Soft and chewy French Roast Chocolate Toffee Cookies are flavored with ground coffee and filled with bits of toffee and dark chocolate chips.
I have never tasted coffee before. Shocker, I know. Especially for a ritual so mainstream in American society. But, for religious reasons I have just never had a single sip of this drink so many love.
As a kid, I hated even the smell of coffee. It was so intoxicating to me that I couldn’t even walk down the aisle of the grocery store where you could scoop out fresh coffee beans. The smell was literally suffocating.
My mom, on the other hand, loved the smell of coffee. And she too, has never drank a cup of coffee in her life. I can’t imagine loving the smell of something so much and yet having to restrict yourself from ever even trying it. Kudos to her.
Well let me tell you, times have changed…for me that is. My mom still loves the aroma of a good old Starbucks, but now I too have joined her in a love for the coffee scent. Although, I still don’t drink the “liquid gold” I can appreciate the aroma and flavor of the good old coffee bean.
That being said, I’m still not a fan of most coffee flavored treats like chocolates, jellybeans, or ice cream. I think the problem is that for someone who has not acquired this taste, the flavor seems so overwhelming. But in little doses, I have found that a hint of coffee flavor can be quite delicious.
When Ben and I were up in Utah for Christmas we celebrated our anniversary at a delicious restaurant called Café Madrid. They presented us with a complimentary tiramisu at the end of our evening. All I could think was, “How are we going to get rid of this dessert without being rude???” I thought for sure it would be overly soaked in coffee. But after one brave bite, I was pleasantly surprised with the subtle flavors and the delicacy of the dessert. I was hooked.
Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to come up with a few desserts of my own that use coffee flavor sparingly. And what’s the easiest item to start with???
Cookies!
French Roast Chocolate Toffee Cookies.
These cookies are deep and rich in flavor and the toffee and coffee compliment each other perfectly. Of course they do because they rhyme. And that just means they are meant to be together.
But really, toffee has a slightly burnt caramely flavor and coffee produces an almost burnt like flavor as well. And these flavors coupled with the smoky taste of dark brown sugar are a match made in cookie heaven.
And let’s spend just a moment gawking over the chocolate chips in these cookies. I’m not sure if they are new, but they are definitely new to me, are these Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels. They are to die for. Large morsels of dark chocolate that just melt in your mouth; not waxy like a lot of chocolate chips can be. Seriously these chocolate chips are perfect. They measure right up there with Ghirardelli chocolate chips and that’s saying a whole lot!
But anyway, the dark chocolate chips give a nice sweetness to the cookie without overpowering it with chocolate flavor…which is never a bad thing I guess. But still, chocolate doesn’t always have to be the star of the show. What a diva. Chocolate should learn to share the spotlight every once in a while.
The edges of these cookies have a nice crisp while the centers are still soft. And if you want an extra little crunch, you can top these cookies off with some sliced almonds before baking. The almonds cook just long enough with the cookies that they become slightly roasted with an enhanced flavor. Yum yum!
Now if only eating a cookie or two could wake me up as much as drinking a cup of coffee, these would really be the world’s greatest cookie. But for now I’ll just have to settle with the fact that these are some dang good cookies that you may just have trouble keeping your hands off of.
Like Emry here. This kid loved these cookies and insisted on dipping them for my photos shoot. Which, by the way, can I just tell you how hilarious it was trying to make a cup of coffee for a girl that has never made coffee before?! I thought ground coffee meant I could just scoop it into water, microwave, and stir. But apparently you have to have coffee filters. Say what???
I did my method anyway by scooping and microwaving and then stirring it around a little to get a nice dark color so it looked like a real cup of coffee. Then I took my pictures, meanwhile shoo-ing Emry away from the “juice” she so badly wanted to drink. But I assure you, no toddlers were coffee buzzed during the shooting of these cookies. I promise.
At least not while I was watching…
Are you a coffee drinker?
- 1 stick butter (1/4 cup), room temperature
- 1 egg
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ cup potato starch
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ½ cup gluten free oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ to 1 tablespoon French roast ground coffee*
- ¼ cup toffee pieces (I like the Heath toffee bits)
- ¼ cup Nestle dark chocolate chips
- Slice almonds (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Begin making cookie dough in a large bowl or stand mixer by beating butter, egg, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla and mix on low until incorporated.
- In a smaller mixing bowl sift together coconut flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, oat flour, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, and coffee granules.
- Add dry sifted ingredients to egg mixture and mix on low until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in toffee bits and dark chocolate chips. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes to absorb moisture. Stir with a wooden spoon.
- Scoop walnut sized balls of dough onto cookie sheets 2" apart. Top with sliced almonds and additional chocolate chips if desired. Bake at 350 degrees, 1 pan at a time, for 8-10 minutes until cookies look like they are set on the edges and setting in the middle.**
- Allow cookies to cool on cookies sheets for 5 minutes before removing to continue cooling on cooling racks.
**Because these cookies are dark brown it is difficult to tell when they are browning. It took my cookies almost 10 minutes to cook to my desired texture which is crisp on the edges and slightly soft in the middles.
