Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 Packets of Starbucks Via Instant Coffee (Columbia or Italian roast) (1 packet equals 1 tablespoon)
1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag, 12 ounces, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 bag, 10 ounces, Hershey’s Sea Salt-Caramel Baking Chips
1/3 cup chopped Hazelnuts (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line the bottom of a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and instant coffee.
3. Using a large bowl beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Stir in vanilla until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.
4. Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Stir in chocolate and caramel chips. Stir in hazelnuts (optional). Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven and let cookies cool for 8-10 minutes before transferring them to a plate.
Notes: The cooking time for these cookies at 325 degrees F., because the instant espresso has a tendency to start burning at slightly higher temperatures. When removing the cookies from the oven they will look like they have not baked long enough, don’t worry, they will continue to bake during the 8-10 minute cooling period.
Update: 5/15/2025: I revised the recipe substituting butter for the Gold ‘n Soft margarine. Beloved Gold ‘n Soft has been around since 1966 and had many devoted fans. It has been discontinued from most grocery stores due to declining sales and consumer tastes. I also added an additional 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the recipe to keep the cookies from going so flat due to the butter change. Also changed to dark brown sugar. Most grocery stores now only carry light brown sugar (it’s a form of shinkflation). Light brown sugar is not good to use in cookies, it can cause your cookies to go full on rock hard after a few days. Switching to dark brown sugar adds moisture and a richer, caramel-like flavor, leading to a chewier and softer texture. So in the end, it’s a better cookie, the taste of butter rocks!
Update: It’s hard to find really good caramel baking chips or bits. Hershey’s has discontinued making their awesome sea salt and caramel baking chips. I do recommend the caramel bits from Nuts.com. Their bits have great flavor and texture for baking. A good substitute that you usually can find at the grocery store is butterscotch baking chips. Another version of the recipe is using all dark chocolate chips or 1 bag dark chocolate and 1 bag milk chocolate chips.