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.
Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
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
Can you substitute the salted butter for unsalted butter and salt?
Yep!
Followed the recipe to the letter and the cookies held their shape perfectly. I rolled the dough directly on parchment paper on the cookie sheet since I did not think I could transfer the shapes without disfiguring them.
I’m making two batches for my grandson’s school birthday treat. I found online some Transformers cookie cutters to use, his favorite. We’re going to paint on melted colored chocolate to make the design pop, and add sprinkles. Smells yummy chocolatey in the house! Use a Trader Joe’s cocoa powder. Everything works well!
excellent! I’m using Doctor Who cookie cutters.
thank you for the lovely cookies! i would like to make them and i have the same forms. the problem, we have a different measure, so could u please write me how much butter in gram? and how much degrees in c`? thanks a lot!
yael
I made these last week for a fun, Star Wars themed day for my boyfriend (who is actually 31 years old, but a kid at heart). I bought the cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma and made the recipe exactly as written above (I took mine out on the lower end of the cooking time to ensure chewiness). They turned out perfect! I bought vanilla ice cream and softened it ahead of time to make simple ice cream sandwiches.
This was such a cute idea I decided to try it for my husband’s birthday. I had to substitute with margarine and I used nestle cocoa instead of a dutch processed. They turned out super cute and I loved working with the dough. However they weren’t very sweet and tasted dry and very chocolates. Any suggestions on how to sweeten the taste and make them more moist? Next time I will probably remove them from the oven sooner and add icing (planning to do the skeleton gingerbread man idea for halloween)
Yes, you definitely have to be careful to not overbake or they’ll turn dry and chewy fast. That’s tricky with a chocolate cookie! Definitely use real butter next time as well.
I am wondering what I did wrong w this recipe… As my cookie dough turned turned out very crumbly. I added about a 1/4 cup of milk and they turned out delicious! Any thoughts?
Exactly what I was looking for! I want to bake these for my little brother’s b-day.
Thank you very much 🙂
T
I absolutely love this site. I have been away from cooking for a few years but Im back. Lov all these recipes. Not only the presentation but the step by step details and pictures. Please keep it coming.
I’m making these yummy cookies today! Question: Can I double the recipe? I need a lot. My cookie cutter is about the same size as the one you picture. Thanks!
I made these into footballs for the game yesterday and piped on the laces. They were a huge hit at the super bowl party! Thanks!
Do you know how many cookies this recipe makes? Trying to decide if I’ll have to double it or not. Using them for those soccer balls!
I made this recipe exactly (except I substituted Crisco for butter–since my kids can’t eat dairy) and the cookie dough was so crumbly and not holding together. This recipe calls for 1 c more of flour/powder than my regular sugar cookie dough and no liquid either. I had to add soy milk and another egg to get it to hold together. Is that usual? Are you sure the recipe is right? What did I do wrong?
Yep, it’s correct as written. I’ve made it several times and never had that problem. My tips for you are to make sure you are using a large egg, and don’t scoop your flower and cocoa powder. Make sure you use a spoon to gently spoon flour into your measuring cup and then level off. Otherwise you will be adding way too much flour and that would result in crumbly dough.
These are adorable. We are going to make them today. Which model of KitchenAid mixer do you have? I am saving up for an electric wheat grinder and then for a KitchenAid, but there are so many choices!
Kate and I both have just the standard tilt-head mixers and we love them!
I have those cookie cutters too and love them! I used them for my son’s Star Wars bday party. He wanted cupcakes so I used the Star Wars cookie cutters to cut out the shapes from marshmallow fondant and placed them on the cupcakes. So cute and easy!
These were so easy, I had to keep double checking to make sure I wasn’t forgetting something!! We made some spooky bats and the kids loved them!! Thank you
I want to send some cookies like this to my nephew in Germany. Do you think they would hold up if I freeze them before sending?
I’ve never mailed these so I can’t say for sure, but generally this type of cookie travels well. Good luck!
I have been cooking out of your cookbook a few nights a week for a couple weeks now, and it is my.favorite.cookbook.ever. The recipes I’ve tried so far are utterly delicious and wonderful. I do hope you are working on another cookbook to publish someday, because I don’t know what I’ll do with myself when I run out of recipes in this book! 🙂 And the book is beautiful, too!
OMG! Those gingerbread cookies are about the cutest things I have ever seen!! You should make some of the bows blue and make them into bowties for little boy cookies 🙂 Thank you SO much for this! I am making them with my little chef (daughter) for sure!
Hey those look so yummy. So question though, are they crunchy or soft?