The Best Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
This Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe is easy to make, soft, chocolatey, and keeps the shape of the cookie-cutter every single time. This one is a classic!
One of our most popular recipes is our The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe. And for good reason, we searched for years and finally found a sugar cookie recipe that makes soft yummy sugar cookies that don’t spread when they are baked. Over the years we’ve had many requests for a chocolate version of these cookies so after many tries in the Two Sisters Test Kitchen we’ve come up with a recipe that truly is The Best Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe we’ve ever tasted. Super chocolatey but with all the great qualities of the original sugar cookie recipe. We hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do!
What kind of Cocoa Powder Should I Use?
A word about Cocoa Powder. We wanted dark and chocolatey Sugar Cookies so we used Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder. Dutch-Process Cocoa is put through a second processing step where they use an alkali solution to subdue some of the acidity of the cocoa bean which also darkens the cocoa powder and enhances the chocolate flavor. I bought this Ghirardelli brand at my local grocery store. If you don’t have any on hand you can definitely use Hershey’s Cocoa Powder and the cookies will still taste great!
How to Make the Cookie Dough
Step 1: Add the butter and sugar to the mixing bowl. The butter should be softened to room temperature.
Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar until it is completely mixed (approximately 2 minutes.)
Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons of vanilla and 2 eggs.
Step 4: Mix the cookie dough until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes.)
Step 5: Add the Cocoa Powder to the cookie dough and mix.
Step 6: Add the Baking Powder and mix. Then mix in the flour two cups at a time and mix ONLY until combined.
Step 7: This is what the dough should look like after you have added the 5 cups of Flour. The flour should be completely incorporated and the dough should be firm but not dry or crumbly. If the dough seems drier than this, add a tiny bit of vanilla or milk and mix again. You do not need to chill this dough before cutting out the cookies. In fact, the cookies come out best if the dough hasn’t been chilled.
Baking Instructions
Step 8: Roll a handful of the dough out on a prepared surface until it’s about 3/8″ thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
Step 9 & 10: Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Do not over-bake! The cookies will be firm but not browned when they are ready to come out of the oven.
Step 11: This recipe will make quite a bit of cookies but the actual number depends on the size of the cookie cutters you are using. Using these large-ish cookie cutters, we made 36 cookies. If you only need a couple of dozen cookies, you can cut this recipe in half.
Don’t Forget the Frosting!
Let your cookies cool and then they are ready for frosting. We used our Best Buttercream Frosting recipe with the Chocolate Sugar Cookies. The frosting is easy to color and tastes so delicious and yummy. But any of our yummy homemade frostings would taste great on these chocolate-rolled cookies. Here are a few other suggestions:
- The Best Raspberry Frosting
- Mocha Buttercream Frosting
- Marshmallow Frosting
- Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- Peanut Butter Cup Buttercream Frosting
Expert Tips and FAQs
Both the eggs and the butter should be at room temperature which will help your cookies turn out lighter and fluffier. For the eggs, room temperature simply means not cold out of the refrigerator. If you forget to take the eggs out before you start making cookie dough you can put the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes to warm them up. The butter also needs to be softened to room temperature which means if you touch it you should leave an indentation on the stick of butter. Do not use butter that has been over-softened or melted. If that happens you should use a different stick of butter or put it back into the refrigerator to let it set up. We have a whole post about How to Soften Butter, click here if you need more information on how to do that.
Yes. In our opinion, you need some kind of a mixer to make a good cookie dough. A stand mixer, while expensive, is a great investment if you believe you have a lot of homemade baked goods in your future. An electric hand-mixer also works well and you can probably find one for around $20. You can hand mix cookie dough in a pinch (which is how we did it growing up), but you will really have to use a lot of muscle to cream the butter and sugar and eggs properly.
Creaming the butter, sugar and then mixing the eggs in is the most important part of the cookie dough mixing process. Creaming is when you fully incorporate the butter and sugar together and add some much needed air to the dough. We recommend creaming the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high speed and then mixing the butter/sugar/eggs for another 3 minutes at the same speed. Once you add the flour, you want to mix the dough as little as possible. Mix it too much and you will get tough cookies. Mix in the flour on low speed and continue mixing ONLY until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough. Make sure you scrape down the sides and the bottom to make sure all the flour has gotten mixed in.
We always line our cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper, it keeps the cookie from sticking to the sheet and from over-browning. You can find parchment paper either in rolls or in pre-cut sheets in most grocery stores, and we highly recommend it. Ideally, you should use at least 2 cookie sheets when baking cookies. You don’t want to add the raw cookie dough to a cookie sheet that is hot out of the oven. The dough will start baking even before you get it in the oven.
Cookies should always be stored in an airtight container. They should be completely cooled before storing them. If we have frosted the cookies, we usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. Cookies stored at room temperature should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can also keep them in the refrigerator and that extends their freshness for up to a week. If you need them to last longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. You can pull them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for 1 hour and they will be ready to eat.
Don’t Miss our Classic Sugar Cookie Recipe!
These Chocolate Sugar Cookies taste amazing and just like our The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe, hold their shape every time. Everybody in our family loved this Chocolate version of our famous Sugar Cookie Recipe. But if you are looking for the classic that started it all, you’ll find the recipe and tips and tricks to make the very Best EVER Sugar Cookies right here!
Other Chocolate Cookie Recipes You Will Love
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The Best Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
This The Best Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe is easy to make, soft, chocolatey, and keeps the shape of the cookie-cutter every single time. This one is a classic!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Butter (softened) (We used Sweet Cream Salted Butter)
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 5 cups Flour
Instructions
- Add Butter and Sugar to your mixer. Cream the butter and sugar until it is completely mixed. Do not over-mix.
- Add Vanilla and Eggs and mix until completely incorporated.
- Add Cocoa Powder and mix.
- Add Baking Powder and mix.
- Mix in the Flour two cups at a time.
- Do not chill the dough, the cookies will bake better if the dough is at room temperature.
- Roll a handful of the dough out on a prepared surface until it's about 3/8" thick and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes depending on the size of the cookie. Do not over-bake.
- Frost with The Best Buttercream Frosting
Notes
A Note about Cocoa Powder
A word about Cocoa Powder. We wanted dark and chocolatey Sugar Cookies so we used Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder. Dutch-Process Cocoa is put through a second processing step where they use an alkali solution to subdue some of the acidity of the cocoa bean which also darkens the cocoa powder and enhances the chocolate flavor. If you don't have any on hand you can definitely use Hershey's Cocoa Powder and the cookies will still taste great!
Storage Tips
Cookies should always be stored in an airtight container. They should be completely cooled before storing them. If we have frosted the cookies, we usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. Cookies stored at room temperature should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can also keep them in the refrigerator and that extends their freshness for up to a week. If you need them to last longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. You can pull them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for 1 hour and they will be ready to eat.
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
