Chocolate Sugar Cookies
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These Chocolate Sugar Cookies are so simple to make and melt in your mouth delicious! They go perfect with a good cup of coffee or tea and are a great holiday cookie!
The Perfect Chocolate Sugar Cookies Recipe
December is here, so guess what time it is! That’s right, it’s baking cookies time. Totally my favorite time of the year because I get to listen to Christmas music, watch tons of Christmas movies and bake all the cookies that I love. It’s pure heaven!
Though if I may be honest with you I started at the beginning of October, just saying. And that’s because these cookies are perfect for freezing. I just take my time from October to December and bake lots of cookies, put them in big Tupperware containers and freeze them. Then when Christmas comes I take them out and give them away to family and friends.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Quick and Easy! The chocolate cookie dough comes together in just minutes. This is an easy 8-ingredient cookie recipe that doesn’t require any fancy ingredients or special skills.
- Simple Chocolate Cookies! When you take a classic sugar cookie and add a bit of cocoa powder it becomes a delicious chocolatey sugar cookie. It’s simple, uncomplicated, and super yummy!
- Kid Favorite! Break out the rolling pin and cookie cutters! Kids love making cookies and they love chocolate. This chocolate sugar cookie recipe is great for an afternoon of baking with your family.
- Flour – Like most sugar cookie recipes, simple all purpose flour is all you need.
- Salt – Just a dash is used to balance the sweetness.
- Baking Powder – Lightens up the cookies by giving them just a bit of rise.
- Butter – Always use unsalted butter to control the amount of added salt. The butter in this recipe needs to be at room temperature.
- Sugar – I use white granulated sugar, but you can also use cane sugar if you prefer.
- Eggs – For the best results use room temperature eggs.
- Vanilla Extract – Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder produces the best rich chocolate flavor.
You need to have all the ingredients ready to go before you begin this simple recipe. The cookie dough comes together pretty quickly. But then all you have to do is chill, cut, and bake!
To begin, you need to combine the dry ingredients separately. So whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Then set the mixture aside for a later step.
Now let’s make the chocolate sugar cookies dough! Add the room temperature butter, sugar, large eggs, vanilla, and cocoa powder to the bowl of a stand mixer. Then use the paddle attachment to mix everything together at medium speed until the mixture is smooth. While the mixture is creaming you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time.
Next, add a third of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer and continue mixing. Then add another third and then finally the rest of the mixture. When the sugar cookie dough is done it will be smooth.
After the dough is made, form it into a ball. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to chill for at least one hour. The dough must be chilled to form the cookies.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat your oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) so it is ready for baking. Next, line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to prevent the cookies from sticking.
Cookie cutting time! To make things easier, cut the dough into 4 pieces and then use a rolling pin to roll each piece out separately until it’s about ¼ inch in thickness. Now, cut the cookies using any shape cookie cutters you like. I used a sun shape. Then once you’ve formed cookies from the 4 pieces, gather the leftover dough and use it to cut more cookies until there is no dough left.
With the cookies cut, place them on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart from each other. Then put them in the oven to bake for about 9 to 11 minutes. When the cookies are done the edges will be firm but the center will still be slightly soft. Unless you have a double oven, you will probably need to bake the cookies in batches.
As the chocolate sugar cookies are baked, transfer them from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely. You can dust them with a bit of icing sugar if you like.
What Are Chocolate Sugar Cookies?
A sugar cookie is a cookie where the main ingredients are sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla and baking powder or baking soda. A chocolate sugar cookie is the same thing but with cocoa powder in it.
Can You Freeze Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Absolutely! These cookies are perfect for freezing. Place the sugar cookies in an airtight container and then place them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the dough properly wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 months.
Expert Tips
- Room temperature ingredients. When making cookie dough the butter must always be soft. But it also creates a better texture if the eggs are too. So take the eggs out of the fridge along with the butter about an hour before starting the recipe.
- Chill the dough. The dough must be chilled to form the cookies. It’s not an optional step. Also, if the dough starts to get too soft when you are rolling out the cookies then you need to put it back in the fridge to chill for a few minutes.
- Rotate the pan. Most ovens have hot and cold spots. So for the most uniform baking, rotate the sheet pans halfway through the baking time.
Storage
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
More Delicious Christmas Cookies Recipes To Try
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- Thumbprint cookies
- Classic Shortbread Cookies
- Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
- Chocolate Rumballs
- Cherry Pecan Rugelach
- Chocolate Fudge Cookies
- Amish Sugar Cookies
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Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter (unsalted, room temperature)
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth, I mixed mine about 3 minutes.
