This weekend was UNC Dance Marathon, a 24-hour event where students stand, dance and raise money in support of the patients and families at UNC Children’s Hospital. As you can imagine, standing and dancing for 24 hours is tiring. That’s where these chocolate espresso cookies come in.
These cookies are based off of cookies at one of my favorite local establishments, Foster’s Market. They are rich, gooey, almost brownie-like cookies filled with walnuts and chocolate chips. Espresso and coffee mixed with two kinds of melted chocolate enhance the intense flavor.
The coffee and chocolate are perfect for those in need of a little caffeine jolt and the walnuts add protein, right? We can pretend.
I’m all about texture, and between the nuts, chocolate chips and doughy batter these cookies have so many great textural elements. Delicious.
Scoop, bake and eat. Or eat a little, scoop and bake the rest, that’s how I roll.
Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies
Yields 20-24 cookies
6 oz (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped into large chunks
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons strongly brewed coffee
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
6 oz (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a double broiler, melt 6 ounces (1 cup) of semisweet chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate chunks and butter over low heat until just melted and combined. Stir the mixture occasionally to help the melting process. As soon as the chocolate has melted, remove the pot from the heat and set aside (you don’t want to burn the precious chocolate).
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the eggs, espresso powder, vanilla and brewed coffee. Add the sugars until combined and creamy.
Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix until well combined. Add the flour mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Fold in the chopped walnuts and the remaining 6 ounces (1 cup) of chocolate chips. The batter will look and feel more like cake batter than cookie dough.
Scoop the batter with a heaping tablespoon (or two) and drop onto the prepared baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. The dough needs to be baked right away so the chocolate does not have time to cool and harden.
Bake 10-12 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. The cookies will look gooey when they come out. This is perfect! Overcooked cookies will be dry and crunchy, which is not what we want from this recipe.
Cool the cookies about 10 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
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