Simply Perfect Chocolate Sugar Cookies
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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 ¼ 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 ¼-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 ¼-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 Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ 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)
- ⅔ cup (133.33 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup (32 g) cornstarch
- ½ cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ 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 ¼ 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 ⅜-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.
Thanks for the recipe! I was looking for a cutout cookie to make with my four year old, but no one except him in our house likes plain sugar cookies so I was very excited to find a chocolate one. Like the previous commenter, the dough turned out way too dry and wouldn't roll or hold together without crumbling and falling apart (I only added 1.5 cups flour). I ended up adding another 1/4 cup of melted butter to get it to stay together, chilled it again, and then it was fine. I also agree that they could use more sugar if you like a traditionally sweet cookie - these are just barely sweet but I find regular cookies way too sweet, so for me these are perfect - chocolaty and buttery, not cloying. They stayed perfectly crisp-edged with no spreading!
I'm glad you enjoyed the flavor, Kate! I too prefer a less sweet cookie. I'm sorry for your crumbly dough, though! You were very smart to add more fat to balance it. Sometimes it can be tricky to get the right amount of flour- so many factors can play a part.
These cookies are simple and perfect. And are delicious too.
I'm so happy you agree! Thank you, Aleesha!
I was excited to find a recipe that did not require refrigeration. It was tough to incorporate the cold butter, and the dough was very crumbly (I had to squish it together by hand), but they definitely did not spread when baking which was amazing! I've never baked cookies that did not spread. They don't have much flavour to them, unfortunately. I think if I were to make them again I would add more sugar, but I think they will be ok with icing. That's my next step!
I'm so happy you were pleased with them, Laura! If they were that crumbly though, maybe next time you could do with a little less flour so they are easier to work with. I often find the quantity of flour can vary based on the weather that day. Also, if you use a really good quality cocoa powder, such as Valrhona, Scharffen-Berger, or Ghirardelli, it makes them super chocolatey! The flavor is on the less-sweet side, and that is intentional to balance the sweetness of the icing. Thanks so much for reading and for the comment!
I cannot wait to try these out on my biscuit machine. I suppose it must be a little bit more moist to be able to spread out a little on the baking tray?
Hey Herman! I don't know... I'm not familiar with the biscuit machine thing. I typically roll these out with a rolling pin and cut them with cookie cutters. Cookies that spread are kinda my pet peeve, I prefer neat and clean edges, so this recipe is really great for that. Good luck and thanks for reading!
What do you suggest if you do not have a paddle attachment?
Hi Lisa! What kind of attachment do you have for your mixer? Do you have a stand mixer or a hand mixer? I've only ever used the paddle for cookie dough...
I just used this recipe to make my Xmas cookie trees! I can't thank you enough! The edges are perfect, my trees will be as pretty as I wanted them to be <3
Yay!!! I'm so happy to hear that it worked so well for you! I hope you enjoy decorating and eating them. Thanks so much for reading my blog, Lis, and trying one of my recipes!
These are really PERFECT chocolate cookies
Pinned
They do look simply perfect!!!
Thanks, Lyuba! They haven't failed me yet 😉
I know this is a treachery, but we just ran out of cocoa powder! These cookies look so amazing, is there a way to make a plain, non-chocolate version?
Hi Emma-Kate, if you read through the post again you'll notice that I've linked to the vanilla version in the paragraph just before the last photo. Thanks for reading and good luck!
The perfect little cookies...I have got to try these! Found you on Simply Gloria linky party!
Hi Cynthia! Thanks so much for popping over and for the sweet comment! I'm so happy you liked the post and I hope to see you here again. Hope you're having a nice weekend! 🙂
I'm so glad you had such a wonderful Thanksgiving Allie! I, too, am happy that Christmas season is here and these cookies are making me even happier. Such gorgeous, perfect cookies! I can't wait to share this recipe with my sister because I know these will make it to our cookie decorating party this year. Pinned!
Oh, thank you so much for pinning, Trish! I hope you and your sister have lots of fun decorating cookies! xoxo
Exactly what I was looking for! I knew I could count on you, Allie! <3
I'm happy to oblige, Erika! So glad you liked <3
Oh yum! I can snack on these all day. Your photos are beautiful! Pinned.
Thanks so much for pinning, Anne! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post 😀
Sounds like you had so much over there with your family. I was the same way ...3 days in the kitchen. But, it's always worth it. Always have to have everything ...everything from scratch! I'm loving these cookies and pinning them ...and printing out the recipe so I can make them very soon! I'll let you know how they turn out!
Thank you for pinning, Gloria! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! <3
Definitely saving, I need a good chocolate decorating cookie recipe, the last ones I made were a disaster! Sounds like your excited for Christmas, me too!
Oh yeah, so excited! So much to do, but I love every second of it 😉 I hope you have better luck with this recipe than you did with the last one. It always yields great results for me. Enjoy, Laura! xoxo
These cookies are gorgeous ! I just recently decided I wanted to learn how to make pretty cookies and this recipe is fantastic! I love that you made them extra chocolately and I totally agree to cut back on the sugar when you are covering the cookie with more sugar…totally about balance 🙂 I can’t wait to try this recipe! Totally pinning it!
Thanks for the pin, Liz! I hope you enjoy the recipe- it's one of my absolute favorites. Enjoy the holiday season and have lots of fun making pretty cookies!