Chocolate Espresso White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The recipe for these chocolate espresso white chocolate chunk cookies calls for just 1/4 C plus 1 T of flour... for 24 three inch cookies. How do you get 24 three inch cookies with 1/4 C of flour? My mission (someone has to make the sacrifice) was to find out.

Assembling this dough was pretty easy, but forming the cookies made me pretty nervous because the dough does not really behave "dough-like." It's super sticky and melty, even after a long rest in the refrigerator. It was really difficult to divide and form into balls, but in the end, it was worth getting my hands covered in chocolate.

The texture of these cookies is more like an airy chocolate truffle flavored with espresso and studded with white chocolate chunks. Think bittersweet chocolate, espresso, and white chocolate chunks in a cookie that is both rich and light.

Why am I making these cookies? Why are these chocolate cookies filled with espresso? Because it's time for the Creative Cookie Exchange!

The theme this month is Wake from Winter with Coffee and Tea--

Check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Vanilla Rooibos Tea Cookies from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Matcha Green Tea Cream Filled Sugar Cookies from NinjaBaking.com
• Mocha Viennese Swirl Cookies from Baking Yummies
• Café au Lait Bars from The Spiced Life
• Piped Coffee Butter Cookies from Made with Love
• Chai Chocolate Chip Cookies from Noshing with the Nolands
• Coffee Crisps from Magnolia Days
• Matcha White Chocolate Cookies from It’s Yummi!
• Jasmine Lychee Green Tea Shortbread from Food Lust People Love
• Mocha Meringue Cookies from Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt
• Earl Grey French Macarons with Honey Rose Water Buttercream from Sweet Cinnamon and Honey

Chocolate Espresso White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 C unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/4 C plus one tablespoon of unbleached all purpose flour

2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 C sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 heaping T of instant espresso dissolved in one T of hot water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

8 ounces of white chocolate chunks or white chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Over a double boiler, melt the bittersweet chocolate and the butter until just melted. Set aside. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk the flour and cocoa powder together. 
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, mix the sugar, salt, eggs, espresso, and vanilla for about 3 minutes on high, until light and thickened. 
4. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until blended. Add the flour and cocoa mixture and mix until blended. Stir in the white chocolate chunks. 
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least 90 minutes. 
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with good parchment paper. 
7. Divide the dough into 24 equal parts and, with oiled hands, roll the dough into balls (next time I make these, I might try using an oiled 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop instead of my hands). 
8. Place the dough balls 3 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. I baked six cookies per sheet, four cookie sheets total (you can re-use cooled baking sheets). 
9. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time in the middle of your oven for 9 to 12 minutes, until barely firm in the middle. 
10. Move the baking sheet to a wire rack and let cool for 3 minutes. Drag the cookies, parchment and all, onto the wire rack, and allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the parchment. 
11. Peel the parchment off of the cookies and store in an airtight container for up to four days. 
12. These cookies are best when fresh.  

This recipe has been adapted from The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett. So far, every recipe that I have tried from this book has been excellent. I've always had a love/hate relationship with cookie recipes, but this book has been completely reliable. I highly recommend it.