Like my common sugar cookies, these chocolate sugar cookies are comfortable and thick with crisp edges and a pleasant easy prime for adorning. Use cookie cutters to chop this chocolate dough into shapes, and after baking and cooling, you may embellish them with cookie adorning buttercream, royal icing, or this tremendous straightforward cookie icing.
I initially revealed this recipe in 2016, and I’ve since up to date it with new photographs and extra success suggestions to make sure each batch seems to be one of the best chocolate sugar cookies you’ve ever had.
Bakers, I goal to convey you solely the perfect in the case of sugar cookies. (I solemnly swear on my cookie cutters.) They should maintain their shapes within the oven, have a pleasant flat floor for adorning, and, clearly, style superb! So, within the mid 2010’s, growing a chocolate model of this in style recipe was not a activity I took calmly.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Gentle & thick facilities with calmly crisp edges
- Wealthy chocolate taste (not dry or bland!)
- Holds form superbly for cookie cutters
- Clean floor for adorning (I used cookie buttercream and naturally-colored sprinkles)
- Make-ahead-friendly dough for straightforward planning
One reader, Abbey, commented: “These are certainly one of my go-to recipes for cookie orders. Folks love them! It’s like a brownie in cookie kind. These are those that get requested most frequently. ★★★★★“
One other reader, Pam, commented: “These rolled out properly, baked up completely, and have been SO scrumptious! My household and pals went loopy for them, and I’ll be making them once more quickly. Who wouldn’t love a ‘brownie cookie?’ ★★★★★“
One other reader, Peggy, commented: “My youngsters have labeled these Brownie Cookies as a result of they style like the proper mixture of a cutout and a brownie. They have been really easy to make and really sturdy like your gingerbread cookie recipe. We used the simple glaze and simply did a fast drizzle excessive. This can be a welcome addition to my cutout cookie rotation. ★★★★★“
Key Elements & Why They Matter
With solely 8 elements on this recipe, every one has an necessary job to do:
- All-Goal Flour: Gives construction so the cookies maintain their cut-out shapes.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: The star of the present! You should use pure or Dutch-process for barely totally different taste profiles. See the part under on this.
- Baking Powder: Provides a slight carry with out puffing an excessive amount of (necessary for flat tops!).
- Salt: For taste steadiness.
- Butter: Unparalleled for buttery sugar cookies. Make sure that it’s correctly softened to room temperature. And for those who’re a baking newbie, take a look at my tutorial on methods to cream butter and sugar.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens and helps create these barely crisp edges.
- Egg: Binds every little thing collectively and provides richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the chocolate taste with out overpowering it.
By the way in which, you should utilize this actual dough when making Halloween cookies, my reader-favorite home made skinny mint cookies, and holiday-perfect peppermint bark cookies. Additionally they look nice embellished as fireworks cookies or soccer cookies. This can be a very versatile chocolate sugar cookie dough!
And for those who’re on the lookout for a drop-style chocolate cookie recipe, you’ll love these double chocolate chip cookies or these chocolate frosted cookies.
Success Ideas for the Finest Chocolate Sugar Cookies
There are just a few tips to creating positive your chocolate sugar cookies maintain their cookie-cutter shapes within the oven (moderately than spreading into unrecognizable blobs):
- Roll out the dough BEFORE chilling. It’s way more efficient to sit back the cookie dough *after* rolling it out, simply as you do when making common sugar cookies or brown sugar cut-out cookies. Making an attempt to roll out exhausting, chilled sugar cookie dough is irritating and troublesome. So, when you’ve combined collectively your dough, divide it into 2 halves, and roll out every portion earlier than chilling the rolled-out dough within the fridge.
- One other trick: Roll out the cookie dough straight on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you may simply switch it to the fridge. When you don’t have sufficient room for two baking sheets in your fridge, stack the items of rolled-out dough on prime of one another, with parchment in between.
- Roll evenly: Intention for about 1/4-inch thickness so that they bake evenly and keep comfortable.
