This new recipe has been a looong time coming, and I’m so excited to share it with you! Batches and batches of experimentation – playing with flour and delicious cocoa powder amounts, some input from readers over the years (especially Marina who tried a similar version of my sugar cookies – thank you!), and finally, the yummiest chocolate sugar cookie recipe!
I was happy to put the final touches on the recipe for Go Bold With Butter, a must-see baking and savoury recipe resource for those serious about all-natural ingredients and excellent buttery taste. You can find my chocolate sugar cookie recipe here as well, and enjoy all the other mouth watering recipes there!
I have a few notes to share with you about baking cookies in general as well:
Notes:
- One of the reasons I experimented with this recipe so much, is that I wanted to find the best ratio of butter to flour etc., to create the perfect cut out cookie which holds its shape. This one definitely does, but no matter what recipe you use, these tips on how to prevent cookies from spreading are important to know.
- Use the best quality ingredients you can. The cocoa powder will make a big difference in the final taste of your cookies.
Enjoy baking and nibbling on decorating these!
xo,
Marian
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed (Use a paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated – for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you’d like a light and fluffy cookie, that’s ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you’d like the cookie to hold its shape.
- Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again.
- Add liquid vanilla extract. Stir briefly.
- Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour, cocoa powder and salt).
- Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel or two small tea towels between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won’t escape. Mix on low speed for 3o seconds. Remove the tea towels and observe the dough mixing; when it clumps around the paddle attachment it’s ready. It’s also important at this stage not to over mix the dough.
- Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough further if you need to, and cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
- Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
- Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
I love this recipe. I made it with the Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa and it was so good. Thank you!
Aww that’s lovely to hear, thank you!
I’ve made this recipe for Christmas cookies for the last few years and loved it. Was planning to make a version using gluten free flour blend.(measure 4 measure) and also bake 1 large cookie to use as the base for ‘fruit pizza’. Plan is to cut the recipe in half because I know it makes a lot (leftover is also ok in my house). Have you ever tried baking as a large 12-16” cookie ? Thoughts on timing?
Hi Monica L,
I haven’t tried a gluten free or large size, but, I can imagine a few tips might help…. try making the cookie quite thin, making sure it is evenly rolled. Bake it at a slightly lower temperature, helping ensure that the sides don’t get too brown by the time the middle gets baked. It will be a little bit of observation to see how long it takes, but of course will take longer in the oven than smaller cookies.
Happy baking!
I added almond essence and a sprinkling if clear sanding sugar. My favorite cookie!
Sounds lovely, I will try that, thank you~
I am a cookie snob and these cookies are Soo good. I ended up basically mixing them by hand I had to do half the recipe because I was low on butter. I sprinkled them with a chocolate flavor sugar sprinkles. So good, thank you!
Hi Emily, well high praise, thank you so very much and Merry Christmas!
Hi can I freeze the rest of the dough and use for later?
Hi Marcela, yes, you can.
WOW!! I have been itching to try a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies. This recipe is phenomenal!!! So very rich and chocolate-y! I was nervous the cookies wouldn’t hold their shape as they seemed so fudge-y. (I was also expected baking powder in the recipe, but shows what I know..) Your work is BEAUTIFUL, and your tutorials have helped me so much, so I knew I had to trust this recipe exactly as written – sooo glad I did! I have batch waiting to be decorated, and plan to use this recipe on repeat!! Thank you for sharing.
Well, what lovely praise Antonia! I’m so glad you like them and thanks so very much for your kind comments!
How thick are the cookies pictured rolled out to?
bonjour,
pouvez vous indiquer les mesures en grammes ?
s’il vous plaît car en France on utilise pas les tasses.
Merci
This recipe just popped into my feed! A friend of mine is working with me to do exactly what you have done here, CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES!
Thank you so much!
Going to start the last round of cookies tomorrow afternoon.
Will come back and leave a review. So excited! Know they will be outstanding.
All our baking best,
Lars and Naomie
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy them Lars and Naomie!
I love these cookies and I always tend to go back to this recipe. However, I always find that 4 cups of flour is not enough for this recipe. The dough always seems too sticky. I always have to add more flour.
This is THE VERY BEST recipe! No fail, hold their shape, deliciousness. The bake is the only thing I struggle with but I am getting better. I have been making these for years now. It’s my most requested cookie.
Hi Christy,
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so glad to hear that!!
these were so yummy but they turned out soft, any ideas of what I did wrong?
Hi Susan,
The longer you bake them, and the thinner you make them, the crispier they can get.
I followed the instructions but my dough is all crumbley and dry. how do I fix it?
Hi Lainey,
It shouldn’t be dry and crumbly with the right measurements etc. Try adding a little milk, water or egg to add more moisture. I hope that helps!