To say I love coffee is an understatement. Every morning, I wake up and the first thing on my mind is, “ugh, gotta go to work, but I get COFFEE.” So sad, isn’t it? Coffee makes it so much easier to get through a workday. Some days, I wish I could have an IV hooked up to me that gave me shots of coffee every 3 hours. I used to not be so bad with coffee – like those caffeine headaches, I thought those were for people who were highly caffeinated every day, like 4-5 cups of coffee a day kind of people, but no, they’re for anyone drinking coffee regularly and I slowly started to realize that I do get those headaches too! I have a threshold of 2-3 hours. If I don’t have coffee within the first 2-3 hours of waking up, I’m so done for for the rest of the day. I’m like useless. I just lay lifelessly in bed and pray my pounding headache goes away. I love coffee so much though that there is no way I could give it up!
I’ve always been OBSESSED with the smell of coffee. When I was in high school, I wanted to work at a bookstore because there was a coffee shop in there. I really wanted to work at Starbucks but I knew I couldn’t handle all those strange coffee orders that some people had. Alas, none of those happened and I ended up working at a BBQ restaurant, haha.
Not only do I love the smell, I obviously LOVE the FLAVOR. If there was anything mocha or coffee flavored, I’d immediately order it. Coffee ice cream is SO good.
The first time I ever had coffee in a cookie was when I made my Anderson Cooper Compost Cookies. I believe that is the cookie that changed my life. The coffee grounds MAKE the cookie. Which is why I came up with this cookie – the cafe mocha. If you love remotely anything about coffee, you will simply adore these cookies. They’re the perfect amount of coffee flavor and they smell so good. I think I ate more batter than I care to admit. It was really hard to resist. I’m a die-hard coffee lover and these cookies hit the spot.
Grab a glass of milk and you could potentially make these a cafe mocha latte cookies? :)
Cafe Mocha Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups bread flour, you may use AP flour instead if you don't have it on hand
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 heaping tbsp coffee grounds, fine or coarse
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large bowl, add flours, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and coffee grounds. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Then add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for 2 more minutes.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until all combined and well-incorporated.
- Using a spatula, fold in the mini chocolate chips.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. They will look super soft but they continue cooking after you remove them from the oven.
- Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before you move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
I always look forward to my morning cup of coffee and my afternoon and my evening… but I’d love it more if it was with one {or three} of these cookies! LOVE!
These are perfect! I’m a totally coffee addict, it’s one of the few foods I don’t think I could ever give up. These cookies look great with a big latte!
Okay, I fell in LOVE with your Anderson Cooper compost cookies, but I think I have a new love–these mocha cookies look to die for! So chewy and puffy and PERFECT. Love that hint of coffee to bring out that luscious chocolate flavor.
I love how thick these cookies are! And, obviously, the coffee. I wasn’t so into it until I got married, and there was coffee ready every morning. Now, I’m addicted too. Love the idea of these cookies!
Hi Julie! I’m obsessed with the smell of coffee. I love getting good coffee, but once I get good one, I’m searching to see if there is even better coffee. Completely addicted. I saw this on Pinterest and I needed to get the recipe. They look so good!
Oh yum your cookies sound delicious, I love anything mocha flavoured!
My boyfriend is an absolut coffee-addict, I think I might have to make these cookies for him ;) Great site by the way, I love it! Just discovered it, luckily :D
Take care!
That first swallow of coffee in the morning is bliss. A true “Ahhhhhh” moment. Other drinks, even hot drinks, just don’t do that for me. It is an addiction (the headaches are symptoms of withdrawal) but there are so many worse things to be addicted to. I’ll stick with my double espresso breakfast.Everything about these cookies is wonderful! I love the favors and the fluffy texture (cake-like?).
This is a wonderful recipe. I used hazlenut decaf coffee….absolutely everything about them was perfect.
These sound delicious! I love my coffee in the morning too… and I cannot resist a chocolate chip cookie. Have you tried instant coffee instead of coffee grounds?
No, I haven’t tried instant coffee but I imagine it’d come out just the same.
Do you think ground espresso would work in these?
Yup!
I made these cookies today and mine came out puffy. Is that because of the bread flour? How yours on the picture look a little more spread out and flatter while mine are puffy like biscuits. They came out cooked though after 13 mins in the oven. Please advise. I am wondering too if I should try it with just APF next time and see what it looks like.
Hmm, that’s odd, Teena! No, the bread flour should just give the cookie better texture. When you scooped the cookie onto the cookie sheet, maybe next time press it down with your fingers a bit to flatten it so it’ll bake flatter? That’s the only thing I can think of. Another is, maybe altitude? Not sure where you live, but altitude *could* affect the outcome of baked goods. I’m sorry yours didn’t turn out the way you hoped. I sure hope you give it another try!
Can you please explain your coffee grounds? Are you talking about unbrewed coffee or the grounds left after brewing? This is probably a dumb question, but to me, coffee grounds are what’s left after coffee is brewed. Would not want to use the wrong thing and mess these up…they sound delicious. Thank you.
Hi Linda! Yes, unbrewed coffee grounds. Sorry that wasn’t more clear! Hope you enjoy :)
Thanks Julie. I was certain that it was unbrewed coffee. It’s just that all my life I’ve only heard of “grounds” being related to after the brewing! So I was a bit hesitant to assume one way or the other. I make cookies at my church a lot and will definitely be trying these along with the “Compost Cookie”. I too love the salty-sweet combination. I also use graham cracker crumbs in most every cookie I bake, but never the graham cracker crust. Little differences can make a good cookie into an unforgettable cookie! One friend commented when eating one of my experimental cookies that “the only thing that could make these any better is to eat them two at a time”, which he did!! We all still laugh at that.
I hope you make and enjoy this! I hope your church friends will enjoy this too. I love salty-sweet so I’m positive you’ll love the compost cookies :) I will not turn down eating two cookies at a time ;) hehe
THanks for the recipe, Julie! Can’t wait to try it. Is there a gluten free option?
Hi, no there isn’t. If there was, I would’ve posted it!
Yum! I used butterscotch chips instead and they were delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Hi there, are these cookies, chewy? I dont want cakey soft cookies, more crisp outside with chewy centre. Thanks so much for your help and posting your recipe :)
They’re cakey soft :( sorry!
These cookies are the best……I followed the recipe exactly as written and the cookies are perfect……..I made them to take into work…..the only problem is I may have to make another batch because the first is almost gone…..
Hi, when you say coffee grounds is that the coffee left over after you make a pot or do you mean instant granular?
The instant granular
If I don’t have bread flour,you say I can use AP flour instead so the recipe should be 4 cups total of AP flour? Is that correct? How many cookies does this yield. I may have missed it in the article. Thanks.
Yes, 4 cups total of AP flour and it yields roughly 3 dozen cookies.
Ever tried making these with used coffee grounds?
No, I haven’t
Do you have to use a stand mixer or can you just use a regular hand mixer to mix the butter sugars and eggs, etc…?
You can use a regular hand mixer. From what I recall, the dough can be on the thicker side so if the hand mixer doesn’t work as well once the dough is combined, you can definitely mix by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula.