Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

These Chocolate Cut Out Sugar Cookies are packed with delicious chocolate flavor, slightly chewy centers and crispy edges. If you are looking for brownie like sugar cookie look no further. They are perfect plain, decorated with icing, chocolate or sandwiched with your favorite filling.

updated from 2014

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CUT OUT COOKIES

If this is your 1st time making cut-out cookies, I highly recommend you check out my Ultimate Guide to Cut out Cookies to get familiarized with the process and common cut-out cookies problems and solutions.

INGREDIENTS

Just like with most of the baking recipes be sure to use room temperature ingredients.

• Unsalted Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Granulated Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla Extract
• Almond Extract
• Instant Espresso Powder or Strong Granulated Coffee (optional)
• Cocoa Powder – Dutch Processed
• All-purpose Flour
• Salt
• Baking Powder

TIP: Are you looking for a vegan variation of this recipe, try my Vegan Cookies instead.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE DOUGH STEP BY STEP

CREAM BUTTER AND SUGAR

Cream room temperature butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until pale in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl few times to ensure all of the ingredients are well blended together, (steps 1-8).

COOKIE DOUGH FLAVORINGS

In this recipe I use 2 whole large eggs at room temperature.

To enhance chocolate flavor I also use coffee in this cookie recipe. Using coffee is totally optional. Along with coffee I use Vanilla and Almond Extracts. Almond extract is also optional. I like to add it to deepen the flavor slightly. If you prefer you can also use chocolate extract to double down on chocolate flavor.

Into the room temperature eggs add Vanilla Extract, Almond Extract and instant coffee granules or espresso powder. Whisk well to combine, (steps 1-8).

TIP: Bring cold eggs to room temperature by submerging them in warm water for 5-10 minutes.

Into the creamed butter and sugars gradually beat in egg mixture. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all is well combined.

COCOA POWDER

When it comes to cocoa powder I’d recommend that you use Dutch processed cocoa powder in this recipe. Sift cocoa powder thru a fine mesh sieve into the butter mixture. Beat well until combined and mixture is homogeneous, (steps 1-3).

TIP: It’s important to sift cocoa powder. Don’t skip this step or  you might be unpleasantly surprised with cocoa powder lumps in the cookie dough.

DRY INGREDIENTS

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl, (steps 1-5).

COOKIE DOUGH

Now you can gradually add flour mixture into the butter mixture. On low speed add flour in 3 additions, scrapping down the bowl few times to make sure all the flour is well blended in, (steps 1-6).

Dump cookie dough onto a work surface and gather it into a disk. I personally like to give it a quick 5-10 second kneading by hand to bring it all together, (steps 7-8).

ROLL OUT COOKIE DOUGH

At this point you have 3 options:

• You can roll out freshly made cookie dough between 2 parchment sheets, slide it onto a tray and stick it into the fridge for an hour and up to 6 hours and then cut out and bake cookies. If you let rolled out cookie dough in the fridge for longer then 8 hours, edges start to dry out a bit.
• Wrap cookie dough disk into a food wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours and up to 3 days. Then roll out cookie dough.
• Wrap well in food wrap and place wrapped disk into a freezer safe ziploc bag/container and freeze for up to 3 months.

When I work with a chilled or previously frozen cookie disk, before I start rolling out cookie dough I like to quarter the disk and then I take one quarter and set it aside. Rest of the cookie dough I slice into about 1 inch thick pieces, (steps 1-3).

Roll out quarter of the cookie dough you set aside. If it’s too hard to roll out microwave it on high for 5 seconds. Roll out cookie dough to about ¼ inch between silicone mats or use 2 parchment sheets, (steps 1-4).

CUT OUT COOKIES

Cut out cookies with cookie cutter or hand cut unique shapes and transfer cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, (steps 1-3).

You can bake cookies right away. Chill the the remaining cut out cookies until your first batch bakes.

Gather scraps, take one or 2 pieces of sliced chilled cookie dough. With your hands press it together and roll it out and repeat the process.

BAKE CHOCOLATE CUT OUT COOKIES

I bake chocolate cut out cookies at 375F (190C). Medium size cookies (3 inch) take about 7-10 minutes. Small (1 inch size) cookies will be done a little faster, about 6-7 minutes. Also, remember thinner cookies will be baked faster.

GET CREATIVE – WHAT TO BAKE WITH CHOCOLATE COOKIE DOUGH

This cut out cookie recipe is really fantastic. Cookie dough is easy to make and it is also very versatile. Baked cookies can be decorated with icing, fondant or chocolate. When you omit baking powder you can make molded cookies. Or use textured mats to transfer beautiful designs onto the cookies.

You can roll out cookies thinly to make them crispy and fill them with jam, ganache, peanut butter or coconut filling. And guess what? You can also use these chocolate brownie cut out cookies to make ice cream sandwiches. So good!

Let’s make some chocolate cookies. But be aware, they are extremely addictive.

BAKING SUCCESS TIPS

• Can I make cookies chewier? Use more brown sugar (1 cup brown sugar and ½ cup granulated sugar).
• Sift Cocoa Powder! It’s important to sift cocoa powder to prevent cocoa powder lumps in the dough.
• How thick do you roll-out cookie dough? I roll it out to 1/4 inch thick to make decorated cookies and 1/8 inch thick for sandwich cookies.
• How long do chocolate cut-out cookies last? Cookies keep at room temperature, in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
• Can I freeze cut-out cookies? Freeze unbaked cookies on a tray, then layer frozen unbaked cutouts into a freezer safe container, between pieces of parchment. Freeze up to 3 months. When ready to bake, transfer frozen unbaked cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes then bake the cookies as usual. Freeze baked and cooled cookies in a freezer safe container layered between sheets of parchment. Refer to my step by step tutorial on How to Freeze Cut Out Cookies. Cookies can be frozen up to 3 months. To decorate frozen cookies allow them to thaw completely before decorating. I recommend letting them sit on a counter for 3-5 hours or overnight.
• What icing pairs nicely with chocolate cookies? If you plan on decorating cookies these chocolate brownie cut out cookies pair nicely with vanilla, orange, chocolate, coffee, caramel and even lemon royal icing. I used orange royal icing to decorate these Monarch Butterfly Cookies. This best ever chocolate cookie dough can be also used to make sandwich cookies, filled with jam, Nutella, peanut butter filling or you can make chocolate s’mores.

MORE CUT OUT COOKIE RECIPES

• Vegan Sugar Cookies
• Classic Vanilla Sugar Cookies
• Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
• Raspberry Valentine’s Day Heart Cookies
• Honey Cookie Recipe
• Homemade Graham Crackers

Did you make this recipe? Tag @hanielas on Instagram and hashtag it #hanielas

This recipe was originally published on February 14th, 2014. On February 12th, 2021 I updated this post with new step by step photos, text and a video.1