Chewy Coffee Cookies

These homemade, soft, chewy coffee cookies filled with chocolate chunks are super easy to make with a few simple ingredients.

These chocolate chip coffee cookies are flavored with instant coffee granules or instant espresso powder for a rich coffee flavor. And, are equally delicious if made without chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.

These espresso cookies can be described as a cup of coffee in cookie form. The perfect treat for any coffee lovers out there!

Recipe Testing/Development Notes

This coffee cookie recipe was first published on 13 August 2022. But I've kinda always felt like I could make a better cookie than the one I published.

I wanted an easy coffee cookie recipe, made with everyday ingredients, that would be a great homemade cookie that would be equally delicious without the chocolate chunks or chocolate chips.

So after I had great success with my fiery ginger biscuit and then the subsequent moreish vanilla cookies, I knew I needed to revisit this recipe.

On a whim, one afternoon, I whipped up a half batch of vanilla cookies but substituted some white sugar with brown sugar, and added some coffee. And I was happy with the outcomes.

But...it needed a bit more tweaking so I decided I should increase the overall flour by 30 grams and the amount of coffee for an additional test. Of this batch, I froze a few cookie dough balls, and baked half with dark chocolate and half without dark chocolate.

The outcome was the best coffee cookies I have ever made.

Ingredients

Here are notes on the ingredients used, please refer to the recipe card for full quantities.

Plain flour (all-purpose flour/standard grade flour) refers to flour that has a protein content of approximately 9.5-12%. If measuring your flour with cups, first aerate the flour, then scoop it into the measuring cup using a spoon before leveling off.

Salt is a crucial ingredient in all baked goods. I use table salt in all my recipes. One teaspoon of table salt equals 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt equals 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.

Vanilla extract enhances the flavors of the other ingredients in the recipe and is a cornerstone ingredient in baked goods and desserts containing eggs. For this recipe, I recommend using a liquid vanilla extract, especially if using instant coffee granules and not espresso powder.

Instant coffee powder or granules/instant espresso powder. I typically use Nescafe Gold as my regular drinking coffee as well as in my baked goods. I also like the Nescafe espresso powder.

Eggs - I use a New Zealand size 6 egg, which is around the same size as Australian and South African Large Eggs, but closer to a US/Europe Medium sized egg.

Baking soda encourages the cookie to spread out on the baking sheet. And helps set up the biscuit/cookie dough before the eggs set. And helps with the browning of the cookie.

Butter adds flavor, softness, and moisture and sometimes aids in the leavening of baked goods. I use New Zealand butter in my recipes, which has approximately 82% butterfat and can be very yellow (similar to European or Irish butter). Butter cannot be substituted with butter or margarine spreads, but it can be substituted with baking margarine.

Granulated white sugar and light brown sugar are used to not only sweeten these cookies but also play an important role in the overall texture of the cookies. Light brown sugar can be substituted with dark brown sugar.

I like to add chocolate chips or chocolate chunks to these coffee cookies. I use 50% Whittaker's dark chocolate bars, this is similar to bittersweet chocolate. You can also substitute half the dark chocolate for milk chocolate if you find dark chocolate a bit intense.

Room Temperature Ingredients

Room temperature ingredients are key to creaming sugar, butter, and eggs together. Keep in mind that room temperature refers to 20°C/68°F.

Butter can be brought to room temperature quickly by cutting it in cubes and letting stand at room temperature for about an hour or so. The butter is ready when there is some give to it when poked or squeezed. If my butter is a touch hard I like to zap it in the microwave in 10-second increments until I've reached the desired consistency.

Allow the egg to come to room temperature with the butter. But in a pinch, you can place the egg into warm water for 10 to 15 minutes.

Weighing and Measuring Ingredients

Weighing ingredients with a digital kitchen scale is more accurate than using measuring cups. All my recipes are developed and tested using grams only.

However, I have activated the metric-to-cup conversions. Simply click on "USA/Cups" or "metric" for your preferred measurements. For these conversions, cups are equal to 240mL/8 fl oz, tablespoons are 15mL and teaspoons are 5mL.

Reduced-Sugar Variation

This cookie recipe relies on sugar for its texture, so I would not reduce the amount of sugar in the cookie itself.

However, you can leave out the chocolate chips in this cookie recipe. Which will help bring down the sugar content.

Additionally, you can bake off 1 tablespoon-sized dough balls, effectively halving the size of the cookie for a smaller portion. The smaller cookies will bake in about 10 minutes.

Small-Batch

You can half the recipe by clicking on the half button on the recipe card. To halve an egg, zero a small bowl on a kitchen scale, crack the egg into it, and take note of the grams. Beat the egg together with a fork. Then weigh out half the egg into the zeroed or tared butter-sugar mixture.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F. Line two large baking sheets/baking trays with parchment paper/baking paper or reusable silicon mats.

Step 2 - Measure out the instant coffee, then pour the vanilla extract over the coffee and stir to combine. Set aside to allow the coffee to dissolve into the vanilla extract.

Step 3 - In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and white granulated sugar at a medium speed. This will take about 3 to 5 minutes. If using a stand mixer, cream together using a paddle attachment. Regularly scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Note - room temperature butter should have some give when poked or squeezed.

Step 4 - Add in the room temperature egg and vanilla extract-coffee mixture. Beat together until fully combined, light and fluffy. This will take about 2-3 minutes.

Step 5 - In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix in until combined. Toss in the chocolate chunks, and then the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until a soft dough forms. You might need to finish off the cookie dough by hand by giving the dough a few kneads in the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are fully combined.

Step 6 - Portion out the cookie dough using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop (size 30), and place the cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets approximately 2.5 inches or 7cm apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 14-17 minutes. Mine were done at 15 minutes.

Step 7 - Allow the baked cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 5 minutes before gently lifting them onto a wired cooling rack with a spatula. Allow them to cool completely. The cookies will be about 3 inches across.

*Note - for a perfect cookie, scoot around the edges of the hot cookies with a large cookie cutter. Then allow to cool completely.

Step 8 - Continue with steps 6 through 7 until all the dough has been portioned and baked.

Storage and Freezing

These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.

If freezing cookie dough, first scoop out portions. These can then be baked directly from frozen as per the recipe instructions.

Coffee Cookies FAQ