Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Ah! I have about 13 1/2 seconds to write this post because….well….I’m a poor planner and I need to RUN out the door. But I CAN’T go another day without sharing this recipe with you, so here goes. I love sugar cookies, we discovered this last year around christmas when I posted The Perfect Rolled Sugar Cookies. This year, it’s all about chocolate. And these blew my mind. I ate about 25 of them right out of the oven, which is why I had to make another batch since they were supposed to be for the church play date. Oops. They super chocolately and truly delicious without any toppings but I topped them with mint frosting and chopped Andes Mint candies and with that, all left over self control flew right out the window. I may need sugar cookie rehab but I’m still in denial at this point. Here goes the tutorial:

Melt some butter and add your cocoa powder to it. I used mostly black cocoa powder with a couple tablespoons of regular. If you don’t have black cocoa powder, go to the grocery store and just buy the Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder. A dutch processed cocoa powder or black cocoa powder will make for the best flavor in these cookies. Stir the butter and cocoa powder until it creates a smooth paste. Next, cream butter, sugar, and salt. Nothing new.

Add your chocolate mixture to your now creamed butter and sugar.

Whip this in your mixer until it’s light and fluffy.

Add two egg yolk and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add your flour, 1/2 cup at a time while the mixer runs on low. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down at least once and mix again to make sure the dough turns out nice and uniform. From here you have two choices, make these into cut-out cookies or go the fast route and make them drop cookies. They turn out the same either way.

Option #1: Cut out cookies. Dive your batter into three balls and flatten them into thick disks. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll each disk out between two pieces of parchment paper and cut into desired shape. For best results, they should be about 1/4 inch thick. Bake 7-9 minutes, until set but not crispy. A crispy cookie is no good.

Option #2: Drop cookies. Without refrigerating at all, drop by tablespoons into a lined cookie sheet. Dip a glass in sugar and flatten until they are about 1/4 inch thick. Bake 7-9 minutes until set but not crispy.

Let them cool and frost as desired. Enjoy!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Recipe from Sugar and Grace 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 c unsalted butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)
• 1/2 c dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1 c sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

Directions:

• Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and mix in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Cream the butter, sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy.
• Add the cooled chocolate mixture and whip until light and fluffy, about 1 minute
• Ad the egg yolk and vanilla and mix until incorporated
• Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until incorporated, scraping the bowl periodically to ensure all the flour is evenly blended.
• For cut out cookies: divide dough into 3 balls, flatten into thick disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes and then roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into shapes. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes, until set but not crispy. Cool 5-10 minutes before moving to cooling wrack. Cool completely before frosting.
• For drop cookies: drop by tablespoons onto a lined cookie sheet. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar until they are 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes until set but not crispy.

Mint Sugar Cookie Frosting

See this post and use 1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract instead of 1 tablespoons of vanilla.