White Chocolate Sea Salt Chocolate Espresso Cookies

I came up with this recipe when I had some leftover sugar cookie dough and wanted to try different ways to deck it out. Throw in some cocoa powder of course. How about espresso for a flavor punch and caffeine kick? Why not. Sea salt with chocolate? Always.

The first time I made them, I didn’t mix in the dark chocolate. They were alright, but cocoa powder on its own adds a little dryness to the final product. Putting actual chocolate inside fixes that right up.

There was one final thing missing though. Not enough contrast for visual appeal. And that’s where the white chocolate came to the rescue. With those little white bits added, the finished product looks irresistible… and when you take a bite, they most certainly do not underdeliver on the promise they made to your eyes.

Ready to get baking? Let’s go…

Walkthrough

Start by adding all the wet ingredients (butter, vanilla, and apple sauce) to a bowl and mix together with an electric mixer.

For best results you want everything to be at room temperature. If you just pulled your applesauce out of the fridge, hit it with some microwaves for 5-10 seconds, until it’s 75-80°F. If you overshoot that temp, just add a little more cold applesauce to bring it down into range.

If you don’t pay attention to any of this, your cookies will probably still turn out alright, but don’t blast me in the comments if they don’t… that’s on you.

Once you’ve mixed those wet ingredients together, add the FitHackr Cookie Protein to the bowl and mix until smooth and creamy.

Add the FitHackr Cookie Flour and cocoa powder, then mix with a spoon until combined.

Next, set aside some of the white chocolate for topping, then add all the dark chocolate and remaining chocolate to the bow, and mix them into the dough.

Toss it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for best results. This allows for the dough to come together and for the flour to fully hydrate.

You can also go ahead and preheat the oven to 350°F

Once your dough has chilled, place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, spray it with some oil, and scoop ~2 Tablespoon balls of dough. Place pieces of white chocolate on each cookie.

Throw them in the oven for 5-7 minutes…

You’ll notice when you pull them out of the oven at this point, that they have spread a lot. And not in the most predicable ways. So this is our chance to fix ’em up.

Removing them from the oven also allows them to collapse, as a cookie should. These cookies, being low in fat yet high in moisture, can have a tendency to puff up. If they puff up too much and set, they will be more like a cake cookie than a cookie cookie.

We’re looking for them to be baked just enough on the outside so we can shape them without destroying them. Use a spoon, canning jar lid, circular cup, or (my favorite) biscuit cutter to pull in the edges, creating nicely rounded, blunt edged, cookies.

If you try to shape them and wet dough keep pulling away from the edges, they aren’t ready yet. Don’t worry though, you haven’t caused any harm. Throw them back in the oven for 2 minutes and try again.

Once you’ve successfully whipped them into shape, hit them with some flaked sea salt, then give them a final bake for another 5-7 minutes.

In all the cookies I’ve baked, even using an oven thermometer, there is always a slight variance in baking times. Luckily though, it’s hard to really mess up unless you over bake them.

You’ll know they’re ready to come out when you can smell their aroma coming from the oven and the centers are no longer looking wet.

Once you pull them out, give them another shaping (it will be easier this time), and throw a little more sea salt on top (if that’s your thing).

Leave them on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes. Then lift one off and assess doneness. If it’s not to your liking, throw them back in for ~2 more minutes, then repeat the cooling and checking process. If they look good, transfer to a wire cooling rack.

You can dig in now, or if you like them a little more dense, let them cool completely. The more they cool, the denser they will be. If you like them extra dense and chewy, chill them in the fridge.

And that’s it. If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment or a rating. If you have any suggestions or variations, I’d love to hear about it.