Espresso and Kahlua Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies get a gourmet, sophisticated makeover with these espresso and Kahlua cookies! Featuring a soft and chewy center and crisp edges, these mocha-flavored cookies are always a crowd favorite for any occasion. After one bite, these cookies will surely earn a spot on your cooking-baking rotation.

Why You Need to Make This Recipe

Coffee lovers, rejoice! I have your perfect cookie. With loads of espresso powder and a shot of Kahlua, these cookies deliver a double dose of coffee flavor. Talk about one caffeinated cookie.

Of course, coffee is even better when chocolate is involved, and these cookies sure do deliver on that front. Rather than chocolate chips, we use chocolate chunks. Not only does this give us big pieces of chocolate throughout the cookie but chocolate chunks also get a touch gooey during baking. Even though they somewhat firm up after cooling, they don't completely solidify, which makes for a decadent touch.

Plus, a boozy kick always adds an extra fun touch to any occasion. This is your ultimate party cookie.

Ingredients

Let's get ready to bake and prep our ingredients for these Kahlua cookies.

• All-purpose flour: To give our cookies structure.
• Baking soda: For a little lift.
• Salt: This brings out our flavors.
• Espresso powder: We use 2 full tablespoons to get loads of coffee flavor.
• Butter: Every good cookie needs a buttery bite.
• Dark brown sugar: This gives our cookies a chewy texture and added richness.
• White sugar: To complement our dark brown sugar.
• Kahlua: This is easily the most popular coffee liqueur, but feel free to use another brand if you prefer.
• Vanilla extract or paste: For an added sweetness.
• Eggs: These bind our cookie dough.
• Dark chocolate chunks: You will love how the roasted espresso complements the dark chocolate.
• Kitchen tools: We need a hand or stand mixer, large baking sheet, parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, a spatula and wire racks.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Now let's start baking. Our first step is to stir together our dry ingredients and set them aside. This includes our flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Easy enough.

From here, we cream together our butter, dark brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla extract and Kahlua until it's nice and fluffy like so.

After creaming, we add our eggs one at a time and beat into the cookie dough just until incorporated.

Remember that flour mixture we set aside? Now we beat it in a little at a time until it turns into a cohesive dough.

For our finishing touch, we stir in our chocolate chunks and then chill the dough.

Because of the Kahlua, this dough is a bit softer than your typical chocolate chip cookie dough, so chilling is imperative. Otherwise, the cookies will spread too much when baking.

If using the refrigerator to chill, plan for at least an hour. To speed up the process, you can use the freezer instead, which should only take half an hour. The dough should be fairly stiff when scooping.

After chilling, we’re ready to bake. The dough balls go on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and then into the oven they go.

In just a few minutes, we’ll have a perfect batch of irresistible espresso cookies for one decadent treat.

Expert Tips and FAQs

• The espresso and Kahlua cookies will look slightly underbaked when they come out of the oven. We want this. It helps keep them soft and moist — the cookies will firm as they cool.
• With the Kahlua addition, chilling the dough is absolutely necessary, so don’t skip this. This step helps solidify the dough to prevent excessive spreading while baking.
• Using a parchment paper-lined baking sheet is also a must. Without parchment paper, the cookies could spread too much. A silicone baking sheet also works in its place.
• Room-temperature eggs mix into the dough more effectively. Try to set them out 30 minutes before preparing the dough. If you forget, you can place them in warm — not hot — water for five to 10 minutes.
• Softened butter should leave finger imprints when pressing into the sides. Your fingers shouldn’t be able to cut through the butter. Leaving the butter on the counter for 30 minutes should do the trick. If you cut the butter into slices, they’ll soften even quicker.
• I like to shape my cookie dough balls to about the size of a golf ball.
• For even more chocolate and a prettier look, I like to lightly press a few additional dark chocolate chunks on top of the cookie dough ball right before baking.

Perfect Pairing

An imperial stout is the quintessential pairing for these mocha cookies. With an imperial stout, we get some residual sweetness that makes it wonderful with cookies, and the roasted malt is a natural pairing with the espresso. In fact, imperial stouts are often brewed with coffee because of how well they go together.

Looking for a wine pairing? A cabernet sauvignon is a lovely choice. Both show off bold mocha notes, and then the wine has some rich dried fruit that complements the espresso and dark chocolate.

And, of course, a coffee-flavored cocktail would be an absolute treat. My Baileys Irish coffee martini is just what you need.

For the perfect coffee cookie recipe, I hope you try these espresso and Kahlua cookies. Please let me know how you enjoyed this recipe in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers!

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