Espresso Double Chocolate Rye Cookies

These cookies are all my favourite things in one; brown butter, espresso and white chocolate. A very luxurious and adult cookie. They’re on the thinner side but stay beautifully gooey in the middle with a little crisp on the edges. I’ve added in some rye flour to add a bit of a mealy texture but if you can’t get hold of it, I’m sure they could be made with all plain flour. Either way, they’re a must bake for fellow chocolate coffee obsessives like myself.

Ingredients - makes 12 cookies
170g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
140g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
30g cocoa powder
100g plain flour
100g rye flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp instant espresso powder
150g good-quality white chocolate, chopped into large chunks (plus 50g for topping)

Method
To start, we need to brown half of the butter. I like to do this the night before so it can set up at room temperature. You can pop it into the fridge if you want to speed it up but make sure it doesn’t get too hard.
Place 85g of butter into a saucepan. Melt over medium heat until it starts to bubble. Continue to cook, whisking occasionally, until a foam starts to form and the butter smells nutty and brown. Pour the brown butter into a container and leave until completely cool and set.

To make the cookies; line a baking tray with parchment. Combine the cocoa powder, plain flour, rye flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and espresso powder. In a large mixing bowl, place the set brown butter and the remaining 85g of softened butter. Add in the caster sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla. Cream them together until pale and fluffy. Mix in the egg and egg yolk before adding in the dry ingredients. Just before the dry ingredients are fully mixed in, add in the white chocolate chunks and mix until fully combined. Using a cookie scoop, or a scale, portion the dough into 12 cookies. They should each weigh roughly 65g. Arrange them onto your prepared baking tray and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 160°C. Place your cookies on baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving a good few cm between each to allow for spreading. Bake for approx. 14 minutes, rotating the trays after 10 minutes to make sure they bake evenly. While the cookies are still warm, place a few chunks of white chocolate on top and a sprinkle of sea salt.