Pumpkin spice latte cookies studded with white chocolate and toffee are the perfect fall treat. One bowl cookies with a kick of espresso and pumpkin pie spice!
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I can remember being wildly disappointed the first time I tried a PSL and there was no actual pumpkin in the coffee. What? It’s just some cinnamon and nutmeg in my coffee? For some reason I was super bummed there was no North American squash stirred into my latte.
I’ve since moved past it and can appreciate the coming of fall and the tradition of putting warming spices into my coffee (although-honestly, I’m still a peppermint mocha girl at heart).
These cookies have all the best parts of a pumpkin spice latte rolled into a delicious dough and studded with some white chocolate for creaminess and some toffee chips for depth of flavor.
Ingredients needed for Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies:
- Melted Butter-melted butter makes for a chewier cookie and makes the dough easier to stir
- Hot water-to dissolve our espresso powder
- Instant espresso powder-to give us latte flavor. You can use instant coffee powder instead, but you may need a little bit more to pack the same punch.
- Pumpkin pie spice-warming spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger
- Granulated sugar-you can sub in 1/2 cup brown sugar for even deeper molasses flavor
- Eggs-to bind our ingredients
- Baking Soda-for lift. We use baking soda because we have acid in our espresso powder
- Vanilla Extract
- All-purpose flour
- Toffee Bits-to add a bit of caramel flavor
- White chocolate chips-the creaminess in the white chocolate contrasts nicely with the slight bitterness of the coffee flavor
What is pumpkin spice anyway?
Pumpkin spice is actually pumpkin PIE spice. It’s a combination of spices sold together to mix into your pumpkin pie filling. I used one from Trader Joe’s and it contains cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.
What if I don’t have pumpkin pie spice?
You can instead use:
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon,
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg,
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
If you’re missing one of the others, you can just juggle the ratios until you have 1 teaspoon total of spice. Cinnamon is pretty much you non negotiable and bear in mind that a little bit of cloves and ginger go a long way. So don’t say, sub 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger for the cinnamon because you’re out of cinnamon. If you’re out of cinnamon, make a different kind of cookie.
What is espresso powder?
Espresso powder is concentrated dehydrated coffee. It is ground super fine. Typically espresso powder is only used to add punch to baked goods-it’s not usually great for drinking.
Espresso powder dissolves best in water (rather than fat, like butter) so we mix it with a little bit of hot water at the beginning to give it the best flavor.
You can usually find espresso powder in the coffee aisle of your local grocery store or you can get it on Amazon.
What if I don’t have any espresso powder?
You can use regular instant coffee instead of espresso powder. You may need to add a little bit more (another 1/2 tablespoon) to pack enough coffee punch. Give it the same treatment as the espresso powder, and dissolve it in a little bit of hot water before adding it to the recipe. This is especially important because instant coffee granules are usually much larger than espresso powder granules and we want to be sure they are dissolved.
Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup toffee bits
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together hot water and espresso powder until the espresso powder is dissolved.
- Add in melted butter and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Add in eggs. Stir to combine.
- Add in baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
- Add in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to combine.
- Fold in toffee bits and white chocolate chips.
- Scoop dough by the tablespoonful and place on cookie sheet leaving at least 4 fingers of space between each cookie. (These cookies contain butter so they spread quite a bit).
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Notes
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Looking for more fall treats? You should try these caramel apple cookies or these 2 ingredient pumpkin muffins (with actual pumpkin).
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Happy Baking!
Happy Baking!
Sources:
The Perfect Cookie (affiliate link)