Chewy Molasses Espresso Cookies with Chocolate Chips
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If you love coffee and also cookies, boy do I have a treat for you. Mix molasses, espresso, brown butter, and the crispy chewy texture fresh milled flour gives to cookies and I concocted a match made in heaven! One bite gives you all the flavors you’re looking for; the earthy espresso, bittersweet molasses, nutty flavor from the browned butter, all wrapped up into a freshly baked cookie.
Fresh milled flour adds something to homemade cookies you won’t find with store bought flour. It give them a nice crispy texture but also leaves them chewy and there’s an extra depth of flavor that will leave people asking what you added to it that they just can’t place their finger on, but love it. Make these and give them to everyone you know that enjoys coffee. You can optionally add in your favorite chocolate chips, dark chocolate is my favorite, and make this a mocha style espresso, which is what I did, because your girl loves chocolate. This has become the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe for me! This small batch of cookies gives off a delicious nutty aroma when backing and leaves your house smelling inviting and delicious. You gotta try them!
Why Use Soft White Wheat Berries?
Soft white wheat berries milled into flour are great for baking things like pies, cakes, and cookies. The lower protein and gluten content of soft wheat is great for making tender baked goods that don’t require the protein and gluten to rise, like bread. Really, anything you leaven with baking powder or baking soda work perfectly with soft white wheat. White wheat also lends to a more neutral flavor unlike the more strong and bitter flavor of red. If you’re not used to the flavor of fresh milled flour, the white varieties, by far, will be easier to ease yourself into as they’re more neutral like store bought processed flour.
By milling your own flour, you are retaining tons more nutrition and goodies than you would get from store bought processed flour. Milling the wheat berries just prior to using them leaves the endosperm, bran, and germ intact. Fresh milled soft white wheat is found to be a great source of copper, phosphorus, zinc, iron, thiamine, and fiber since all the parts of the grain remain. No need to enrich this flour!
Equipment You Will Need:
- Stand Mixer with a paddle attachment
- Grain mill
- Spatula
- Cookie Scoop
- Cookie Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients:
- Fresh Milled Soft White Wheat
- baking Soda
- Cornstarch
- Espresso Powder
- Salt
- Browned Butter
- Unrefined, raw sugar
- Molasses
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Dark Chocolate or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, optional
Let’s Bake Some Cookies!
Step 1: Mill the Wheat Berries
Measure out 300 grams of soft white wheat berries with a kitchen scale and run them through your grain mill on a semi-fine setting. On my WonderMill, I place the dial halfway between “pastry” and “bread” and that’s the perfect texture for my preference. Set in the fridge to chill.
Step 2: Brown the Butter
To a small sauce pan, add the butter, and over medium heat melt and brown the butter. Allow it to simmer until it stops making crackles and pop, stirring frequently to watch the color and to not let the solids settle to the bottom and burn. Once butter is browned, allow to cool about 1 hour to bring back to room temperature, or place in the fridge until it just begins to solidify (or on the porch is it’s cold outside like it is here right now!)
Step 3: Mix Dry Ingredients
To the fresh milled soft white wheat flour, measure and add in:
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsps cornstarch
- 4 tsps espresso powder
- salt
Whisk to combine.
Step 4: Mix Wet Ingredients
To the bowl of a stand mixer, add:
- 3/4 cup of the cooled, brown butter
- 1 1/3 cup raw, unrefined sugar
- 3 Tbs molasses
Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter and sugar together until fluffy, pausing to scrape down the bowl a couple times. Let it mix for about 3-5 minutes, making sure molasses is completely incorporated.
Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between additions.
Add in 2 tsps vanilla extract. I always measure my vanilla with my heart. not a measuring spoon. It’s okay to eyeball your ingredients!
Give the butter mixture one last good mix, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl good, and mix again.
Step 5: Add Flour Mixture to the Butter
Add the flour mixture in thirds to the butter mixture, mixing thoroughly each time on medium speed. Mix the final third just until you stop seeing streaks of flour.
Add in the chocolate chips and fold in with a sturdy spatula by hand if you’re adding them. This is a pretty stiff ball of dough, so bring your muscles.
