I sat down to write today’s post and it got ridiculously long very quickly! So I decided to split it up and do these cookies separately because it’s a great, basic recipe to refer to. So hold on to your hats because Wednesday you will see part two; and part two is fantastic! These are basically chocolate sugar cookies. I’ve actually adapted our favorite sugar cookies to be chocolate several times in the past, but ever since I saw these chocolate cookies on Bake @ 350 I’ve wanted to try them. So I did. And they were better! These are perfect for cookie cutters because they hold their shape so well, and they taste super delish too, so here we go – chocolate cut-out cookies!
Place butter and sugar in your bowl. I use regular, salted butter and omit the additional salt in this recipe. (Ask me how much I love my glass KitchenAid bowl. So so much.)
Cream it together until it’s nice and fluffy. Properly creamed butter and sugar actually does make a difference in your cookies! It should beat fast for a full 1-2 minutes at least.
Then in goes some vanilla
and an egg.
Just whisk some cocoa powder and flour together. The original recipe also calls for 1 teaspoon of espresso powder. I omitted that, but you can certainly add it if you have some.
Then add those dry ingredients into your wet, a few spoonfuls at a time until they are well mixed.
Yum. That’s it! Such a quick and easy dough.
When I do chocolate cookies, I use cocoa powder to dust my rolling surface. It’s actually better to mix a few spoonfuls with some flour and use a combo of the two. I am using straight cocoa here because basically I was too lazy to walk the 6 feet required to get to my flour jar. For real. I am in love with my Roul’Pat; I use it for rolling out just about everything!
Pat our your dough and give it a sprinkle of flour/cocoa powder on both sides
and roll it out to about 1/4 inch. I usually roll my dough out first, and then slip that Roul’Pat in the fridge or freezer before I cut my cookies. It’s a lot easier than chilling the unrolled dough and quicker too.
Once it’s firm, cut your shapes. I bought these particular cookie cutters from William-Sonoma, but these are similar.
And they are a true test for a good cut out cookie recipe. This one held it’s shape perfectly.
Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes. Similar to our sugar cookies; you can under-bake and have super soft cookies, or bake longer for thinner, crisp cookies. Frost with your favorite sugar cookie frosting, or dip them in Glace Icing or sprinkle with sugar before baking (or in my case, just leave them plain!)
Now stay tuned Monday for the cutest cookies I have ever made. Really. Ever.
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Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Description
These cookies are soft, yummy, and hold up perfectly with any cookie cutter!
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. cocoa powder (dutch-process or natural works)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) regular salted butter
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat if you have either of those.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy (1-2 full minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
- Whisk flour and cocoa powder together and then slowly add to the butter mixture by spoonfuls with mixer at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Lightly dust rolling surface with coco powder or flour or a mixture of both. (I use cocoa powder). Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick. It helps to roll soft dough in between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment and then place them in the fridge for about 15 minutes (or the freezer for 5-10) until firm.
- Cut out shapes and place on baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with chocolate cookies when they are done, so just watch for the dough to not look “wet” anymore and the edges should be holding their shape nicely.
- Let cookies cool for 2-3 minutes and then use a spatula to place them on a cooling rack.
Questions & Reviews
These look fantastic! Those cookie cutters are meant to be mine!
The BEST chocolate sugar cookie EVER! I made them last night for family night and my kids devoured them. Thanks a million times over for your wonderful recipes. Your blog is amazing!
Sara, these are super cute and I bet super tasty, too! I know my Star Wars loving husband would go nuts for ’em. Thanks for sharing!
I have been wanting to try Bridget’s chocolate cookie recipe for a long while now…you are motivating me to get my rear in gear!
These look so good! I really just want to eat a handful of the dough, too.
Question – What is that cute little blue dish you’re pouring the egg from?
