These Brown Butter Espresso Cookies are chewy, crisp, and everything you want in a good cookie. They are basically like your classic brown butter cookie except they have a hint of espresso in each bite. The espresso adds depth to the cookie and brings chocolate making the cookie feel so rich and flavorful. I say we all ditch the morning coffee for these Brown Butter Espresso Cookies. Who's with me? Well if you aren't yet, after trying these cookies you will definitely want to.
Browning butter is an easy addition to make any baked good taste a million times better. You melt your butter on low heat for 3-5 minutes until it turns a deep shade of amber and smells nutty. Then simply add it to your batter or dough and you will have a rich and nutty final product. After browning your butter, you need to whisk an ice cube into the butter. This not only helps the butter cool down faster, but it also adds moisture to the butter. We need to add moisture to the butter because while browning it, we cooked out all of the water. Butter with moisture in it is a key element in helping your cookie bake in the oven. Since my family doesn't cook with eggs at home, I use a flaxseed egg as a substitute in this recipe. When making chocolate chip cookies, I like to use different types of chopped chocolate and chips to add texture to the cookie. This also helps make more of a rustic, imperfect cookie and will leave your cookie with large puddles of chocolate. After you combine all of the ingredients, the recipe says to chill the dough in the fridge for two hours or overnight. I highly recommend chilling your dough for 12-24 hours so the flour can soak up all the ingredients and so the cookies spread slower in the oven. If your cookies spread too fast, they can burn.
TOTAL TIME: 4o minutes (plus chilling) SERVINGS: 12-14 cookies INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (150 grams)
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 ice cube
1/2 cup brown sugar (100 grams)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal, 2 tablespoons water)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons espresso powder or instant coffee
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Flakey sea salt (for sprinkling on top)
8 oz. of 50%-80% dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate (mix of chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, chocolate chunks, etc.)
METHOD:
In a small pot or saucepan, preferably with a light colored bottom, start melting your butter on medium low. Stir continuously for 3-5 minutes. It will start to foam up and maybe even boil, bring the heat down and keep stirring until it starts to smell nutty and turns a shade of amber. Then pour it into a heat safe bowl and whisk in 1 standard ice cube along with your espresso powder. Then place the butter bowl in the freezer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Make your flaxseed egg by combining the flaxseed and water, then set aside. While the flaxseed blooms, measure out your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Then set aside.
Remove the butter from the freezer. It should not be completely liquid. It should have some solid pieces in it. If not, let it chill for 5-7 more minutes. Add it to a bowl or your stand mixer. Beat it for 2-3 minutes until it is very light in color and becomes very fluffy. Then add in the brown sugar and vanilla and beat for 2-3 minutes.
Mix together your white sugar and flaxseed mixture. You want the sugar to dissolve. Then add that to the butter mixture and cream everything together for 2 minutes.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well with a spatula or gently beat with a mixture until just combined. Fold in your chocolate and let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours (preferably longer, you can also chill it in the fridge for up to 36 hours).
After at least 2 hours, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Then remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into about 12 slightly small golf ball sized pieces or use a 1 oz. cookie scoop to form the balls. Put 8 cookies on each tray and bake for 14-16 minutes.
Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle sea salt on top of each cookie. Then let them cool. Transfer to a cooling rack after 15 minutes. Wait about 20 minutes before eating.
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