Toffee Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Where do you find food inspiration? For me, I love perusing Pinterest and following foodie fanatics on Instagram. One of my favorite Igers/chefs, Lauren McDuffie of Harvest and Honey, is a huge inspiration to me. I’ve posted about her before once when I had dinner at her house, but her food photos just really tug a my inner hungry-person soul. It may sound silly, but they really just speak to me. One of those recipes, that I’ve seen photos of but have been meaning to try for quite a while now have been her “Toffee Coffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies”, adapted from the Sarah Kieffer’s chocolate chip cookies. Lauren added a few of her favorite ingredients, molasses and espresso, which in my opinion, completely change the cookie game. Guys- these are THE BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER MADE. Like, UNREAL good . I also thought they turned out suuuuuper pretty as far as cookies go! I didn’t take a pic of them next to anything for scale, but these are pretty large cookies, just a little smaller than the size of my hand with my fingers spread. YUMMMMM.

The below ingredients and directions are verbatim from Lauren’s website, Harvest and Honey. I did however have a little bit of trouble with my first batch, and changed some of the cooking directions on my second batch to get them just right (I’ll include those below the recipe so you can distinguish my tips from her original). I suggest trying Lauren’s directions for your first cookie sheet that goes in the oven (every oven is slightly different and I’m sure the baking sheet you use may play a role in the final result as well.) Baking is a science people so you may have to “play” a little with these. Admittedly, and as Lauren told me via text last night, these can be a bit “finnicky”. Here is a direct link to Lauren’s page, in case you want to check her out. This particular link ALSO contains vinegar roasted potatoes with a lemon garlic aoili.

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Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 lb. unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 large egg
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 2 Tbsp water
• Two, 4-oz semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped
• 3/4 cup chocolate toffee bits (such as Heath)
• Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the middle position. Cover two large baking sheets with aluminum foil, dull side facing up (this is one of the keys to establishing that crinkly, rippled edge effect that we’re going for … thanks for this killer tip, Sarah!) In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer), cream together the butter and sugars until very smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, molasses, espresso powder, and water and then mix until well-combined. Add the flour mix to the wet mix and beat to combine. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the chopped chocolate and toffee bits, mixing until evenly combined. Scoop mounds of dough, 1/3 cup each, onto the prepared baking sheets. I usually only do 3 or 4 cookies per sheet, as any more will cause them to run into one another during baking. Place the pans in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to baking (this will prevent over-spreading). After 10 minutes, bake the cookies, in batches if necessary, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, open the oven door and lift one corner of the pan(s) about 4 inches in the air and then let it drop down onto the baking rack again. This drop will deflate the cookies and help to create those gorgeous ripples. Do this every two minutes now until the cookies have baked for a total of 16 – 17 minutes. You’ll drop them about 3 – 4 times total. My Tips/Changes to the directions:

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1. Instead of a total cooking time of 16-17 minutes, I found that my cookies looked prettier and spread out to just the right shape at 14 minutes instead of 16-17.
2. Freeze dough longer than 10 minutes. I just left the dough in freezer for the 14 minutes and changed out the freezer trays with each cookie sheet.
3. 4 cookies to a sheet, tops. 3 if you’re having issues with placement. Since these spread out so much during baking, you want to give them enough room on the cookie sheet.
4. I’m not recommending this, but I started the cookie batter without realizing I didn’t have any eggs in the house- as an egg substitute I mixed 1 TBSP of ground flax seed with two TBSPs of water and let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.

You may notice that these have white chocolate chunks in them. I photographed the second batch I made, at which point I had run out of regular chocolate and the only thing I had left was a white chocolate bar, so I just went with it! I PROMISE you guys will love these SO stinking much. I made these Saturday at took them to an event at Sephora and they were such a hit! I would love to hear what you think if you make them at home, too!