This is the quintessential chocolate chip cookie and the espresso coffee powder adds such a rich flavor to it! You would never know that I gave it the cuisinicity touch: whole wheat pastry flour instead of plain white flour for added fiber, regular smart balance instead of butter to replace saturated fat, and considerably reduced sugar typically used for a batch that makes 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies! I use a little baking soda to this cookie dough, which is unlike me in any of my cookie recipes because I find it’s usually unnecessary added sodium. The reason why I do so in this case, is because it makes the dough rise in the oven and subsequently “collapse” when cooling down which is what gives it that crisp-on-the outside chewy-on- the-inside perfection! Note that I freeze the dough before baking. I find that this is what gives this cookie that wonderful crispy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside-melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness! So, you do have to plan to make these ahead of time, but oh the joy when you find them ready to go in your freezer! YUM!
- 1 cup regular smart balance spread– softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp instant espresso coffee powder
- 2 large eggs (omega 3)
- 2¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 package bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cocoa)
- Heat oven to 350 degrees
- Cream Smart Balance, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and espresso powder.
- Add eggs – beat for at least 2 minutes.
- Combine flour, baking soda and gradually add to creamed mixture. Beat well – another 2 minutes – then stir in chocolate chips.
- Store in freezer for at least 1 hour. Drop by large teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool and enjoy!
Tracy says
November 12, 2015 at 12:19 pmI want to make this recipe! Struggling a bit with chocolate and how to source it as both cocoa and chips for baking as there are many reports now of lead in chocolate. I always buy high-% chocolate (70%-90%) and unsweetened, fair trade matters to me.
Any ideas of where to get chocolate lead free?
thanks!
Tracy
Catherine Katz says
November 13, 2015 at 7:22 amHi Tracy,
Good for you! There is a whole section of fair trade chocolates at Whole foods and in most healthful stores that you’ll find. They are more costly of course. As for the lead, the low concentration is not much of a concern with the amount of chocolate that I use. I hope this is helpful!
Sara says
February 14, 2015 at 8:25 pmAfter five failed attempts at this one, I think it’s time for me to throw in the towel. My cookies always end up as large teaspoon-sized blobs instead of flattening out like the beautiful ones pictures. On the bright side, the cookie dough is heavenly 🙂
Catherine Katz says
February 15, 2015 at 2:10 pmoh no, Sara, I am so sorry to hear that! Do you freeze the dough before baking? Do you use whole wheat pastry flour? I am so stunned by this because I just haven’t had any trouble with it, what a bummer! You are a real trooper for having given it 5 attempts, really I am at a loss to explain this to you. You are so sweet for commenting that you liked the dough nonetheless! I hope you’ll try others, and please let me know how it goes! BTW, how did you like the carrot cider baked chicken (with the dark beer in the sauce)?!
Sara says
February 16, 2015 at 9:08 amI’m using whole grain pastry flour because I couldn’t find whole wheat…maybe that’s it?
I made a few small changes during the first 4 attempts in order to make do with what I had on hand (i.e. Smart balance w/ olive oil vs. regular SB, no brown sugar, liquid egg whites vs. whole eggs, baking powder vs. baking soda). In all cases, the cookie texture still turned out the same. For the last attempt, the only difference was that I replaced half the chocolate with walnuts and raisins, but I don’t think that would inhibit cookie flattening. The only real constants have been the flour, the oven, and myself, so I’m thinking one of those things is causing the puffiness.
HOWEVER, I froze the dough before baking, but last night I discovered that if I freeze the cookies post-baking, then they are delicious little puffy cookie balls with a crunchy exterior and a soft center 🙂
Yes, I made the beery carrot chicken and it is AMAZING!!! Not sure whether I like the beery chicken or the pistachio chicken more…they’re both so good!!!
Catherine Katz says
February 16, 2015 at 1:03 pmHahahaha, Sara, my goodness, no wonder they didn’t come out like mine!!!
You used olive oil smart balance instead of regular, egg whites instead of whole eggs, no brown sugar, and baking powder which makes them rise like little cakes, instead of baking soda…!!! I think you don’t need to look any further, this is a very different recipe than the one I posted! I would love for you to try them JUST the way I have them on the recipe if you’d like that crunchy outside, flat and chewy inside just like the picture!!
Sara says
February 16, 2015 at 4:54 pmHaha! I didn’t change everything at the same time – each of the first 4 attempts had just one modification from the original recipe.
For the last attempt, I decided to buy all of the correct ingredients and made them according to the recipe, but they were still puffy.
I think I will give it one more shot though to see if repeating the same experiment results in the same outcome. I want to try a batch on the top oven rack, a batch on the bottom rack, a batch after freezing overnight, and a batch after freezing for ~3h (what I did last time). I may even thaw some dough after freezing and try a few cookies with that. If all else fails, I will just call mine “cookie puffs” and pretend like that is what I was aiming for 🙂
Charles says
January 29, 2015 at 1:03 pmOops – sorry for the misspelling of espresso!
Charles says
January 29, 2015 at 1:01 pmWhat is meant by “esspresso coffee powder”? Is this instant/freeze dried esspresso or is it just esspresso ground coffee?
Thanks!
Catherine Katz says
January 30, 2015 at 5:41 pmHi Charles! Instant! Sorry for not specifying– I will go fix that right now!