coffee cookies

these brown butter coffee cookies bring together rich espresso and caramel notes in the softest, chewiest bite. each cookie is topped with a silky coffee ganache and a sprinkle of walnuts, creating layers of warm, toasted flavours. perfect for slow mornings when you need a little sweet treat with your coffee.

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why you will love this coffee cookie recipe

• complex flavour profile – these coffee cookies are a little different to your ordinary cookie! they’re packed with the rich flavours of browned butter, brown sugar, coffee and white chocolate, and everything complements each other so wonderfully.

• great for coffee lovers – if you like coffee in cookies, these cookies are definitely for you! they’re made with coffee in the cookie dough and in the ganache. the brown butter also adds a caramel-like note to these cookies and walnuts add the perfect crunch.

• the most perfect texture – these coffee cookies have crisp edges and chewy centres and aren’t too thick or too thin. they also stay soft and chewy for days!

learn how to make these coffee flavoured cookies

to make these easy coffee espresso cookies, we’re going to start off by browning unsalted butter to add an extra toffee-like depth of flavour to the coffee cookie dough. add instant espresso powder to the browned butter and mix it in, then let the mixture cool slightly. then. add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix these together until combined. then, add a large egg, some heavy cream and a splash of vanilla, and mix that in until you get a relatively smooth batter.

in another bowl, add flour, baking powder, some baking soda and salt and mix all of that together. add the dry ingredients to the wet batter and gently fold them in until you get your coffee cookie dough. let the coffee cookie dough chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

once the dough is ready, split the cookie dough into equal sections. bake the coffee cookies until golden and chewy, then let them cool at room temperature. while the coffee cookies are still slightly warm, use a spoon to press the middle of each cookie down to create a little well for the filling.

to make the coffee cookie filling, heat up heavy cream in a pot or pan, and add some instant espresso powder. mix until completely incorporated. once the mixture starts bubbling, add white chocolate and remove from the pot from the heat. mix the chocolate in until it melts completely into the cream, and you get a smooth coffee ganache.

once the coffee cookies have cooled completely, add the coffee ganache to the the middle of each cookie. add chopped walnuts before the ganache sets, and we’re done!

coffee cookies ingredients

• butter – we’re going to use unsalted butter here. if you would prefer to use salted butter, just remove the extra salt from the dry ingredients. for this coffee cookies recipe, i decided to brown the butter for an extra depth of flavour that works really well with the coffee and vanilla cookies, as well as the coffee chocolate ganache. this is one of my favourite butters to use in cookie recipes.

• instant espresso powder – i like to add some instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder to the cookie dough as well as the coffee ganache to make sure that these cookies are packed with coffee flavor.

• brown sugar – i make these soft, chewy coffee cookies using dark brown sugar because it really helps keep them extra moist and chewy and the flavours of the dark brown sugar also really work well with the browned butter and the coffee. you can also use light brown sugar if you like. this light muscovado sugar is one of my favourites.

• granulated sugar – this coffee cookie recipe uses a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar. the brown sugar keeps these coffee and walnut cookies chewy and the granulated sugar helps them spread.

• egg – we’re going to be using just one large egg in this simple coffee cookie recipe. you want to make sure the egg is at room temperature – this will make it easier to combine with the rest of the ingredients.

• vanilla extract – optional, but a splash of it will add a nice, subtle vanilla flavour to your coffee cookies and the coffee ganache.

• double cream or heavy cream – this is optional but i really recommend adding a small amount of heavy cream to these coffee cookies as it adds a lovely richness and makes the cookies extra chewy. you can skip this, or use milk if you’d rather not use the heavy cream. we’ll also be using heavy cream to make the coffee ganache.

• flour – we’ll be using plain flour or all purpose flour in this recipe.

• baking soda and baking powder – i use just a small amount of baking soda and baking powder in these coffee cookies to get a good balance of spread and thickness.

• salt – a small amount of salt added to the dry ingredients helps balance out the sweetness in this coffee cookies recipe.

• chocolate – i’m using white chocolate for the coffee ganache because i find that it really complements the coffee flavour without overpowering it! you can also use milk chocolate if you’d prefer that. you can make the coffee ganache for these coffee cookies with chocolate chips or just with a bar of chocolate.

• walnuts – these are completely optional, but i personally love coffee and walnuts together, so i like to add some chopped walnuts to the tops of these cookies before the ganache sets.

tools:

• large bowl – for the coffee cookie dough

• medium bowl – for the dry ingredients

• pot or pan – for browning the butter on the stove, as well as for making the coffee ganache.

