These ultra-soft, rich chocolate sugar cookies are the perfect base for all your cookie decorating projects! Be sure to scroll all the way through the post for my best tips on working ahead and fixing common sugar cookie issues.
I think we can all agree it's hard to beat a good sugar cookie. But what about a chocolate sugar cookie? Personally, I like to have some options in my sugar cookie flavor arsenal and finding a soft, chewy, deeply rich chocolate sugar cookie recipe was a hard nut to crack.
But this, THIS recipe is all those things. The secret ingredient: Actual melted chocolate. It's soft, it's rich, your eyes will say "cookie" but your tastebuds will say "brownies."
How to make chocolate sugar cookies
First, melt your chocolate in a double boiler.
Stir until the chocolate is smooth. Turn the burner off and leave the bowl over the pot of water so that the chocolate doesn't begin to harden.
Second, mix up the dough.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium to high speed until smooth.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the brown and granulated sugar. Continue beating until thoroughly combined. The mixture may still have visible granules of sugar, which is fine, but there shouldn't be any large lumps.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg, vanilla extract and melted chocolate.
Note: It's important that the butter and egg are brought to room temperature before making the cookie dough so that the chocolate doesn't seize at this stage.
Continue beating the mixture on medium to high until just combined.
In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking cocoa. Add the flour/baking cocoa to the dough about one cup at a time, mixing and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each new addition.
The dough should be soft and may be slightly sticky, but should pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it's still clinging to the bowl, at flour one tablespoon at a time until it pulls away from the bowl.
Third, chill the dough.
Press the dough into a disc and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.
Finally, cut out and bake your cookies.
knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until malleable. Roll the dough out to ¼″ thick. Cut out with desired shapes.
Bake the dough at 350F for 6-10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. The cookies are done when they’re no longer shiny on top.
Tips for making chocolate sugar cookies
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature to keep the chocolate from seizing when you add it to the dough.
- Bringing eggs to room temperature: If you forgot to take your egg out in advance of making the dough, you can quickly bring it to room temperature by placing it in a bowl of hot (but not boiling) water for about 5 minutes.
- Bringing butter to room temperature: Fill a bowl with warm water, place the butter in a slightly smaller bowl and place it over the bowl of water. The butter should be at or around room temperature in about 5-10 minutes.
- Halving this recipe: Since you can't add half an egg to a recipe, the best way to halve this recipe is to use the whole egg and adjust the flour to 1 ½ cup. All other ingredient amounts can be halved as you normally would.
- Working ahead: This sugar cookie dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up 5 days or freezer for up to 3 months before use. Be sure to thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator before using it.
- Sugar cookies lost their shape while baking: If your cookies lost their shape during the baking process, no worries! If you act quickly, it’s an easy fix. Simply re-cut the cookies with the same cookie cutter immediately after removing the tray from the oven.
- Baked sugar cookie surface is uneven: Sometimes sugar cookies will develop little bumps and air bubbles as they bake. If this happens, run a fondant smoother gently over the tops of the cookies immediately after they’ve been removed from the oven. If you don’t have a fondant smoother, gently patting the top with a paper towel works, too.
- Storage: Unfrosted sugar cookies can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature for 2-3 days or in a cool, dry, airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it went in the comments below. Better still, snap a photo and tag it on Instagram with #thesimplesweetlife. I love seeing your creations!
PrintRecipe
Chocolate Sugar Cookies
These ultra-soft, rich chocolate sugar cookies are the perfect base for all your cookie decorating projects!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Refrigeration: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 24
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2 oz dark chocolate
- 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup baking cocoa
Instructions
- Melt your dark chocolate over a double boiler, stirring until lump-free.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until smooth.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the granulated and brown sugar. Beat until thoroughly combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla extract, salt, melted chocolate and egg. Beat again until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
- In a bowl, sift together the baking cocoa and all purpose flour.
- Add the all purpose flour/baking cocoa to the dough about one cup at a time, scrape down the sides of the bowl between each new addition.
- The dough should be soft and may be slightly sticky to the touch, but should still easily peel away from the sides of the bowl.
- Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Once the dough is chilled, knead it on a lightly floured surface until malleable.
- Roll the dough out to ¼″ thick. Cut out with desired shapes.
- Bake the dough at 350F for 6-10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.
- The cookies are done when they’re no longer shiny on top.
Notes
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature to keep the chocolate from seizing when you add it to the dough.
- Bringing eggs to room temperature: If you forgot to take your egg out in advance of making the dough, you can quickly bring it to room temperature by placing it in a bowl of hot (but not boiling) water for about 5 minutes.
- Bringing butter to room temperature: Fill a bowl with warm water, place the butter in a slightly smaller bowl and place it over the bowl of water. The butter should be at or around room temperature in about 5-10 minutes.
- Halving this recipe: Since you can't add half an egg to a recipe, the best way to halve this recipe is to use the whole egg and adjust the flour to 1 ½ cup. All other ingredient amounts can be halved as you normally would.
- Working ahead: This sugar cookie dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up 5 days or freezer for up to 3 months before use. Be sure to thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator before using it.
- Sugar cookies lost their shape while baking: If your cookies lost their shape during the baking process, no worries! If you act quickly, it’s an easy fix. Simply re-cut the cookies with the same cookie cutter immediately after removing the tray from the oven.
- Baked sugar cookie surface is uneven: Sometimes sugar cookies will develop little bumps and air bubbles as they bake. If this happens, run a fondant smoother gently over the tops of the cookies immediately after they’ve been removed from the oven. If you don’t have a fondant smoother, gently patting the top with a paper towel works, too.
- Storage: Unfrosted sugar cookies can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature for 2-3 days or in a cool, dry, airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 182
- Sugar: 12.6g
- Sodium: 83mg
- Fat: 8.9g
- Saturated Fat: 5.6g
- Carbohydrates: 24.6g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 2.3g
- Cholesterol: 28mg
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