Friday, March 15, 2013

Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies

I've been on a kick lately where I'm experimenting with using espresso in baked goods. It helps that I own a Tassimo machine so I can quickly and easily brew as many espresso shots as I like, and I bought a package of espresso T-discs solely for the purpose of baking. This recipe is the one that turned out the best of all of my experiments. The dough itself was almost better than the baked cookies - I probably could have eaten the whole bowl! I can't even truly describe the flavour notes added by the espresso - it highlights the sweetness, but the espresso itself is somewhat bitter. Altogether it almost makes the cookie taste creamy and smooth (that sounds weird I know, describing a solid with the adjective "creamy" but it's all I can come up with right now). However you describe it, these cookies are delicious.
 


Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 shot espresso, cooled
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375oF. Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add the shot of espresso and mix well. In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, powder, salt). Add to the wet ingredients in two additions, mixing well after each. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen. 

Cookies fresh out of the oven:

I found the espresso flavour was actually stronger in the raw dough than in the finished cookies. It mellowed out through the baking process but still highlighted the sweetness and smoothness of these cookies.

There's a gorgeous close-up for the texture of the cookies - very buttery and chewy.

Now for the beats. Since I described the espresso as being bitter but also emphasizing the sweet in the cookies, my mind automatically jumped to one song: Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.



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