In today’s post: Chocolate sugar cookies are soft, rich, and absolutely delicious paired with our cream cheese frosting or favorite chocolate frosting. They don’t spread in the oven so you can use your favorite cookie cutters with this easy recipe.
One of my personal mottos is this: chocolate makes everything better. Whether it’s a bee sting or a broken heart, I firmly believe a little chocolate can help. My kids were all early adopters of this life philosophy, perhaps helped along by the fact that chocolate chips are a household staple. We might run out of milk, or eggs, or bread, but never chocolate chips. Priorities!
Anyway, years of thinking chocolate makes everything better have finally culminated in today’s culinary masterpiece: soft chocolate sugar cookies.
Why You Will Love These Cookies
I’ll admit, I’ve never been wowed by traditional sugar cookies, but these chocolate cookies are a whole ‘nother story. They’re soft and chewy, and rich like a brownie. They mix up quickly and there’s no need to chill the dough. These cookies taste great on their own, but frosting takes them over the top. Don’t settle for standard royal icing, however. Try one of our favorite frostings (recipe cards for frostings at the end of the post):
- My mom’s famous Cream Cheese Frosting
- Perfectly Chocolate Frosting (original recipe from Hershey’s)
My husband says the cream cheese frosting is an amazing compliment without overwhelming the taste of the cookie itself, so it might be better if you really want to taste the cookies. But the chocolate frosting gives a really intense chocolate flavor, so if that’s what you’re looking for it might be the way to go! Plus I love how the sprinkles pop on that chocolate frosting.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
Here is the printable recipe card, but please see below for tips on how to make the perfect chocolate sugar cookie. Cards for the two frostings I used are at the end of the post!
Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup Butter room temperature, not melted
- 2 cups Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder aka Baking Cocoa
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or cookie sheet liners.
- Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and milk until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Dough should be fairly stiff – if it's quite sticky you can mix in another few tablespoons of flour.
- Liberally flour your countertop. Scoop out about 1/3 of the cookie dough. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough to just under 3/8 inch thick. Try not to use too much flour on top of the dough as it may be visible after baking.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut out cookies and transfer them to a baking sheet.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes until the edges of the cookies just feel set and the tops are barely cracked.
- Remove cookies to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
Tips
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Tips
This is a pretty big batch of sugar cookies – I can usually get 48 cookies from it. You may halve the recipe if you don’t want so many cookies. Just cut all the ingredients in half, and use 1 large egg and 1 yolk. Remember that how many cookies you get will depend on how thick you roll out your dough and what size cutters you use.
I usually roll the dough to 3/8 inches thick, then just a little thinner…but not all the way down to 1/4 inch. Experiment and see what thickness you prefer! By the way, I really like this rolling pin with thickness guides for making sugar cookies (affiliate link).
The baking time can be a smidge finicky – too long and the cookies will be a bit crunchy, too short and they will sink a bit. The baking time will vary depending on your oven and how thick you’ve rolled out your dough. Nine minutes is usually just right for me, but you may need a minute longer or shorter.
You’ll want to watch the cookies closely and keep track of how long they take in your oven. When done, the tops will have just started to crack a bit, and the edges will feel set (not hard). It may take a tray or two to get them perfect, but don’t stress.The good news is that the cookies taste great even when they are a little over or under done, and once they are frosted most people won’t notice either way!
You can store these cookies at room temperature for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipes
Cream Cheese Frosting for Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Butter softened
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 4 oz Cream Cheese softened
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar aka Confectioners Sugar
- 3 tbsp Milk
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Instructions
- Be sure you are starting with softened (not melted) butter and cream cheese.
- Add all remaining ingredients and beat together with a mixer. Continue to beat until texture is light and smooth, adding another tablespoon of milk if needed.
- Tint with food coloring if desired.
Perfectly Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp Butter softened
- 2 tbsp Corn Syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 6 tbsp Baking Cocoa
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
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Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, starting with 2 tbsp milk. Beat together. Frosting will look crumbly at first, but will smooth out and come together – if it stays crumbly add another tbsp of milk.
- Continue to beat about 2 minutes after frosting has come together. It will get lighter in color and texture and become smooth and creamy.
Lorraine Graf says
After I made the chocolate dough, it was to soft to roll out. Had to refridgeate it before rolling. Followed directions exactly.I think next time I will add a little more flour to the chocolate recipe.9 minutes was perfect and the cookies are really very good
Laci F says
No chill time after the dough is mixed? Just right to roll out? Is that correct?
Autumn says
Correct!
Peg says
The best chocolatey cookies I have ever had, made, and eaten! If I could have given them 10 stars, it would not be enough. Makes so many .
Lynn Carey says
Wonderful cookies! Probably the best and easiest sugar cookies I’ve ever made!