I love the taste of chocolate mixed with coffee. In desserts. But not in beverages. That’s right, I don’t care for mocha in beverage form. But I cannot get enough of it in desserts.

Coffee in its various forms (actual coffee/espresso, Kahlua or espresso powder) is probably my favorite flavor to add to chocolate desserts (although peanut butter is hot on coffee’s tail). I’m heavy handed with coffee in any dessert that calls for it and quite frequently I throw a tablespoon of espresso powder into any recipe I make that contains chocolate. In my opinion, the addition of coffee amplifies the chocolate flavor.

So, a couple of weeks ago when we needed a super quick dessert made, this recipe for mocha nut balls was an easy choice. I’d eaten them before at someone else’s house so I knew they were delicious. The cookies themselves are a dark and caffeinated version of the ever popular Mexican wedding cookies. They’re extremely easy to make and as long as you like pecans, coffee and chocolate, you’ll love them. I made the mistake of sharing a few with coworkers and they’ve been asking for more ever since.

The recipe I used is from the Taste of Home website and I think it was originally featured in their print magazine. The only alteration I made was my substitution of 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder for the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules called for in the recipe. My reason? I prefer espresso over regular coffee.

Mocha Nut Balls

Recipe from Taste of Home

Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (I used espresso powder.)
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
• Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa and coffee granules.
4. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
5. Stir in pecans.
6. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Cool on pans for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks.
8. Roll warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar.

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That’s what the boyfriend said about these dark chocolate oatmeal cookies. He had put some in a container to take to work the next day and decided that he wanted his cookies to be soft…so he added some chunks of bread to the container. The chicken part occurred because the chunks of bread he used were pulled directly off of the chicken sandwich he’d also packed for his lunch. The next day we were discussing the cookies and how good they were. I thought they were crisp yet chewy and he described his particular cookies as “soft with a hint of chicken”. I did warn him that this phrase was being written down and would be blog fodder.

These cookies were the results of my efforts to find a cookie to make one night that didn’t require me to chill the dough for an hour…I also wanted to bake a new-to-me cookie. I flipped through numerous cookbooks and everything that appealed to me on that particular night required refrigeration and rolling of the dough. I went to the internet and looked at various sites for a while before I found this gem of a recipe at Epicurious. At that point, I was so tired of looking for a new cookie recipe that I was on the verge of giving up. I think I honestly just entered “cookie” into the Epicurious search bar. Thankfully the recipe for these cookies was only a few pages into the search results.

These may be my favorite of the new-to-me cookies I’ve baked this year. I added espresso powder to the dough and it really bumped up the flavor of the chocolate. As I previously stated, these were crisp yet chewy and in my baking experience that’s a difficult cookie combination to achieve. If you’re looking for a soft cookie, add some bread to the container…just make sure your bread isn’t chicken flavored. Unless you like chicken flavored cookies…

Also, the raw cookie dough was out of this world. We probably ate a quarter of the dough unbaked. Because these cookies contain no eggs, it was decided that all the raw dough wouldn’t hurt us. It was also decided that the dough would make a great filling layer in a really rich chocolate cake.

The original recipe was in Bon Appetit magazine in May 2004.

Here’s my slight adaptation of the recipe, currently found on Epicurious. The recipe printed below only makes a dozen or so cookies. I doubled the recipe as twelve cookies could never be enough.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease large cookie sheet. Whisk first flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder together in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture and beat until moist clumps form. Mix in oats with spatula until evenly distributed (dough will be very firm). Add chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and knead gently to blend.

Using moistened palms (or a cookie scoop like I used), shape 1 generous tablespoon dough into ball. Place on prepared sheet; flatten to 2-inch round. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing rounds about 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until center is slightly firm and top is cracked, about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet.

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