Name: Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Yield: Serves 50-55 cookies
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup light brown sugar; 2 eggs, room temperature; 2 1/2 cups flour; 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon Kosher salt; 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (like Medaglia D\'Oro, or similar); 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Photo by Rocky Luten

Test Kitchen-Approved
Your Best Chocolate Cookie Contest Finalist

Author Notes

I love the way coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, which is why I started doctoring up my favorite chocolate cookies with espresso powder. These cookies are not for the faint of heart, they are decadent and rich, and best accompanied with a glass of milk. —Kelsey Banfield

Test Kitchen Notes

"Two warnings about these cookies: don't give them to young children before bedtime and don't leave them lying around (if you want any left for yourself). These cookies are crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle with pockets of soft chocolate. The espresso powder, as KelseyTheNaptimeChef notes, amplifies the chocolate, but not the sweetness, making it a grown-up cookie. When making any cookies, make sure to cream the butter really well–this aerates the cookies and integrates the sugar–but be conservative with your mixing once the dry ingredients are added." –A&M

"Call me crazy, but I like to drink milk from animals, specifically cows. So when Food52 Writer and Recipe Developer Emma Laperruque announced she was planning an almond milk taste test a couple of weeks ago, I quickly told her I wouldn’t be participating.

But Emma had a secret weapon: Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies. Straight from the oven. And only almond milk testers could get a taste.

These rich, chocolatey cookies are a classic here at Food52. Community member Kelsey Banfield first shared them on the site back in 2009, and they've been sweetening company events and celebrations ever sense. When developing the recipe, Banfield wanted to create an espresso brownie in cookie clothing.

'I love the way coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, which is why I started doctoring up my favorite chocolate cookies with espresso powder,' Banfield says. 'I also had a toddler at the time so I didn't mind the caffeine kick.'

The recipe calls for two tablespoons of instant espresso powder, the thought of which might make your heart beat a little faster. But don’t skimp. Espresso powder makes chocolate magically more chocolatey, with a slight mocha taste and no extra sweetness.

Before you make a batch, heed Banfield's advice:

'These cookies are not for the faint of heart. They are decadent and rich, and best accompanied with a glass of milk.'

Yes, even almond milk." –Katie Macdonald

—The Editors

Watch This Recipe

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 12 minutes
Serves 50-55 cookies

Ingredients

2 ¹/₄ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 ¹/₂ cups flour
³/₄ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (like Medaglia D'Oro, or similar)
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

In This Recipe

Tools

Set a Timer

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Then, add eggs one at time, mixing after each addition to make sure they are well combined.
In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. I use a whisk to make sure the dry ingredients are well mixed.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix everything until the ingredients are fully combined, but do not overbeat. Using a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips.
Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2" ice-cream scoop, or rounded teaspoon, drop dough on the sheet 2" apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

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See what other Food52ers are saying.

Ken D Megal
Michelle Meredeth Jordan
Katrina Buttigieg
Jen Oatess
eva hayes

Review

Home cook, food blogger, cookbook author, wine lover, avid traveler, and mother of two young children. Check out my books: The Naptime Chef: Fitting Great Food into Family Life (2012), and The Family Calendar Cookbook: From Birthdays to Bake Sales, Good Food to Carry You Through the Year (2015), Running Press.

Popular on Food52

137 Reviews

candieadams July 19, 2020

I fell in love with Deseo cookies with cocoa and dark chocolate chips during a visit to Eataly in NYC a few years ago...from then on, whenever I visited the city, I'd stock up...not much hope of doing that any time soon so I tried this recipe to make my own...just finished baking them and they turned out wonderfully...

Lindsey June 26, 2020

Great cookies. Made as directed except I subbed espresso chips for half the chocolate chips. I also refrigerated the dough overnight which really helped with the shape. Some people mentioned their cookies spread too much (due to all the butter) so chilling the dough will definitely help.

Dockjekyll April 13, 2020

Amazing cookies! Exactly as described with wonderful soft centers and slightly crispy exterior. I halved the recipe but kept the espresso the same (2 tbs for half the other ingredients). I used freshly ground espresso beans that I use in my espresso machine. I also made larger cookies using a golf ball sized ball of dough. Half the recipe made 15 amazing cookies.
Thanks for sharing! Huge hit!

Ken D. November 24, 2019

Made these today. Turned out great. Used dark chocolate chips and they were fabulous.

Michelle M. November 8, 2019

What can I make using espresso baking chips? I have that and not the espresso powder. We don't use instant coffee either. I'm stuck! Lol.

AdventureGirl November 8, 2019

omit the powder and use 6 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips and 6 ounces of your espresso baking chips.

Rsmeltzer October 16, 2019

Can anyone think of clever ways to veganize these cookies?

Katrina B. July 12, 2019

Whaaaaay too much salt. Maybe try 1/2 tsp. This was honestly okay but the salt destroyed it.

thirschfeld July 13, 2019

Made them dozens of times. Recipe is spot on. Maybe you added double by accident.

russeaime October 15, 2019

Same here as thirschfeld. Made this a million times exactly as written and never had a problem with the salt.

Sheri L. November 10, 2019

If you used regular table salt instead of kosher as called for it would be too salty.

Erika C. December 17, 2018

I made these cookies over the weekend. Followed the recipe to the T and they came out dry, good flavor but dry. I have no clue what I did wrong. Will try making them again. Any ideas of what could've gone wrong?

Dindin S. May 15, 2019

Overbeat or too long in the oven?

DarrahP November 29, 2018

This is the 3rd time I'm making these cookies. They make so many which I love because I can share them with friends, family, and coworkers. They have a great cakey texture, are extremely rich, and REQUIRE a glass of milk. If you really enjoy that coffee flavor I would add 3-4 tablespoons of espresso powder. They have a good chocolate - espresso balance but I enjoy a more coffee flavored cookie.

