If you have a chocolate craving and 30 minutes to spare, I can cure you with a warm and melty dessert! These Chocolate Sugar Cookies are crackly, chewy and a deep chocolate-y flavor. The buttercream frosting and sprinkles are entirely option! The recipe makes just six cookies.
I've been working on the perfect chocolate sugar cookie for so long, that when I finally nailed it, I felt like I deserved to sit on the couch and eat three of them. And so I did. I'm not doing Whole 30, you are.
I typically avoid talking to people during January because most people want to talk about their current diet. Whenever someone starts talking about a diet, all I can think about is cookies. And then I wonder, silently in my head, when was the last time they ate a cookie?
For me, the perfect chocolate sugar cookie has acrackly surface (excess sugar and a slightly acidic dough with baking soda causes cracks, did you know?), a good chewy bite, anda deep chocolate flavor.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Ingredients
- Butter. Unsalted butter is my preference for baking cookies, because we will be adding fine sea salt to the dough. This way, we can control the amount of salt in the final dish.
- Sugar. Granulated white sugar.
- Vanilla. A very small amount (¼ teaspoon) of high-quality vanilla extract, since we’re only making 6 cookies.
- Instant Espresso Powder. It’s entirely optional to use instant coffee or instant espresso powder when baking, but it really enhances the flavor of chocolate desserts.
- Egg Yolk. We only need the egg yolk for this recipe; save the egg white for another use, or for making an omelette in the morning.
- Flour. Regular, all-purpose flour that has been fluffed, scooped and leveled off with a knife.
- Cocoa Powder. All-natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. I recommend regular, not special dark due to a different pH.
- Baking Soda. We’re only using baking soda, no baking powder for these cookies.
- Milk. A small amount of whole dairy milk makes these cookies soft and fluffy, yet still chewy.
- Coarse Sugar. This is entirely optional, but I love the way cookies look and taste when they’re rolled in a small amount of super coarse sugar, such as turbinado sugar before baking.
- Powdered Sugar. This is for the optional frosting.
I do a few things to amp up the chocolate flavor. A little trick that I learned from Queen Ina to make my chocolate desserts even better is to always add vanilla and coffee. You won't taste explicitly vanilla or coffee; you'll just taste a richer chocolate flavor.
I use instant espresso powder in these cookies--not a lot, just a ½ teaspoon for the whole batch. You won't taste the coffee, but itwill taste richer. It's magic.
How to Make Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Using an electric mixer, beat together the softened butter and sugar until fluffy, about 1 minute.
Add the vanilla, espresso powder and egg yolk, and continue beating.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
Add half the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and beat a few seconds to combine, before adding half the milk.
Repeat with the remaining dry mixture and milk. Press the dough flat into the bowl, and divide it in half by eye. You should get 3 dough balls from each half.
Scoop the dough balls out with a cookie scoop into the bowl of sugar, and roll to coat in sugar.
Space the dough balls evenly on the baking sheet, and bake for 13-14 minutes, until the edges are the cookies are set. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the optional frosting: combine all ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Frost the cookies when cool, decorate and serve.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Variations:
These cookies are good on their own (and honestly, that's how I eat them most of the time), but a little frosting never hurt anyone.
If I'm not frosting these chocolate sugar cookies, however, I love to chop up a 3-ounce chocolate bar and stir it into the dough. With the frosting, though, it just seems a bit excessive so I leave it out. But if excessive cookies are your thing (hi, let's be friends!), please do it.
Plus, I feel like you have a little more wiggle room to be excessive when you're only making a half dozen cookies. I have a part-time business coming up with good reasons why it's okay for you to eat more dessert. I'm available as a life coach, too, did you know? (I hope you know I'm kidding!)
Also, if you're looking for plain small batch sugar cookies, I have you covered there, too.
I'm having trouble finding super cute Valentine's Day sprinkles in January (ugh, diets!), so I ended up combining jars of sprinkles in my pantry. I love the size range here--big hearts, tiny red and pink dots, white balls, and the tiniest foil stars and hearts. It's a good mix. The only problem is, I have a ½ cup leftover. But, we have 5 weeks until Valentine's Day, so I think we can come up with ways to use them.
This recipe uses only 1 egg yolk. Check out my list of recipes that use an extra egg white!
How to Store Chocolate Frosted Cookies
These cookies stay soft on the counter for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container. You can make the dough balls and freeze up to 3 months in advance; bake from frozen, adding 1-3 extra minutes of bake time. You can also freeze already-baked cookies flat. Defrost at room temperature for a few hours before serving. It is recommended to make the frosting the day you plan to serve them.
Chocolate Sugar Cookies Recipe FAQs
Should sugar cookie be soft or crispy?
By default, sugar cookies should be soft. Unless the recipe is called ‘crisp sugar cookies,’ they will be soft and chewy.
How do you know when chocolate sugar cookies are done?
When these chocolate sugar cookies are done baking, the edges will be set, the surface of the cookie will appear dry and puffy. They will deflate and crinkle slightly as they cool.
Should you refrigerate sugar cookie dough before baking?
You should only chill a cookie dough before baking if the recipe explicitly states to in the directions.
Yield: 6 cookies
Cocoa Sugar Cookies
A small batch of chocolate sugar cookies for two. Half dozen cookies.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time13 minutes
Total Time28 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup milk
- For rolling: ¼ cup sugar (coarse or fine)
For the frosting:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a small bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with a hand-held mixer, about 1 minute.
- Next, add the vanilla, espresso powder and egg yolk, and beat until combined.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
- Add half the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and beat a few seconds to combine, before adding half the milk. Repeat with the remaining dry mixture and milk.
- Have the sugar ready in a shallow bowl on the side.
- Press the dough flat into the bowl, and divide it in half by eye. You should get 3 dough balls from each half.
- Scoop the dough balls out with a cookie scoop into the bowl of sugar, and roll to coat in sugar.
- Space the dough balls evenly on the baking sheet, and bake for 13-14 minutes, until the edges are the cookies are set.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cool: make the frosting. Beat together all frosting ingredients (except sprinkles) until light and fluffy, adding more milk as needed to achieve a spreadable frosting.
- Frost the cookies, decorate with sprinkles, and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 301Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 94mgSodium: 165mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 1gSugar: 35gProtein: 3g
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