Simply Perfect Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Simply the perfect chocolate sugar cookies! With a soft & tender center, crisp edges, and no spreading whatsoever as they bake.
How was your Thanksgiving?
Mine was great! I worked my heiny off, you guys. I mean, wow. Like, 3 straight days on my feet. One recipe after another, nonstop. I was a machine! Everything was made from scratch, right down to the French-fried onions on the green bean casserole. It was awesome, and there was TONS of food. I had a great time in the kitchen with my mom and brother-in-law, and it was great to see everyone, especially my brand-new baby niece!
We got home on Friday evening, just in time to have a day and a half with the other side of my family. So nice. And Sunday I was all over town looking for the Christmas tree, and then setting it up and decorating it. I’m so happy we are now officially in the Christmas season!
For a lot of reasons, but mostly because COOKIES.
Cookies are my favorite thing ever to bake, and I wish I posted more cookie recipes than I have been. I’m going to try to make that up to you guys over the next few weeks. Starting with these chocolate sugar cookies.
What do you call this kind of cookie? Is it a sugar cookie? A butter cookie? A roll out cookie? A cut out cookie? A decorated cookie? I wasn’t quite sure what to call it but hopefully you get the idea.
Last year at this time I got waaaaaaay into these. I’m sure you can imagine that it was a perfect outlet for my complete compulsion/neurosis/obsession with pretty food. They are so much fun, I loved coming up with unique designs and perfecting my decorating skills. You can waste all sorts of time playing with icing and toothpicks and sugars and sprinkles. But today I’m keeping it simple and sharing my favorite recipe for the cookie part.
And this is more than just a recipe, friends. While in the throes of my cookie obsession, I did a lot of research and experimentation with different techniques, because I’m sure you can imagine, I wanted the most perfect result. So here’s everything I learned. There’s no one I’d rather share it with than you 😉
The flavor of the cookie is very chocolate-y. I am not one to shy away from bold chocolate flavor. If you’ve read my Simply Perfect Chocolate Cupcake post, or my Simply Perfect Brownie post, then you already know this about me. These chocolate sugar cookies have a deep, dark, chocolate flavor from all the cocoa (almost like an Oreo).
It’s a little less sweet. I do enjoy eating this cookie plain, but I think it’s even more important not to overdo the sugar when you’re dealing with a cookie that’s going to be iced and/or sprinkled with sugar. (If you need an icing recipe for them, I’ve got one right here.) It’s all about balance, yo.
Also, the texture of these chocolate sugar cookies is tender, yet sturdy. They come out of the oven with a little softness in the center, and a little more crunch around the edges. After a few days, they tend to lose the soft quality, so if you prefer a crunchy cookie, you will like that. They make a great gift, because of how sturdy they are. You can pack them up and ship them, and rest assured that they will arrive in one piece.
The dough is great to work with. It holds together so nicely, so you don’t have crumbly crumbs all over your kitchen floor. You don’t need to sprinkle your work surface with flour (hallelujah!). Not only does this cut down on the cleanup, but it allows you to re-roll the scraps without them getting tough. And they bake up so beautifully, without spreading, AT ALL. This is the whole key, people. The edges are PERFECT.
You may notice that this recipe looks a little different from a lot of other cookie recipes out there. Without getting too long-winded, here’s a quick rundown of why I do what I do:
- Cold butter: Chilling the dough helps prevent spreading. Using cold butter and working quickly eliminates the added step of chilling. Cutting it in small cubes helps it to incorporate more easily.
- Oil: Oil keeps the cookies moist/soft. If you prefer a crunchier cookie, you can replace the oil with an additional 1/4 cup of unsalted butter.
- Mix on low speed for the minimum time required to incorporate the ingredients. Make sure the mixture is smooth (no lumps of butter), but don’t cream until fluffy. Whipping in a lot of air will contribute to spreading.
- Leave out the leavening: there is no need for baking powder and/or baking soda. Leaveners make baked goods rise, puff, and spread. Omitting the leavening allows the edges to remain neat and clean, and the cookie lays flatter. The texture is still tender because of the ratio of fats to sugar and flour, but the cookie is sturdier.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch lends tenderness and a softer texture, and helps the cookies to hold their shape during baking.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Gives a deep, chocolate-y flavor. Use the best quality you can get your hands on. I prefer natural cocoa powder to an alkalized/Dutch process, such as Hershey’s Special Dark. This brand will yield a darker color, but a less intense chocolate flavor.
- Flour quantity may vary. The longer the dough sits, the more it will dry out, so use more flour if you’re rolling/cutting right away; less if you plan to keep the dough in the fridge for a while before baking. I usually roll and cut right away, so I put in a cup and a half to start, then add more by the tablespoon until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Rolling the dough between two layers of parchment is cleaner and prevents toughness. Bench flour is not necessary with this method, and scraps can be re-rolled and utilized.
- Baking at a higher temperature “sets” the edges, allowing the cookie to hold it’s shape better.
And just a few words about bake times and yield:
- Baking times will vary based upon the size and thickness of your cookies. For this post, I rolled the dough to a thickness of 1/4-inch (using rolling pin rings) and cut 2-inch diameter cookies. They baked for 9 minutes. Larger or thicker cookies may require a longer bake time. The cookies are done when the tops take on a dry appearance, and the edges are firm. The centers may still be slightly soft.