Cgraeff September 8, 2018

I used instant expresso as called for and the coffie flavor was still suttle but if you thought “coffee” you could taste it. Delicious cookie! True comment to stay away from these cookies too close to bedtime. 😝

Cgraeff October 16, 2019

Oh I recently found decaf instant espresso powder on Amazon and will be substituting that next time

Marie September 1, 2018

I wonder (about those of you who sample raw dough) if you are aware of this:
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm508450.htm

Jo August 6, 2018

Wow, wow, wow. This is the best chocolate thing I have ever made.

You don't really taste the coffee, just a very intense chocolate flavour. I suppose you could up the amount of coffee to make mocha cookies.

Didn't have instant espresso powder so I ground up some locally roasted plunger in my spice grinder to get it really fine. Also used crumbled flaky sea salt in place of kosher. I used a cookie scoop and got about 90. Baked 30, froze the rest as scoops. It was so difficult stopping at 3 biscuits, washed down with a glass of milk. Thank you very much for the recipe.

Jo August 6, 2018

Sorry, I'm a Kiwi – biscuits is *cookies.

Suzanne G. August 5, 2018

Delicious! I used instant coffee instead of espresso.

Jen O. July 14, 2018

Late to the party here, but I’m wondering if you think these will travel well. I’d love to send them to a friend!

AdventureGirl July 14, 2018

shipped them from the east coast to midwest and they held up just fine (it was in March, so a bit colder than now).

eva H. June 12, 2017

I love this recipe so much. It still worked when I put the sugar in with the dry ingredients instead of creaming it with the butter, and my old mixmaster blew up (smoke and all) mid receipe so I had to knead all the ingredients together. And it was still delicious! I hate baking so much but this receipe I can do. It's also really nice raw, hur hur.

Idalu May 7, 2017

Those lovely cookies are way way too sweet. I made them a second time and halved the sugar and upped the coffee a bit. Delicious.
Yes it is up to each and everyone how sweet they want their cookies to be but I also think that the ones proposing recipes have the power to influence the rest of us so I will say that 2 cups of sugar is a recipe for all sorts of diseases. I don't mean to offend anyone.

macfadden March 10, 2017

These are delicious. Once completely cool, they had excellent texture: very chewy, interrupted with pleasing chocolate chunks. I give all cookie dough an overnight rest in the fridge, and only used 1 teaspoon of espresso powder because I don't care for the flavor of coffee, but recognize that a bit enhances chocolate baked goods. For anyone who is concerned about them tasting like coffee, I found that with 1 teaspoon the dough had a faint hint of coffee aroma when raw, but once baked were not coffee-ish at all. The flavor really blends in.

AdventureGirl July 9, 2016

These cookies are scrumptious! Split the 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa with black cocoa and triple cocoa (King Arthur); and added 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Also finished with Maldon salt. Yummy!

kumalavula April 20, 2015

yum, yum, yum!!!!
i didn't have enough chocolate chips but i threw in what i had and they turned out fine. (actually, more than fine!) i have taken to baking with vanilla salt which added another dimension. i'll be making these again but tomorrow i have a feeling i'll be watching my coworkers enjoy our after school meeting just a little bit more.

Emma C. November 6, 2014

I live in Europe. What is a "stick" of butter? I am used to cooking using either in grams or ounces. Can anyone help please. Thank you :-)

Texas C. November 6, 2014

I can understand your confusion. A stick of butter = 8 ounces

Emma C. November 6, 2014

Thank you Texas Chick :-)

amysarah July 12, 2015

Just stumbled on this - maybe too late, but a standard American stick of butter is 4 oz, or 1/4 lb (a typical 1 lb butter package contains 4 sticks.)

Laila February 14, 2019

A stick of butter is 113 grams 4 ounces not 8. A pound is 2 sticks 454 grams.

Laila February 14, 2019

Sorry a pound is 4 sticks. A typo. 454 grams

Louise F. April 6, 2020

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think it’s only the US that uses imperial measurements. We use metric in Australia and New Zealand and our tablespoons are 20g not 15g as they are in the US. I have to convert everything whenever I use an American recipe which I find a pain, because a lot of great recipes come from there. It’s a lot easier and less messy to weigh butter by the grams than measure it out in tablespoons for example! Luckily we have the internet to convert or explain all these measurements although I haven’t been able to clearly establish what a quart of cherry tomatoes is in grams if anyone knows? I find conflicting information

Laila April 7, 2020

A stick of butter is 113 grams, 8 ounces. 1 pound is 4 sticks is 454 grams, 16 ounces.

Laila April 7, 2020

It is confusing but here in US cherry tomatoes we measure in volume. A pint of cherry tomatoes is 2 cups and almost 500 grams and a quart around a kilo.

Louise F. April 7, 2020

It’s very confusing because I just filled a cup with cherry tomatoes and they weigh 161g. Of course you can’t squash them in so they have gaps between them. I’m none the wiser

Laila April 8, 2020

Ok, I finally found packages at market that are actually labeled both in volume and weight. Cherry tomatoes 1 pint (2 cups) container had 9 ounces which equals 255 grams. Grape tomatoes, (the longer ones) 1 pint package had 10 ounces which is 283 grams.
For cooking it's easier to assume around 500 g for a pint, a kilo for a quart. Metric life is so much easier 😏

Louise F. April 9, 2020

Thanks Laila, you’ve gone above and beyond! I’m going to save this information for future reference

Laila April 9, 2020

No problem. I love to bake and weigh everything and I am metric all the way. So much easier and I already keep notes for so many ingredients. Enjoy your baking.

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