powder before you mix it with hot water to get that little bit of chocolate flavor.

Tiramisu Cookies - Use these cookies as a base for a mascarpone cream frosting - I have a recipe for Tiramisu cookies coming next week so keep an eye out for it!

Storage

Store cookies in a cookie jar or airtight container with paper towels lining the bottom. Do not keep them in the fridge, store them at room temperature. Alternatively, store them in Ziploc bags or wrap them in plastic wrap. They will be good like this for up to a week.

If you want to freeze these cookies, I recommend putting the rolled cookie dough balls into Ziploc bags and freezing them that way. Thaw the frozen cookie dough balls before baking them as per the usual instructions.

Recipe