Mmm mmmm…. French Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cut Out Cookies seem like an acceptable way of starting February… 🍪💗
Another simple twist on my classic sugar cookies, Hershey’s heart chocolate chips and a few extra ingredients.
The key ingredient being French Vanilla extract, of course. Quality is key for flavor, buy the best you can afford. The term French vanilla traditionally refers to a French style of preparing vanilla ice cream. The difference being that the French use egg yolks to create a custard base for their ice cream, giving it a richer consistency. You can of course use artificial or natural vanilla compounds to flavor, as I did, but I wanted to get a bit more of a richer, creamier flavour in the cookies, so added a few more new ingredients.
It’s not overtly obvious, but the other secret ingredients I added were 2 more egg yolks and some custard powder.
You can always add more or less French Vanilla Extract and/or custard powder to taste. I hope you enjoy making and eating these!
Without further ado, onto the recipe!
French Vanilla Chocolate Chip Rollout Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups salted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp custard powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups Hershey's Heart Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed. (Use the 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 custard powder and mix.
- Add eggs and yolks slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. Add French vanilla extract, mix.
- Add the flour in 2 or 3 stages to the bowl and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and observe the dough mixing. When it starts to come together and the dough clumps around the paddle attachment and peels away from the sides of the mixer, it should be the right texture. Add the heart chocolate chips at this stage and mix.A quick note – To see if your dough is ready, you can test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture.
- Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If the dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
- Once all cut out, put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
- Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate if you like! If you’re new to decorating cookies, I have basic cookie decorating tutorials with everything you’ll need to know to begin on my blog. Have fun!
Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section or on social media. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube.
Happy decorating!
xo,
Marian
Andrea says
Good Afternoon. Where did you get the Hershey’s Chipits Hearts? They seem to be available only in Canada. Thank you.
marian says
Hi Andrea,
I bought them at Zehrs Grocery store in Canada. I am currently on hold with Hershey’s Canada, trying to find out locations in Canada and the United States where they can be found. If I don’t come back to update this comment today, it means that they were not able to help me further.
I did have someone else reach out to me privately asking where to buy them in the United States. She had phoned Hershey’s U.S. and they did say they were not sold there. 🙁 Still keeping my fingers crossed for another answer!
I did see them on Amazon where I linked to, but they may be sold out now.
marian says
Ok, I just got off the phone with customer service Hershey’s. It looks like they do not sell them in the United States, I’m sorry to hear it.
In Canada, they are sold at the following stores:
Sobeys
Loblaws or Zehrs
Walmart
Shoppers Drug Mart
Pharma Plus
Costco
Canadian Superstore
Tina Dahl says
FYI…the French Vanilla hyperlink is not linking correctly, it links to Hershey’s Chocolate….
marian says
Thank you Tina! I will fix it.
Donna says
Is it really two tablespoons of vanilla and not two teaspoons?
marian says
Ha ha, yes, Donna, I did put A LOT. Please feel free to add less according to preference.
Bunny King says
What is custard powder? I have never heard of that.
Kerryn says
Custard is a traditional English dessert, commonly eaten with pie or crumble. It can be made from scratch with eggs, milk and sugar or use custard powder. We visited family in Canada a few years ago and I was amazed no one knew what custard was! We hunted round the whole supermarket for custard powder, even the store assistants were clueless haha! We managed to find 1 tub of Birds Custard Powder (the common UK brand)! In the UK its usually on the aisles with jellys (jello), tinned fruits, rice pudding etc so if your stores have any I would suggest looking there! Alternatively I’m sure you can order it on amazon! If you manage to find it you should definitely try custard it’s delicious!
marian says
Hi Bunny King (I love your name, I have a bunny named Ginger),
Kerryn got it right on point (thanks Kerryn!). I bought the Birds Custard Powder that Kerryn mentioned.
Dee says
Hello, I would like to make these but was wondering if I can use vanilla instant pudding mix (Dr Oetker) instead of custard powder? Are they the same thing?
marian says
Hi Dee,
I like Dr Oetker products but I’m not sure you could substitute. My guess is yes… but I haven’t tried it.
Jennifer Tan says
The link for the French Vanilla Extract is not working? What brand did you use and where can I buy it from?
Thanks
Jenn
marian says
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry, I fixed the link now! I used the Olive Nation one.
Vicky says
I love these French vanilla chocolate chip cookies. They both look delicious and great fun. My children will love it. Very clever how this recipe was created. Thank you.
Terri says
Hi Marian!
I absolutely LOVE your website & all things cookies (sugar). My passion is cookies! I really want to make this recipe for French Vanilla Chocolate chip cut outs but I truly want to use the Chipits. I am trying so hard to find those places you mentioned to order on line but seem to be hitting a brick wall. Any information you could help with that would be most helpful. I do know you can only purchase in Canada but don’t know anyone there that could buy/ship them to me. Cannot understand why an American company like Hershey’s would not offer them in the US. Craziness!
Another question, did you use regular royal icing to frost or another flavored royal icing with this recipe?
marian says
Hi Terri,
Thank you so much for your lovely message!
I agree, it’s surprising that the heart chipits are not sold in the US! It’s usually the other way around, less available in Canada.
One idea I have is to message Sherry of How Sweet is That? (searching that on google should bring her up). She brings in things from all over the world and ships all over the world, and is in Canada.
I used regular royal icing with these but of course you could use flavor with something different.
Hope that helps!
Dani says
I only use unsalted butter. Generally for recipes the standard amount of salt is 1/2 tsp. Will that be okay for this recipe?
marian says
Hi Dani,
Yes that would work.