- Yield will vary based upon the size of your cookies. For this post, I rolled the dough to a thickness of 1/4-inch (using rolling pin rings) and cut 2-inch diameter fluted circles, and the batch yielded 46 cookies.
If you want to read more about how to make the most perfect roll out, cut out, butter/sugar cookies for decorating, check out this post I wrote last year. Also there’s a really great vanilla cookie recipe there.
I hope you enjoy making these chocolate sugar cookies with your loved ones! I was intimidated by roll out/cut out/butter/sugar/decorated cookies, for the longest time, until I figured out this method for making it all much more manageable.
PS- If you are looking to stock your recipe box with some really stellar basic recipes, you came to the right place! I’ve been baking for, ahem, 20-some odd years, cough-cough, so I’ve played with lots of recipes. Check out these other recipes from my “Simply Perfect” series:
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- Simply Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies
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- Simply Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
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- Simply Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes
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- Simply Perfect Chocolate Buttercream
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- Simply Perfect Pizza Dough
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- Simply Perfect Brownies from Scratch
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- Simply Perfect Pie Crust
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- Simply Perfect Apple Pie
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Simply Perfect Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) cold unsalted butter, (1 stick), cut into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon oil, (light/neutral flavor such as canola, grapeseed, or light olive oil)
- 2/3 cup (133.33 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup (32 g) cornstarch
- 1/2 cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour, (you may need as much as 2 cups)
Instructions
- Cream the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, just until the mixture is smooth. (Do not over beat, as this will incorporate air into the dough, which may lead to spreading.)
- Add the egg and mix just until incorporated.
- Mix in the cornstarch, cocoa powder and 1 1/4 cups of the flour.
- Continue adding flour until the dough gathers itself into a ball and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. (You may not need all the flour.)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Roll the dough to a thickness of 3/8-inch, between two sheets of parchment paper. (Rolling pin rings will help you to achieve an even thickness.)
- Cut shapes using a cookie cutter.
- Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 9 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies look dry on the surface, and feel firm around the edges and set in the middle.
- Cool completely, then decorate with royal icing.
These look/sound delicious!
Have you ever tried making these gluten free?
I have a great gf vanilla sugar cookie recipe that I use for Christmas cookies but am looking for different flavors. Do you think it would work to replace a portion of the gf flour with cocoa powder?
I’d recommend swapping out the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free flour blend that can be subbed 1:1. Good luck!
I searched the web for a rolled chocolate sugar cookie that I could use with my 2-inch fluted cutter. How fortuitous that your post pictured the very cookie I envisioned. And you use cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate which I wanted in a recipe.
The dough handled like a dream! Nothing stuck. I didn’t even have to clean the cutter to work on the batch of vanilla cookie dough that came next. The chocolate cookies baked neatly, keeping their shape as you promised.
My husband and I like the less-sweet flavor. I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. These will become a staple. Thank you for making me look good, Allie
I spread a peppermint royal frosting on top and sprinkled minty red and clear sugar crystals on them. They’re a good crunch. We have a holiday winner!
At different places in your post you claim you rolled them to 1/4-inch and 3/8-inch. I rolled mine 1/4-inch and got 28 cookies.
All best,
Joyce
I liked the recipe. Cookies held their shape. Wondering if I wanted them just a bit fluffier/softer what would I do? This is the best of 5 recipes I’ve tried so far.
For fluffier cookies I’d suggest creaming the butter and sugar together a little longer, just to whip in some additional air. And for softer cookies you might want to try adding an additional egg yolk. Hope this is helpful! Thanks so much for the positive review!
Hi there!!, I am sending this messege from Argentina. Thank you for such a wounderful recepie, just made some of your cookies for Xmas to decorate with my grandchildren tomorrow!!
The Simply Perfect Chocolate sugar is one of the best cookie recipes. They really do turn out Perfect. It is a beautiful dough to work with. Thank you so much! Great Valentine cookie. Love the deep rich chocolate flavor and the fact they are not overly sweet.
This is my favourite recipe ever – they are indeed simply perfect!!! I did try other recipes but they don’t have that rich chocolate flavour and were too sweet when iced. I’m wondering if I can add raisins to this recipe? Do you know how much I should put in if it’s possible? Which stage should they be added in? I mail my cookies out and it needs to be hardy so it doesn’t break with rough handling and I’m wondering if adding raisins will make them more susceptible to breaking? Thanks so much.
Hey Addie! I don’t know that it would make them more susceptible to breaking. I think it would be ok to add them- my only concern would be that they may get in the way of cutting your shapes. It could work well though if you roughly chop them first. Add in as many as you like, just as the dough is coming together. Hope this is useful info!
I love this recipe, these are beautiful by themselves, but also a great with a ganache or buttercream. I’ve made homemade oreos with these for my husband work and have now been agreed to make them multiple times. The cookie is also strong enough for creme tarts. I used this cookie recipes to make a Christmas tree shaped creme tart with pistachio buttercream and fresh cherries.