• baking sheet or baking tray – you’ll need a big baking sheet lined with parchment paper or baking paper

• electric mixer or whisk (optional) – this will just make it easier to mix all of the ingredients together and get a smoother batter, but i made these cookies without using a mixer.

step by step instructions

for full measurements, keep scrolling down to the recipe below.

step one: brown the butter. add unsalted butter to a pan or pot and heat up over medium heat. keep stirring until golden brown and toasted. you’ll know you’re done when the butter starts to smell almost caramel-like. (detailed instructions on browning butter in faqs section).

step two: add the browned butter to a large mixing bowl, making sure to scrape out all of the milk solids from the bottom of the pan and into the bowl. add the instant coffee powder and mix it into the butter.

step three: let the butter mixture cool slightly at room temperature, then place the bowl in the fridge so that the browned butter can firm up into a softened butter. check on the butter in the fridge every once in a while, stirring it so that the toasty brown butter bits can mix evenly throughout the butter.

step four: once the butter and coffee mixture looks like a soft butter consistency, remove the bowl from the fridge.

step five: add the granulated sugar and dark brown sugar to the bowl, and mix these together until the mixture is soft and creamy.

step six: add the egg, vanilla and heavy cream to the bowl, and mix all of this together until you get a relatively smooth batter.

step seven: in another bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and mix all of this together.

step eight: add the dry ingredients to the coffee cookie batter and gently fold them in until a coffee cookie dough is formed.

step nine: place the bowl in the fridge and let the coffee cookie dough chill for 30 minutes.

step ten: preheat oven 10-15 minutes before baking the cookies, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or baking paper.

step eleven: split the coffee cookie dough into equal sized portions, then place the cookie dough balls on the lined tray, making sure to put space between them so that they have enough room to spread.

step twelve: bake the coffee cookies for about 15 minutes, or until they look soft and golden.

step thirteen: remove the coffee cookies from the oven, let them cool slightly on the baking sheet for about ten minutes so that they can firm up a little.

step fourteen: press the centre of each cookie down gently with a spoon while they’re still relatively warm so that there’s a little well in the middle. let the cookies cool completely before making the ganache.

step fifteen: in a pot, heat up heavy cream over medium heat, and mix some instant coffee powder into the cream until combined.

step sixteen: once the cream mixture starts to bubble, remove the pot from the heat, and add the white chocolate to the hot cream.

step seventeen: mix the white chocolate into the cream until it melts completely and you get a smooth coffee ganache. stir some vanilla extract through the coffee ganache.

step eighteen: add the coffee ganache to the middle of each cookie.

step nineteen: add chopped walnuts on top of the ganache on each cookie before the ganache sets.

step twenty: let the cookies rest for a while at room temperature so that the ganache can set and firm up.

step twenty-one: let’s eat!

tips and notes

• keep an eye on the butter when browning it – butter can quickly go from nutty and toasted to burnt. once the butter starts to smell caramel-like and toasty, and you can see it start to turn a dark golden brown colour, remove the pan from the heat. using a light-coloured pan or pot to brown the butter will help you see the change in colour better so i’d recommend doing that.

• once you transfer the browned butter to another bowl, make sure to scrape all of the brown bits at the bottom of the pan into the bowl, as this is where all the flavour is!

• after pouring the brown butter in a bowl and mixing the instant coffee powder into it, chill the butter mixture until it firms up and looks almost like softened butter – this will take around 30 minutes to an hour. you’ll want to check on it every twenty minutes and just give it a stir in order to distribute the toasted brown butter bits evenly throughout the butter.

• if the brown butter hardens too much in the fridge, just let it sit at room temperature for a while until it softens up a little. or, you can always put it in the microwave for about ten seconds, just so that it can soften slightly so that it’s easier to mix. make sure you don’t melt the butter completely or put it in the microwave for too long.

• beat or mix the softened browned butter on its own for a while, just until it’s soft and creamy. this will just make it easier to work with once you add the sugars.

• if using salted butter instead of unsalted, leave out the extra salt stated in the recipe.

• i would recommend using room temperature eggs when making these coffee cookies. this will just make it easier to mix the ingredients and help the ingredients incorporate better.

• i like to use heavy cream in these coffee cookies as they help add a lovely richness and also help keep the cookies soft and chewy. they also help account for any butter that is lost in the browning process. i would recommend adding the cream, but if you don’t have it on hand, you can use milk in place of the cream.

• once you add the flour and dry ingredients to the coffee cookie mix, gently mix until just combined to avoid over mixing the dough.

• feel free to adjust the amount of instant coffee powder or instant espresso powder in this coffee cookies recipe depending on whether you like a stronger coffee flavour or not.

• to keep these coffee cookies easy to make, i would really recommend chilling the dough in the fridge for about 30 minute so that the dough can firm up and be easier to handle. placing the dough in the fridge will also enhance the flavours of the browned butter. the longer you chill the coffee cookie dough, the better the flavour!

