Almost every year at Christmas, I try to make some homemade treats to send to my friends and family who don’t live near me. This year, I decided to put together some little boxes with all kinds of cookies and sweets (including pecan-bacon brittle — recipe to come, soon.) My favorite cookie in the box was this java chip cookie.

I’d had the idea of a java chip cookie in my mind for a while. I wanted to incorporate espresso and cocoa nibs and chocolate. I used a base chocolate chip cookie recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook (a fabulous book, by the way. I recommend it to everyone!) My changes really took the cookie from a basic chocolate chip cookie to an entirely different and caffeinated cookie.

The cocoa nibs work so well in this recipe because they’re crunchy and a little bitter like a coffee bean.

Java Chip Cookies
Makes 3 Dozen Cookies

12 tbsp. butter
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup instant espresso powder
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup cocoa nibs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the butter, espresso powder, brown sugar, and corn syrup together until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, and then mix in the egg. Beat well.

Beat in the flour and cocoa powder. Then stir in the chocolate chips and cocoa nibs.

Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoons on to a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, just until lightly browned at the edges. The cookies will look slightly underdone in the middle, but will set up as they cool.

Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container once cooled.