Coffee and dark chocolate chips pair for perfection

Those who know me know that two of my favorite things are coffee and dark chocolate.

Maria has taken to drinking tea, and I’ve had to cut back on coffee but still love a cafe au lait or latte – or just a traditional cup of German or Hawaiian ground coffee with a little half-and-half and agave syrup.

We make a lot of cookies that go well with coffee. (See previous blog about butter cookies and future blog about Mandelbrot.)

Maria and I have added coffee or espresso powder to chocolate cookies in the past with the goal of enhancing the cocoa flavoring. I have been especially effective with this when making brownies and fudge. (Yes, those are not cookies.)

But this year I wanted to make a cookie with undertones of coffee flavor. Many of the traditional cookie recipes that call for chocolate chips include nuts. If you leave the nuts out, you need to add a little more flour to compensate, usually about 1 to 2 tablespoons. I started thinking: I could add instant coffee instead.

My youngest daughter Mei and I spent quite a bit of time on the baking aisle during our last trip to the grocery store and there seems to be an explosion of chip varieties this season. Mei’s favorites have been the unicorn chips, pastel chips and milk chocolate chips (all highlighted in other blog posts).

My favorite chips so far this baking season are the dark chocolate chips. I decided to change up the traditional Nestle Toll House cookie recipe by adding instant coffee and Kahlua. The result is a fairly easy cookie dough to mix up and a rich chocolate taste with coffee undertones.

I used my favorite Elite Instant coffee, adding it to both the flour and butter-sugar mixture. I rounded out the flavor with a teaspoon of Kahlua and a little less vanilla extract than the traditional recipe called for and the dough smelled delicious.

SIDENOTE: You are not supposed to taste the dough.

The cookies baked up nicely and were amazing with whole milk. Maria wouldn’t know because she does not drink milk, and no longer drinks coffee – she is killing me.

DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COFFEE COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons instant coffee

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Kahlua

2 large eggs

1 2/3 cups (10-ounce package) dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and 2 tablespoons instant coffee in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, Kahlua and 1 tablespoon instant coffee in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Stir in dark chocolate morsels.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto uncreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes.

Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

If you have an amazing coffee cookie recipe we would love to hear from you. DM us on Instagram @itswhateverblog, email us at itswhateverblog@outlook.com, or post to our Facebook page at http://bit.ly/amyandmariaFB.

Happy baking,

Amy