These chocolate drop cookies aren’t overly chocolaty, but they are just right to me. I grew up eating these cookies, and sometimes my mom would even sneak in a few chocolate chips for an extra hit of chocolate. These cookies are on the cake-y side, much like a whoopie pie, which makes sense if you look at the ingredients list. Growing up, we ate them plain, and we ate them frosted. The coffee frosting is really quite special and changes the cookie completely: this frosting transforms these seemingly simple chocolate cookies into something a little more decadent and fancy.
Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Prepare 2 baking sheets, lining them with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate with the butter on medium in the microwave, stirring every minute or so until they are melted.
Transfer these to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and add the brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then add the egg, and beat it in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt.
Add half the flour mixture, and stir it in on low speed, scraping down the bowl as needed, then add the milk and vanilla, and stir it in, and finish the dough by stirring in the last of the flour mix. Let stand for 10 minutes to set (especially important if the butter/chocolate mix was very warm).
Scoop the cookies onto the parchment-lined sheets, spacing them about an inch apart.
Bake the cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes. They will be puffy like whoopie pies.
Let cool a couple minutes in the pan on a rack before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Repeat the scooping and baking with the remaining dough.
Coffee frosting
When all the cookies are baked and cooled, make the frosting. Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a medium bowl, then stir in the butter, working it in if you can. The mixture will be crumbly and dry.
Add in the vanilla and hot coffee and whisk them in. The frosting should have the consistency of a glaze.
Top each cookie with a generous dollop of frosting, spreading it with a small offset spatula. Let the frosting harden before storing.
Notes
For the dark chocolate, I like to bake with Cacao Barry chocolate
For the cocoa powder, I like to use the Extra Brute cocoa from Cacao Barry available on Amazon.