- My remaining trick: As an alternative of dusting your arms and work floor with flour such as you often do when dealing with/working with dough, use cocoa powder—an ingredient you want for the dough anyway! Flour is tasteless, so may as properly use cocoa powder for further chocolate taste, proper?
Pure Cocoa Powder or Dutch-Course of?
Cocoa powder is the important thing ingredient in these chocolate sugar cookies. However which one do you have to use: pure cocoa powder or Dutch-process?
When you’re undecided concerning the distinction between them and have an interest, you may learn extra on my Dutch-process vs pure cocoa powder web page. Although Dutch-process is often what you’d use when paired with baking powder, for this cookie recipe (and really for these brownie cookies, too) it’s OK to use both Dutch-process or pure cocoa powder.
So select whichever cocoa powder you want finest! I sometimes use this model of Dutch-process cocoa, or I additionally love Ghirardelli model.
3 Cookie Icing Choices
As soon as cooled, these cookies are your canvas! As a result of the cookies bake with a flat, easy prime, adorning is way simpler and extra professional-looking.
I’ve 3 cookie icing recipes, so you’ve got a number of choices to select from, primarily based in your talent stage and adorning wants. Listed here are the essential variations:
1. Buttercream Frosting: I embellished the pictured chocolate sugar cookie hearts with cookie adorning buttercream, piped on with a Wilton 1A piping tip. Then I unfold it round to flatten it out and added these sprinkles. This can be a basic vanilla buttercream frosting that soft-sets on cookies after just a few hours. In a nutshell:
- Solely 5 elements
- Creamy + candy
- Nice for newcomers
- Can embellish with piping suggestions or just unfold on cookies
- Could be tinted any colour with gel meals coloring
2. Royal Icing: I’ve a separate put up for royal icing the place you could find many FAQs, make-ahead directions, and a video tutorial. This icing is right for intermediate or superior cookie decorators. In a nutshell:
- Sturdy icing for piping sharp element and tremendous designs
- Units on the cookie in simply 1–2 hours
- Dries agency however nonetheless comfortable, not a tough cement-like texture
- Make with an electrical mixer
- Meringue powder eliminates the necessity for uncooked egg whites
- Could be flavored along with your favourite taste extract
- Could be tinted any colour with gel meals coloring
- Embellish with piping luggage (reusable or disposable) and suggestions
3. Easy Glaze Icing: An alternative choice is that this straightforward cookie icing, which I sometimes use on these Christmas sugar cookies. This glaze-style icing is nice for newcomers and far simpler to make than royal icing since you don’t want an electrical mixer or the proper icing consistency for fulfillment. It isn’t as sturdy as royal icing, although, so that you received’t be capable of pipe concise particulars. It additionally takes a very good 24 hours to dry. In a nutshell:
- Straightforward to make with only a fork/whisk and bowl
- Simply 5 fundamental elements
- Can embellish with piping suggestions or a squeeze bottle (good for newcomers and younger bakers)
- Can colour with gel meals coloring
- Units on the cookie in 24 hours
For extra adorning inspiration, right here is my full tutorial (video included) on methods to embellish sugar cookies.
And for those who’re not into piping suggestions, you may simply dunk the tops of the chocolate sugar cookies into icing like when making mini animal cracker cookies. A enjoyable possibility for those who’re baking with youngsters!
Not a lot! This recipe is designed to carry its form, particularly when the dough is correctly chilled.
Sure! Chill it for as much as 3 days within the fridge.
Completely. Freeze for as much as 3 months, then thaw within the fridge earlier than rolling. See Freeze Cookie Dough for more information.
Really helpful Instruments for Reduce-Out Cookies
Earlier than I depart you with the recipe, let me counsel some helpful chocolate sugar cookie instruments. These are the precise merchandise I take advantage of and belief in my very own kitchen:
For much more suggestions, here’s a detailed listing of cookie adorning provides.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Provides
Description
These are comfortable, thick chocolate sugar cookies with calmly crisp edges and wealthy cocoa taste. This straightforward cut-out cookie dough rolls out easily, holds its form, and bakes with a flat floor good for adorning with icing or buttercream. Chilling is an important step, so don’t skip it. The variety of cookies this recipe yields is dependent upon the scale of the cookie cutter you employ. When you’d prefer to make dozens of cookies for a big crowd, double the recipe.
