C³ Cookies (Chocolate Chocolate Coffee Cookies)

I first made these chocolatey treats over a year ago, and they have become a regular in my baking rotation now. They are a hit with chocolate lovers and coffee lovers, especially depending on how you modify the amount of coffee. I’m pretty sure these are Little Bayley’s all time favorite cookies, and they may be yours too once you try them!

Chocolate Chocolate Coffee Cookies (C³ Cookies)

Cooking Time: 12 Minutes
Servings: About 2 1/2 Dozen Small Cookies

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (use the good stuff!)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-3 tsp fine ground espresso (optional, but that makes them C² Cookies)
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, any combination of dark, milk, or semisweet

The Full Cast of Characters

Preheat the oven to 350. Line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or, if you don’t have parchment paper, spray your cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Quick aside about parchment paper – I LOVE this stuff. I always used to wonder how people made such nice-looking cookies, and it turns out that parchment paper is part of the secret! It helps keep your cookies from spreading super flat, allows you to easily remove the cookies from the sheet, and makes clean up a breeze. The experts recommend against re-using your parchment paper, but I often use each sheet at least twice. Just make sure that you place the second batch of cookies in different spots on the paper (avoid the grease spots left from the first batch). Also, whether you’re using parchment paper or not, never put your second or third or fourth batch of cookies onto a warm cookie sheet. That’s a great way to end up with the bottoms of the cookies burned.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and coffee. If you use 1 tsp of fine ground espresso, the flavor will be just barely noticeable but you could also omit it completely. If on the other hand you’re baking for a real coffee lover, feel free to use as much as you like! The brand I like to use is Café Bustelo, which is already finely ground and can be found for a really good price at most grocery stores in California. Instant espresso would work well too, just be careful about the strength of the flavor.

In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

Action Shot!

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.

Gradually add the flour mix. I recommend adding it in thirds; this prevents a lot of mess since I tend to be messy enough as is. Mix well – this batter will be a bit sticky.

Stir in the chocolate chips. For this particular batch, I used 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, but my classic version is all semisweet. You can use whatever chips you have on hand or prefer – you could even use white chocolate chips if you were feeling really crazy.

Place by rounded tablespoons on the cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches or so between cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies crack on top. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If your cookies ended up a bit puffy, you can press them down with a cookie spatula while they cool on the sheet.