- Add the flour mixture in batches about ⅓ at a time and mix.
- Transfer the dough to a big piece of plastic wrap and gently knead it until it forms a ball. Wrap the cookie dough and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
- I found it easier to cut the dough in 4 pieces and roll out each piece at a time so that it's about ¼ of an inch in thickness. Cut the cookies with your favorite cookie cutter.
- Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 9 to 11 minutes, just until the edges are firm and the center still slightly soft. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Transfer to a rack and cool. If you wish you can sprinkle them with icing sugar.
Video
Notes
- This recipe will yield about 48 cookies.
- Room temperature ingredients. When making cookie dough the butter must always be soft. But it also creates a better texture if the eggs are too. So take the eggs out of the fridge along with the butter about an hour before starting the recipe.
- Chill the dough. The dough must be chilled to form the cookies. It’s not an optional step. Also, if the dough starts to get too soft when you are rolling out the cookies then you need to put it back in the fridge to chill for a few minutes.
- Rotate the pan. Most ovens have hot and cold spots. So for the most uniform baking, rotate the sheet pans halfway through the baking time.
- Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
These are absolutely delicious!🤤 I sprinkled a little powdered sugar and espresso powder on top to add a little pizazz. But it doesn’t need it. It tastes great with and without.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE these sugar cookies and everyone in my extended family now loves them and want the recipe. In the past when I’ve tried other sugar cookie recipes they been too hard. These are perfect and kinda taste like brownies!! Thank you so much for this recipe.
I love these cookies! I like mine to be thicker and on the softer side. Because of that, these cookies taste like a brownie and a cookie had a baby. Yum!
Simple. Subtle. Delicious! Great with coffee! Will be making these regularly. At least 3 ideas right off the bat on building on the foundation of these to take them up a notch if I want something a little more complex or just for the fun of it.
Do you think this cookie would work for a non-ginger, gingerbread house? I am wondering if it would be sturdy enough.
Yes, absolutely!!
I love the taste of the cookies but my dough turned out really crumbly? Is that normal for anyone else? Do I need to add more of something? How do I troubleshoot the dough before I bake the next batch?
Sounds.like.a little too much flour. Maybe stir it up before measuring to aerate it? What size were your eggs? I found that the minimum bake time was perfect or they would have been too dry for my batch…good luck!
Very good chocolate sugar cookie recipe. I’ve been baking for 60 years and this is the best sugar cookie recipe. I’ve made a lot! When I was reading the ingredients, I thought the nestle’s baking cocoa was Nestles Quick! i can’t believe I never heard of it. I bought a canister right away. The only little thing I would change is a little bit more sugar. I like SWEET cookies.
After trying many “Chocolate Sugar Cookie” recipes, this one is, by far, the favorite of my entire family. Don’t see a regular sugar cookie on your site.
If I were to eliminate the cocoa, would I be able to call it a regular sugar cookie?
Yes, for sure, but you might need to replace that with flour.
This recipe true to its word, does not spread, and while I was not sure if I loved the flavor at first, you have to eat a frosted cookie before you make your mind. Frosted they are fabulous.
I have made these cookies at least 20 times. Always perfect. I always cut them with heart cookie cutters in various sizes (even at Christmas). About to make a Valentines batch to deliver to doorsteps tomorrow. Thanks for an excellent recipe.
Love to hear it! We’re so glad you like them 🙂
I have made this cookies at least 20 times. Always perfect. I always cut them with heart cookie cutters in various sizes (even at Christmas). About to make a Valentines batch to deliver to doorsteps tomorrow. Thanks for an excellent recipe.
Love this recipe! But most of all, my toddler and my wife loves it too, cookies don’t stay around for too long.
I would like to make them different colours, can I just remove the cocoa, what could I substitute it with so that the dough can take on food coloring?
Hi there Jo! I have a question, could we add coffee powder or cinnamon to add flavour to this recipe? Thank you!!
Certainly!!
Question for you! Which type cocoa powder do you use? Dutch processed or not? Plan to make soon!
I actually use Nestle cocoa powder.
I’m unable to see the older comments but I’m curious, are these more of a crunchy texture or are they a soft cookie?
They’re a little in between both! Not too soft and chewy, but not hard and crunchy either. The perfect texture 😉