Those are silicone prep bowls from Sur la Tab. I have a set like this:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-547638/Le-Creuset%26%23174%3B-Silicone-Prep-Bowls%2C-Set-of-4
only, mine are all different sizes and marked for measuring. Love them!
i. want. a. roul’pat. and a glass kitchen aid bowl – which may be in my future (my pampered chef glass mixing bowl *somehow* got connected with a pyrex bowl, and both broke while trying to rescue one…)
and i’m trying this recipe – friday. yes.
Isn’t that a great recipe?!?! I’m so happy you liked it, too! And your DArths are too, too cute! 🙂
Thanks so much for the shout-out!
Me: Hey kids! Look at these cookies that cousin Tyler’s mom made!
Clay: huh. Why don’t you ever make cookies like that?
Isaac: Because Tyler’s mom is SOOOOO much better at making cookies.
ouch. Even my kids know I’m inept.
I have to agree with them though, chocolate Darth Vader cookies are freakin awesome. We can’t wait for the next post!
Told my son about these and he asked if I would make them. I said I would try once I find the cookie cutter you have (cause he is a Star Wars freak thanks to dad)…. he says “Do or Do Not,There is no Try”. Guess I will be heading to W&S…. (oh, and the cookie recipe sounds great)
I will definitely try the cookies! But I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that you can’t get a KA 6-qt glass bowl!!
These look great! How do you life off your cookie to put on the pan? That’s where I usually mess up. They tend to fall apart on me more often than not.
These cookies look so good! Love, love, love your blog! Whenever I use your recipes, everything turns out great. Any chance you can post more slow cooker recipes that are worthy of Our Best Bites?
It is that time of year Wendie, I’m sure we’ll be having more slow cooker meals now that the weather is cooling off!
I actually made these cookies several times and they are delicious, they hold up extremely well.
I love the Darth Vader shape!! And the fact that they’re chocolate sugar cookies!! Oh my!!!
Ha ha, just saw that part of the post. Thanks
Where did you get that Darth Vader cookie cutter? My boys are very much into star wars lately and they would LOVE that!!
FABULOUS! I was just “heading out” to look for a chocolate sugar cookie recipe. Thank you for sharing!!
These look so good! Never been a huge fan of roll out sugar cookies but I’ll bet adding cocoa would change things entirely. Those cookie cutters are really cool too!
Oh my goodness, my son would LOVE those cookie cutters!!
I love that you use cocoa powder to roll out your dough. When rolling out regular sugar cookies I like using a small amount of flour mixed with powdered sugar. I never worry that the bottoms will taste like flour.
I have been looking for a tasty chocolate sugar cookie recipe for Halloween cookie baking but have never found one I liked. I think I’ll give this one a try!
“LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER” Too cute..I love them
Hi Sara,
I love my Roul Pat too, but how do you fit it in the fridge? Do you fold it up first?
Yeah, I just roll my dough out no larger than a standard size cookie sheet. That way I can just slip it on a pan, fold the edges of the roulpat over the top of it and pop it in the fridge. Or if I have a lot of room in my fridge (which doesn’t happen often!) I just place it in there on a large cutting board.
My son would flip for these!
These look awesome, my family loves chocolate anything too!
Ahahaha these are awesome! Love Star Wars themed baked goods.
i’d like to know where you got the yellow paddle?
Tammy, that’s a Beater Blade:
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Service-Restaurant-KitchenAid-6-Quart/dp/B002KAPN9Q/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1318248513&sr=1-5
i made choc sugar cookies once–the recipe called for sweetened condensed milk. delish!
just read the williams sonoma part..haha never mind! Thanks still!
OMG! It doesn’t get much better then chocolate, cookies, and start wars cookie cutters! Where did you get those? May the force be with me while I look for them! [okkk so I just nerded myself out…I’ll just blame my Uncles who force fed me all of them till I loved them!]
We used this recipe to make Brown E’s for April Fools Day. There were a big hit! This is the easiest cut-out dough I’ve ever worked with. Thank you!