Café Con Leche Chocolate Chunk Cookies taste like a luscious coffee with creamy milk, and a chocolate chunk cookie — all mixed into one divine dessert. These are delightful after dinner, for a fantastic afternoon snack, or an amazing breakfast treat. 
Inspiration
My love affair with coffee began in my early twenties when I was living in Madrid, Spain.
Before Spain I hadn’t really been interested in coffee — within a week of living there, I had at least one café con leche a day. (Here’s how to make the prized coffee.)
What is Café Con Leche?
Translated from Spanish to English, café con leche is coffee with milk. This is a strong coffee drink with scalded milk in approximately a 1 to 1 ratio. Sugar or sweetener is added according to taste. (And let me tell you, I added a lot of sugar! It was like a dessert.)
This hot, freshly brewed drink is smooth and wonderfully creamy. It’s quite rich, and the flavor is strong. In Spain, this delicious coffee drink is typically served in a small mug, much like you’d expect an espresso to come in. Oh what I’d give for one right now. In Spain. Madrid, specifically.
People have café con leche all day long in Spain — though most commonly in the afternoon, between siesta and dinner.
More than anything, having a coffee, is a way to be social — an excuse to get together with friends, or a lovely activity to do if you’re getting together anyway. In Spain, and everywhere!
What do they taste like?
They taste like heaven!
My Café Con Leche Chocolate Chunk Cookies are essentially this favorite coffee drink of mine, with the addition of chocolate — all blended into a few delectable bites!
Like my year in Madrid! Try adding this cookie to your coffee ritual this weekend! Coffee desserts are the best!
Enjoy every last crumb of these Café Con Leche Chocolate Chunk Cookies!
And if this sounds good to you, I made a similar cookie that you might love to try also — Crispy Mocha Cookies.
Café Con Leche Chocolate Chunk Cookies taste like a luscious coffee with creamy milk, and a chocolate chunk cookie -- all mixed into one divine dessert. These are delightful after dinner, for a fantastic afternoon snack, or an amazing breakfast treat.
*Please note that the dough should be made the night before you plan to bake the cookies.
*Makes about 4 dozen
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons finely ground coffee beans (I like French or Italian Roast)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups milk chocolate bars, roughly chopped
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
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Add the cream and coffee grounds to a small saucepan and place it over low heat. Cook just until it starts to bubble along the edges, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and let it sit until it's room temperature. (You can pour it into a glass bowl to speed up the cooling process.) It's important to let it cool so it doesn't melt the butter when you make the batter, and so the coffee flavor infuses into the cream.
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In a large mixing bowl, blend the sugars with the butter, vanilla and salt, until smooth. Then stir in the cooled coffee mixture, followed by the egg. Mix until the egg is fully incorporated. Slowly stir in the flour with the baking soda and stop mixing as soon as it's blended. Do not over mix! Then fold in the chocolate chunks.
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Use a 1½-inch cookie scoop, a teaspoon, or your hands to shape balls of dough, placing them on the parchment-lined baking sheet as you go. They can be almost touching and you will fill the sheet completely. Cover the sheet tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
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When you're ready to bake the next day, preheat the oven to 350 F, and line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Place about 15 balls of dough on the sheet and bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes. They should still look slightly doughy when they're removed from the oven, and that's perfect! Place them on a cooling rack after a minute or so. Then let them sit for about 10 minutes before eating.
I love how these cookies bake the day after being refrigerated -- but if you're pressed for time, I promise you, they'll still be delicious if you bake the batter straight away.
Please do not use instant coffee! The final flavor and texture of the cookies won't be the same if you do!
These cookies top off any meal off perfectly, and would be a lovely addition to a dessert party!
Oh, and in case you hadn't sorted it out, Café con Leche translates to coffee with milk!
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Sippitysup says
You could convert me from tea to coffee with these… GREG
valentina says
oooh, I love it!
Lana says
I started drinking strong Turkish coffee when I was 16, but when we were kids, we enjoyed cafe latte (or cafe con leche:) for breakfast on many mornings – nothing better on a cold, November morning, than having a scalding coffee-milk beverage just before going off to school.
My kids like it, too, and one of the favorite combinations of flavors for the whole family is coffee and chocolate.
Thanks for the recipe – I’ll have to try it when I get back to the US.
And thank you for your wonderful comment on my blog! I really appreciate it. I am so glad we met and I only hope that we’ll see more of each other, as we are practically neighbors!
valentina says
Aww, thanks so much, Lana. I’m so happy we met, too. Lucky daughters to have such a wonderful cook for a mom. 🙂 xo
amee says
i spy breakfast. i am trying to drink less to zero coffee, so hiding it in a cookie is the perfect solution. i like your stack photo and thanks for the tip on not using instant coffee.
valentina says
Thank you Amee. Ahh yes, hide the coffee in a cookie if you must. 😉
dlm. says
My DDs and I love all things coffee…when you add chocolate, life just couldn’t get any better.
Your photographs are a delight to the senses. I can just taste and smell the coffee/chocolate goodness in every bite. ( S )
valentina says
Thanks so much! Much appreciated compliment about the photos, and enjoy the cookies!
Christy says
I cannot wait to try this recipe! Question: Can I use Espresso Ground Coffee like Pilon, or is it important to have freshly ground beans in the Italian or French Roast like you suggested?
valentina says
Hi Christy! Yes, the espresso would be great too. Enjoy! 🙂
Christy says
Thank you!! I’ll report back. 😉
Christy says
They are YUM! Thanks for sharing the recipe!!
valentina says
Awesome, Christy! So happy you liked them. Thanks for sharing in my love of food! 🙂
Rebecca says
These look so tasty!
valentina says
Thank you!
Hanady | Recipe Nomad says
Wow these look delicious! Seriously who doesn’t love coffee and chocolate together?! Recipe saved!
valentina says
I know, right? 😉 Thanks!
Patty @ Spoonabilities says
Such a wonderful idea! Two favs of mine, cafe con leche and chocolate chip cookies! Ahhh love it!
valentina says
Yay! Enjoy and thank you. 🙂
Sara says
These look wonderful! I love coffee and cookies together!
valentina says
Many thanks!
danielle says
Ooooh these sound delicious! I love that the first ingredient is cream 🙂
valentina says
Oh, I love that too! Thanks!
M says
The cookie dough tasted AMAZING. However, the baked cookies were a flop. Still tasted decent but I had massive issues with the cookies baking. The butter completely separated out of the cookies and no coffee flavor was present even with a very strong coffee. I will try making these again because the dough was so good and I think it needs more playing with on my end. I could have had environmental issues while working with my dough, saving this recipe to try again! 🙂
valentina says
Hi there, and thanks for writing in. I’m happy you loved the dough — but, let’s see if we can figure out the baking so you love the cookies, too. 🙂
Did you remember to refrigerate them overnight (instruction no. 4)? I’m not sure why you saw a separation with the butter, but refrigerating them for enough time after they’re shaped is important because it will re-solidify the butter, and the wet part of the dough will absorb more of the dry ingredients during this time, before baking.
As for the coffee flavor. . . if you’d like it stronger, you can also add a tablespoon if instant espresso powder.
I hope this helps and thanks again for the feedback and for reading my site. 🙂 ~Valentina