Coffee Brownies - Celebrating Sweets - Global Insight Network

Published: Feb 18, 2022 · Modified: Oct 14, 2022 by Allison · 11 Comments

Intensely rich coffee brownies topped with a chocolate-coffee ganache and finished with a sprinkling of crunchy toffee bits. If you’re a fan of fudgy brownies you will love this recipe!

These Coffee Brownies represent my love for chocolate and my obsession with coffee. I mean, if I’m being honest, the two basically keep me alive and functioning most days. When we combine coffee + chocolate along with my favorite homemade brownies we have a rich, decadent, grown up dessert that will knock your socks off. Try our Brownie Bites and Brownie Pie, too!

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Brownies topped with toffee bits in a foil-lined square pan.

What makes these brownies the best

Flavor: Coffee and chocolate in the brownies AND the ganache, along with sweet and buttery bits of toffee.
Texture: These brownies are moist and fudgy with a hint of chewiness. The ganache topping is smooth and creamy and the toffee bits add a bit of crunch.
Ease: The brownie batter comes together in one bowl in less than 15 minutes.
Fudgy: If you’re a fan of fudgy brownies this recipe is for you! These brownies bake up moist and chocolaty with a rich fudgy flavor and texture. We use a similar brownie base for our Cookie Dough Brownies. Try those, too!

Recipe overview

Brownies:

Start by combining the melted butter and sugar. Allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes.

Melted butter and sugar in a glass bowl.

Add eggs, water, and, vanilla, whisking until well combined.

Eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla in a glass bowl.

Add the dry ingredients: cocoa powder, powdered sugar, flour, chocolate chips, salt, and espresso powder.

Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until glossy and well combined.

Add the batter to a lined and greased 8×8 pan and bake.

Brownie batter in a foil-lined square pan.

Topping:

One the stovetop or in the microwave, combine chocolate chips, cream, and espresso powder. Heat until smooth. Pour over the cooled brownies and spread into an even layer. Top with toffee bits.

Chocolate chips, espresso powder, and cream in a glass bowl.

Brownies topped with chocolate ganache in a foil-lined pan.

What makes brownies fudgy

Several things make brownies fudgy instead of cakey. These brownies fall into the “fudgy” category, here’s why:

Fat to flour ratio: These brownies have a high fat to flour ratio. This creates a dense, fudgy texture.
No leavening: These brownies contain no baking soda or baking powder, which means there is little-to-no rise when they bake.
Chocolate chips: The batter contains ¾ cup of chocolate chips. While baking, the chocolate chips melt just slightly, creating a moist, fudgy texture. Don’t skip the chocolate chips – they add a lot to this recipe.
Chocolate-coffee ganache: This rich and creamy topping adds another layer of fudginess to the brownies. Once the ganache firms up it has a fudge-like consistency.

Ingredient spotlight: espresso powder

This recipe calls for espresso powder or instant espresso. Espresso powder/instant espresso is finely ground coffee crystals that have a strong and concentrated coffee flavor. This ingredient is sold in most well stocked grocery stores near the coffee or on the baking aisle. You can also purchase it here.

Fudgy coffee brownie topped with toffee bits.

More brownie recipes

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Recipe

Toffee Coffee Brownies

Intensely rich coffee brownies topped with a chocolate-coffee ganache and finished with a sprinkling of crunchy toffee bits. If you're a fan of fudgy brownies you will love this recipe!

5 from 7 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 16

Calories: 281kcal

Author: Allison – Celebrating Sweets

Ingredients

Instructions

Brownies:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 square pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving a couple inches of overhang on two sides (this will allow you to lift the whole tray of brownies out of the pan for easy removal). Grease the foil/parchment.
Combine granulated sugar and hot butter in a large bowl. Stir it briefly then allow it to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. The heat from the butter will begin to dissolve the sugar (this helps make a shiny/crackly crust), the sugar will not fully dissolve. After 5 minutes, whisk the butter and sugar vigorously for 30 seconds. Add eggs, water, and vanilla extract, whisking again for about 30 seconds. Tap all the excess batter off the whisk and remove the whisk from the bowl.
Sprinkle cocoa powder, powdered sugar, flour, chocolate chips, salt, and espresso powder over the wet ingredients. Use a rubber/silicone spatula or wooden spoon to stir the mixture until it is glossy and well combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for for 28-33 minutes (begin checking at 28 minutes). The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out without raw batter on it, moist fudgy crumbs are OK. Be careful not to over bake. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Topping:

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat (or in the microwave in 15-second increments) combine chocolate chips, cream, and espresso powder. Heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth. Immediately pour over the cooled brownies and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the top. Allow to cool for several hours until the ganache firms up (you can speed this up by placing the whole pan in the fridge for 30 minutes or so).

Notes

Bake time: Since ovens vary, and different bakeware can affect the cook time (metal pans cook faster than glass, for instance), it’s important to keep a close eye on these as you approach the end of the baking time. When you insert a toothpick into the center, it should come out without raw batter on it (fudgy crumbs are OK). You might need to do the toothpick check in a few different places because you could hit a melted chocolate chip. If the brownies are not quite done, set a timer and check them every 3 minutes until they are.Chocolate chips: You can use milk, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate chips for the brownies and ganache. Milk chocolate will create a sweeter brownie while bittersweet will have a more noticeable deep coffee/chocolate flavor. Semisweet is the perfect balance of both!