- Make the cookies: Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt collectively in a medium bowl. Put aside.
- In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar collectively on excessive pace till utterly easy and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on excessive pace till mixed, about 1 minute. Scrape down the edges and up the underside of the bowl and beat once more as wanted to mix.
- Add the dry elements to the moist elements and blend on low till mixed. Dough shall be comfortable. If the dough appears too comfortable and sticky for rolling, add 1 extra Tablespoon of flour.
- Roll the dough: Divide the dough into 2 equal elements. Mud 2 giant items of parchment paper or 2 silicone baking mats with cocoa powder or flour. Place a dough half on every. With a rolling pin calmly dusted with cocoa powder or flour, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use extra cocoa powder/flour if the dough appears too sticky. The rolled-out dough will be any form, so long as it’s evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Chill the dough: Evenly mud one of many rolled-out doughs with cocoa powder or flour. Place a bit of parchment on prime. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on prime. Cowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for no less than 1-2 hours and as much as 2 days.
- Preheat oven & form cookies: As soon as chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 giant baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Fastidiously take away the highest dough piece from the fridge. Utilizing cookie cutters, minimize the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough, utilizing extra cocoa powder or flour to calmly mud your work floor and rolling pin, and proceed chopping the dough till all is used. Work rapidly so the dough doesn’t turn into too heat or comfortable. If it does, cease what you’re doing and place any unused dough again within the fridge for 10 minutes to stiffen up once more. Repeat chopping into shapes with 2nd half of dough. (Be aware: It doesn’t look like a number of dough, however you get a number of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Bake & cool: Prepare formed cookies on baking sheets 3 inches aside. Bake for 11-12 minutes or till edges are set. In case your oven has sizzling spots, rotate the baking sheet midway by bake time. Enable cookies to chill on the baking sheet for five minutes after which switch to a wire rack to chill utterly earlier than adorning.
- Make icing or buttercream: Put together the royal icing, cookie glaze icing, or cookie adorning buttercream, and embellish the cooled cookies nonetheless you’d like. I embellished the pictured chocolate sugar cookie hearts with cookie adorning buttercream, piped on with a Wilton 1A piping tip. Then I unfold it round to flatten it out, and topped with these sprinkles. This can be a basic vanilla buttercream frosting that soft-sets on cookies after just a few hours.
- Take pleasure in cookies straight away or wait till the frosting/icing units to serve them. As soon as the icing has set, these cookies are nice for gifting or for sending. Plain or embellished cookies keep comfortable for about 5 days when coated tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cowl and refrigerate for as much as 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Directions: Plain or embellished sugar cookies freeze properly as much as 3 months. Look forward to the icing/buttercream to set utterly earlier than layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw within the fridge or at room temperature. You may also freeze the cookie dough for as much as 3 months earlier than rolling it out. Put together the dough by step 3, divide in half, flatten each halves right into a disk as we do with pie crust, wrap every in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the disks within the fridge, then convey to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill within the fridge for 1 hour earlier than chopping into shapes and baking.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin or this Adjustable Rolling Pin | Coronary heart-Formed Cookie Cutter | Cooling Rack | Naturally-Coloured Sprinkles
- Room Temperature: Room temperature butter is important. If the dough is simply too sticky, your butter could have been too comfortable. Room temperature butter is definitely cool to the contact. Room temperature egg is most well-liked so it’s rapidly and evenly combined into the cookie dough.
- Icing or Buttercream: Use royal icing, cookie glaze icing, or cookie buttercream (what I used). See put up above to learn concerning the variations.
- You’ll want to take a look at my prime 5 cookie baking success suggestions AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking instruments.
