This post is a little late since I made these for Valentine’s Day, but these chocolate sugar cookies can really be made any time of year and in any shape. I think they came out pretty well, and had a great chocolate taste without being too sweet.
I used the recipe from The Art of the Cookie cookbook. The recipe in the book was for “chocolate sweethearts” and used a 2″ heart cutter and created little sandwich cookies with vanilla cream filling or raspberry cream filling. I was not in the mood to deal with buttercream, so I just made individual cookies. Also, I could not find a 2″ cutter, so I used a 3″ cutter.
Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Yield: about 30 cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).
Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until ingredients are incorporated. Still on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
Empty the dough out and press into a rectangle or circle and wrap well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour or up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin. Roll out the dough until ¼ inch thick. Cut cookies with desired cookie cutter. Sprinkle liberally with sparkling sugar. Transfer to baking sheet and cook 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Notes:
- The original recipe calls for using sanding sugar on the tops, but I found that to be too fine. Sparkling sugar is a bit chunkier and better for this recipe (also, the pic in the cookbook clearly uses sparkling sugar).
- My cookies were rolled thinner than the ¼ inch thickness the recipe called for.