• use a cookie scoop or weigh out the coffee cookie dough balls so that all of the cookies are equal and consistent in size. this coffee cookies recipe makes about 6 cookies, each weighing about 100g (about 3.5oz) each.

• if the dough becomes too soft to handle while you’re working with it, just place it in the fridge again for a few minutes to firm it up a little.

• adjust baking time as needed. every oven is different, so i recommend keeping an eye on your coffee cookies as they bake. i like to take them out of the oven when they’re slightly soft and underdone as they will continue to cook as they cool once they’re out of the oven. over baking might make your coffee cookies dry and cakey and we definitely don’t want that! i baked these for about 15 minutes, but keep in mind that baking times will depend on how big your cookies are, so be sure to adjust times according to that. bigger cookies will take more time to bake. smaller cookies will take less time to bake.

• once your coffee cookies are out of the oven, they will likely be too soft to pick up at first, and they might look underdone, but they will firm up as they cool.

• let them cool slightly once they’re out of the oven, just enough for them to firm up, then create the well in the middle of each cookie with a spoon. you want the cookies to still be slightly warm when you do this so that they’re easy to shape.

• once you’ve pressed the centres down, you want to make sure to let the cookies cool completely before adding the ganache.

• feel free to increase the amount of salt in the cookie dough if you find that it’s too sweet. don’t reduce the sugar as this will impact the texture of the cookie.

• use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. while i add both metric and cup measurements for this recipe, i always recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh out your ingredients for most accurate results.

• if you do decide to use cups, bear in mind that this recipe uses higher than typical flour measurements, as it takes into account the fact that most people tend to scoop their flour.

• when heating up the cream for the ganache, you want it to be just beginning to bubble before removing it from the heat and adding it to the ganache. make sure it’s not vigorously boiling.

• to make it easier to melt the chocolate in the cream for the ganache, it might be helpful to chop it finely before adding it to the cream.

• store any leftover coffee cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.

frequently asked questions

1. how do i brown the butter for this coffee cookies recipe ?

   – to brown the butter for these coffee cookies, start by adding butter to a pan. melt this over medium heat and stir constantly as the butter melts. the butter will melt and then begin to foam and sizzle. you’ll know the butter has browned when the foam starts to tone down a little and the butter looks golden brown underneath the foam. the butter will start to smell slightly nutty and toasty. once this happens, remove the pot from the heat and transfer the browned butter to your mixing bowl to stop the browning process.

2. do coffee cookies have caffeine in them ?

   – yes, since i make this coffee cookies recipe with instant coffee powder or espresso powder, the cookies do contain caffeine.

3. can i make these coffee cookies without browning the butter ?

   – i would really recommend browning the butter as it gives these coffee cookies a wonderful nutty note that really complements the coffee in these cookies. however, if you’d rather skip browning the butter, you can just use the same amount of room temperature, softened butter instead.

4. can i use salted butter in this coffee cookies recipe ?

   – yes, you can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter. if you do use salted butter for your coffee cookies instead of unsalted, just leave out the extra salt in the dry ingredients.

5. do i have to use vanilla extract in this coffee cookies recipe ?

   – the vanilla extract in this cookie recipe is optional. i like the subtle vanilla flavour it gives to the cookie dough and the ganache, but if you would prefer not to use it or don’t have it, that’s also completely fine.

6. why did my coffee cookies turn into a cake instead of soft and chewy?

   – the reason why your cookies turned cakey or crispy could be because of baking times. you should take your coffee cookies out of the oven when they’re slightly underdone as they will continue to cook and firm up on the tray as they cool. even if you follow the exact timings in the recipe, every oven will bake things differently so timings will vary depending on your oven. i highly recommend checking on your cookies every once in a while, especially towards the end of the recommended times to make sure they don’t over bake.

   – another reason could be that there was too much flour in your coffee cookie dough. to make these coffee cookies as accurately as possible, i would recommend weighing out the flour using a kitchen scale.

7. can i make coffee cookies without brown sugar ?

   – the brown sugar in the coffee cookie dough gives the cookies some extra flavour that works really well with the rest of the flavours in these cookies and also helps keep them extra soft and chewy. however, if you don’t have brown sugar, you can substitute it with the same amount of granulated sugar. keep in mind that using all granulated sugar to make this cookie might result in a cookie that is less chewy and maybe even a little crispier. it will also probably spread more, but other than that, it should work just fine. for best results, use a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar as stated. if you have molasses on hand, you could also add a small amount of that to granulated sugar to mimic the effect of brown sugar.

8. can i make these coffee cookies without heavy cream ?

