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| Triple Chocolate Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies |
| Whole wheat pastry flour is ground from a softer, starchier wheat berry which turns out a talcum soft, fine, off – white flour. It has less gluten than flour ground from hard wheat berries and is good for recipes where you want a tender crumb. Because it is a whole wheat flour, all of the wheat berry is used: the germ, the bran, and the endosperm. It is a whole food and all the good, nutritious parts are part of the final flour.
For the best cookies, all of your ingredients should be at room temperature before you begin. Ingredients 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 2 tablespoons finely ground espresso powder [I like Madaglia D’Oro] 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon baking powder scant 3/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably not dutched 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 2 whole large eggs, at room temperature 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 3/4 cup double chocolate chocolate chips [I like Ghirardelli] generous 12 ounces chocolate covered espresso beans Method Preheat oven to 375° In a medium bowl whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In a big bowl beat the butter until it is fluffy and lightens a bit in color. Beat in the sugar – it should have a thick frosting-like consistency. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the first egg gets fully incorporated before adding the next. You will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice as well. Add the vanilla and mix until it is incorporated. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix in thirds, do not overmix. Stir a bit between each addition until the flour is just incorporated. The dough should be moist and brown and uniform in color. Stir in the espresso beans and chocolate chips by hand and mix only until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. I like to make these cookies medium in size [they are very rich] - and use roughly one heaping tablespoon of dough for each one. I leave the dough balls rough and raggedy looking, they look more rustic this way, the way I think a triple chocolate chocolate covered espresso bean cookie should look. Bake 10 minutes on the middle rack. Do not overbake. If anything, under bake them just a bit. Remove to a rack to cool. Baker's Tip: If you don't want to bake all the cookies at one once you can freeze some of the dough for quick cookies later. Instead of placing the cookies in the oven put the cookie dough balls into a freezer bags and freeze. You can bake the cookies straight from the freezer, but increase the baking time by 2 minutes to compensate for the frozen dough. |
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