Description
These Chocolate Cut Out Cookies are rich, tender, and perfect for decorating with your favorite frostings like buttercream, sugar cookie icing, or royal icing. Made with natural unsweetened cocoa powder and a buttery dough, these cookies hold their shape beautifully, making them ideal for festive occasions or everyday treats.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp (8g) cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (259g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting Options
- Buttercream Frosting
- Easy Sugar Cookie Icing
- Royal Icing
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, beat the unsalted butter and granulated sugar on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light in color and creamy in texture.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Add the egg and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing until well combined.
- Combine Dough: Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix just until the dough comes together. The dough will be thick and may appear crumbly, but continue to mix gently using a spatula or your hands until it forms a smooth ball. Avoid overmixing.
- Chill Dough: Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. Chilling improves texture and tenderness, though it is optional.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Roll Dough: Bring the dough back to room temperature for easier handling. Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll each between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Freeze and Cut Shapes: Transfer the parchment with rolled dough onto a cookie sheet and freeze for 5 minutes. Remove the top parchment and cut the dough into desired shapes. Transfer cookies to the cookie sheet. Optionally, chill again to prevent spreading.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies immediately while still cold for 8-12 minutes, or until they look done but not overbaked.
- Shape Warm Cookies: Remove cookies from the oven and, if edges have spread too much, gently press sides inward with a butter knife while still warm for a clean shape.
- Cool Cookies: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat Baking: Continue rolling out the remaining dough, cutting shapes, and baking until all dough is used.
- Decorate: Once cooled, decorate cookies with your choice of buttercream frosting, easy sugar cookie icing, or royal icing.
Notes
- Chilling the dough is recommended for best texture and to reduce spreading during baking.
- Use parchment paper between rolling layers to prevent sticking and for easy clean-up.
- If cookies spread too much while baking, reshape them gently while warm.
- Cookie thickness is approximately 1/4 inch for optimal baking results.
- Decorate cookies once fully cooled to prevent melting or damage to icing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8-12 minutes per batch
- Category: Dessert, Cookie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: chocolate cut out cookies, cocoa cookies, cutout cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, holiday cookies, decorated cookies