   – the use of heavy cream in this coffee cookies recipe helps add a lovely chewiness and richness to the cookies, and helps account for any butter that is lost during the browning process. if you’re looking for a substitute for the heavy cream, you could also just use milk instead for a somewhat similar effect. for the ganache, heavy cream is essential.

9. do i have to use walnuts in this coffee cookies recipe ?

   – no, you don’t. they are completely optional. i think they work really well with the coffee and browned butter, but you can leave them out if you like.

10. why did my coffee cookies spread so much ?

    – this is likely due to the dough being too warm. chilling the dough for the stated amount of time is really important, so make sure you don’t skip this step. if you find that the dough is sticky or too soft, you’ll need to chill it for longer before baking it.

11. can i make these coffee cookies without eggs ?

    – this recipe relies on eggs for structure and texture. for an eggless coffee cookie, you’ll need a different recipe with adjusted ratios.

12. can i make these into mini coffee cookies ?

    – yes, you can! just follow the recipe as stated, split the dough into smaller sized cookie dough balls and bake them. remember that smaller cookies will take a lot less time to bake, so you’ll want to reduce the baking time for mini cookies.

13. can i make these coffee cookies with brewed coffee ?

    – brewed coffee would add too much liquid to the dough and mess with the texture of it. this will affect the final texture and appearance of your coffee cookies, so i wouldn’t recommend using brewed coffee.

14. can i make coffee ground cookies instead of using instant coffee powder ?

    – adding regular ground coffee to these cookies would make the dough gritty. the instant coffee powder gives these cookies a concentrated coffee flavour while still keeping the dough smooth and not affecting its texture.

15. can i make these coffee cookies without instant coffee powder and use instant coffee granules instead ?

    – yes, you can. but i would recommend crushing them into a fine powder first for better distribution and texture.

16. my ganache is too runny/thick – what do i do ?

    – if your ganache is too runny, just let it cool for longer. it will thicken up as it cools. if the ganache is too thick, add warm cream to the ganache a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the consistency you want.

17. why did my coffee cookies not spread ?

    – one of the reasons why your cookies didn’t spread might be due to your oven temperatures being too low. make sure to preheat your oven 10-15 minutes before adding your cookies in so that the oven is hot enough.

    – it could also be that your cookie dough is too cold. if you find that your cookie isn’t spreading in the oven, let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before baking it.

18. do i have to chill the dough to make these coffee cookies ?

    – i would highly recommend chilling the coffee cookie dough before baking it. letting the dough chill in the fridge will help firm it up so that it’s easier to handle. it will also help enhance the flavours of the browned butter and reduce spreading in the oven.

19. can i make these coffee cookies ahead of time ?

    – the longer you chill the coffee cookie dough, the better, so you can definitely make these ahead of time. you can make the dough up to 24 hours in advance and keep it in the fridge before you’re ready to bake these cookies. you will also need to chill the browned butter before using it, and also let the cookies cool before adding the ganache, so you’ll want to make sure you have enough time to do all of this.

20. why did my white chocolate seize when making the ganache ?

    – this usually happens if water gets in the chocolate or if the cream is too hot. make sure any tools that you’re using are completely dry, and that you remove the cream from the heat once is starts to bubble.

21. can i make coffee cookie bars instead of coffee cookies ?

    – if you want to keep this coffee cookies recipe easy and quick to make, you can definitely bake just bake the cookies as cookie bars or as a coffee cookie pie instead of individual cookies. just make the cookie dough as stated in the recipe – you can skip chilling the dough. press the dough into a lined 8×8 inch baking dish, and bake until soft and golden. top with ganache and chopped walnuts when the cookie bars are completely cool. keep in mind that baking times might differ for the coffee cookie bars.

22. can i make these coffee cookies without baking soda ?

    – i would highly recommend using a mix of baking soda and baking powder as stated, as both of these have an impact on the texture and appearance of these cookies.

23. what other coffee cookie toppings would work instead of ganache ?

    – some other toppings that work well with these include:

    • a coffee cookie glaze made with icing sugar or powdered sugar and coffee

    • a coffee buttercream frosting

    • a tiramisu-inspired mascarpone topping

    • a caramel drizzle

    • a drizzle of milk/dark/white chocolate

24. how long do these coffee cookies stay fresh ?

    – when stored in an airtight container at room temperature, these coffee cookies should keep for about 5 days, but would be best eaten within 2-3 days.

25. how do i freeze these coffee cookies to make later ?

    – to freeze the coffee cookie dough for later, simply follow the recipe as stated, scoop the dough into equal-sized portions, place on a baking sheet in a single layer, and freeze the cookie dough balls until solid. you can then transfer the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag. you can then bake these cookies directly from frozen – you’ll just need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. make the ganache fresh once the cookies have cooled.

recipe