Step 6: Chill Time
Place the mixing bowl of cookie dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. This allows the fresh milled flour to rehydrate and the cookies to shape more easily for baking so they’re round and pretty. As the queen of making terribly misshapen cookies, this trick has really helped me out. Round cookies are quite a bit more attractive than a rhombus that fell down the stairs and then was subsequently hit by a train.
Step 7: Bake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Using a 2 Tbs cookie scoop, scoop cookies, shape dough into round balls, and arrange the cookie dough balls onto the parchment lined cookie sheet, spaced equal distance apart. I generously space my cookies out on the pan. If you would prefer to make smaller cookies, use a smaller scoop, and adjust your bake time accordingly.
Place cookies sheet on an oven rack in the center of the oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, watching for them to get just lightly golden brown for best results. Remember, when baking with fresh milled flour, it doesn’t brown as dark as store bought flour, so keep an eye on it. 10 minutes in my oven yields a softer cookie, the edges of cookies will be set up and the centers will be soft. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely on the baking pan.
Baking for 12 minutes gives a crisp and chewy cookie, and the whole cookies appears golden brown and set up. Remove from the oven, allow to cool a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (or sneak one while it’s still warm). Bake time will vary oven to oven, so keep an eye on them!
Once cooled, transfer cookies to an airtight container to store and eat within 3-4 days.
Notes:
If you do not mill your own flour, substitute and equal amount of all-purpose flour for the fresh milled soft white wheat.
If you don’t have molasses, substitute the raw, unrefined sugar and the molasses in this recipe with dark brown sugar or even regular brown sugar, but it won’t be as molasses-y.
You can make the dough, portion into dough balls, and then flash freeze and store for baking later. Once frozen, vacuum seal or place in a freezer bag, and store in the freezer for about 6 months. I set the dough balls out on a baking sheet and thaw them for about 1 hour prior to baking and the bake up perfectly! having frozen cookie dough on hand is perfect for quick desserts for unexpected guests. Who doesn’t love cookies on a whim!?
These espresso chocolate cookies are the perfect cookie for any occasion and an unexpected addition to cookies for the holiday season. These will absolutely be joining my Christmas Cookie round-up next year. I like to do unique and unexpected cookies as to not have the same ol’, same ol’ cut outs and jam thumbprint cookies that are so popular. I gotta be different!
Chewy Molasses Espresso Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 300 grams fresh milled soft white wheat
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 4 tsps espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup butter browned
- 1 1/2 cups raw, unrefined sugar
- 3 tbsp molasses
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Measure out 300 grams of soft white wheat berries with a kitchen scale and run them through your grain mill on a semi-fine setting. On my WonderMill, I place the dial halfway between "pastry" and "bread" and that's the perfect texture for my preference. Set in the fridge to chill.
- To a small sauce pan, add the butter, and over medium heat melt and brown the butter. Allow it to simmer until it stops making crackles and pop, stirring frequently to watch the color and to not let the solids settle to the bottom and burn. Once butter is browned, allow to cool about 1 hour to bring back to room temperature, or place in the fridge until it just begins to solidify.
- To the fresh milled soft white wheat flour, measure and add in baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and espresso powder. Whisk to combine.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add cooled browned butter, sugar, and molasses. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter and sugar together until fluffy, pausing to scrape down the bowl a couple times. Let it mix for about 3-5 minutes, making sure molasses is completely incorporated.
- Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between additions. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
- Add the flour mixture in thirds to the butter mixture, mixing thoroughly each time on medium speed. Mix the final third just until you stop seeing streaks of flour.
- Add in the chocolate chips and fold in with a sturdy spatula by hand if you're adding them. This is a pretty stiff ball of dough, so bring your muscles.
- Place the mixing bowl of cookie dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a 2 Tbs cookie scoop, scoop cookies, shape dough into round balls, and arrange the cookie dough balls onto the parchment lined cookie sheet, spaced equal distance apart.
- Place cookies sheet on an oven rack in the center of the oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. 10 minutes for soft cookies and 12 for crisp and chewy.
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, transfer cookies to an airtight container to store and eat within 3-4 days.
does this have a lot of caffeine? wondering as far as sharing with my young grandkids.
enough that I don’t share with my kids :) they don’t need any help being spaz!