Chocolate Sugar Cookies

My chocolate sugar cookies are a fun, festive chocolatey treat and a fun twist on the classic. They can be rolled thin for crispy cookies or thicker for a softer and chewier texture (my favorite!). Top them with my shiny and firm (and egg-free, for your meringue-powder haters out there 😉) chocolate icing! Recipe includes a how-to video!

No-Spread Chocolate Sugar Cookies

It’s officially (chocolate) sugar cookie season! Based off my faithful original sugar cookie recipe, this is a reliable cookie recipe that bakes up beautifully with defined edges (no spreading!) and a rich chocolatey flavor.

Here’s what’s to love about them:

• NO spreading with crisp, defined edges. It can be SO frustrating to make a cookie dough, wait for it to chill, roll and cut it out, and then have your beautiful cookies turn into unrecognizable blobs in the oven. My reliable recipe maintains its shape the entire way through the the baking process, so you don’t have to worry about this.
• Rich chocolate flavor that reminds me of brownies. These cookies make a great alternative to gingerbread men during the holidays (but they’d be fun as a ghoulishly decorated Halloween dessert too!)!
• Customizable texture: roll the dough thinner for crisp cookies, or keep it thick for soft and chewy results.
• Easy, shiny chocolate icing that sets firmly without any meringue powder or egg whites. I have both a chocolate and vanilla version you can use, and both are stackable once fully dry.

I topped today’s cookies with a new chocolate version of my favorite easy sugar cookie icing (recipe included below!). I perfected this simple icing years ago (back when I felt intimidated by royal icing), and it’s been my go-to ever since! It dries smooth and shiny, is easy to work with, and is almost impossible to mess up.

Many of the tips that I shared over in my original sugar cookie recipe (and other cutout cookies like linzer cookies and shortbread cookies) still apply here, like keeping your cuts close together, baking cookies of the same size on the same sheet, chilling long enough, and measuring your flour properly. Definitely read through that post first if you are a beginner!

Ingredients

• Cocoa powder. I like to use Dutch process cocoa for both the cookies and icing. I find the flavor and color are richer. Natural cocoa could work in a pinch though, if that’s all you have on hand (and I used to use natural cocoa in this recipe!). I talk more about the differences between the two and when you can substitute one for the other in my post on natural vs. Dutch process cocoa.
• Vanilla extract. This complements the chocolatey flavor so nicely! Don’t skip it.
• Sugar. We’ll use granulated sugar in the cookies themselves and powdered sugar in the icing.
• Milk. We’ll add just a splash of milk to the icing until it reaches the proper consistency. Really any milk will work, so use what you have on hand!
• Corn syrup. Some of you may be hesitant to use this ingredient, but remember, corn syrup is not the same thing as high fructose corn syrup! This is a critical ingredient in my sugar cookie icing, as it helps it set up with a firm, shiny finish. If you really must leave it out, you can, but your cookies won’t be as shiny, won’t set up as firmly, and you may need to add more milk to get the consistency right.

SAM’S TIP: I don’t always do this, but for best practice I recommend sifting your powdered sugar (after measuring it) if you plan on piping your icing. Sometimes powdered sugar has lumps in it that don’t break up when mixing your ingredients together, and left unsifted these can clog your piping tips while you’re decorating. There are few things as frustrating as trying to pry a pocket of sugar out of your piping tip so you don’t have to dump out the whole bag and start over!

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Make the dough

Cream the butter and sugar until well combined, then stir in the egg and vanilla. Set the wet ingredients aside while you whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Gradually add the dry ingredients, working in about 3-4 parts. Do not add them all at once, or you will create a difficult dough!

Cover & chill

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, then divide in half. Wrap each half in plastic and form into a disk. Place in the fridge and let chill for at least 2 hours before rolling.

Roll & cut

Roll out your first disc of dough on a lightly floured surface. If you’d like thicker cookies, roll the dough to ¼” thickness, or if you prefer thinner cookies, roll it to ⅛” thickness. Note that the thicker you make your cookies, the less defined the edges are, so don’t go too thick!

Some people like to dust their countertops with cocoa powder instead of flour. If that works for you that’s great! It’s not my preference though as cocoa powder is actually more drying than flour, can make the outside of the cookie seem more bitter, and honestly it just makes a much bigger mess.

Make sure that after rolling you gather the scraps and re-roll the dough until you have used it all.

Bake & cool

Group cookies of the same size on the same sheet, so they all cook at the same time. Bake until cooked through (this time will vary depending on the thickness and size of your cookies but I list a range/guide in the recipe). Make sure you let them cool completely on the baking sheets before decorating with icing.

Decorate!

Whisk together the icing ingredients. Getting the icing just right is important for a glaze that can be neatly piped on the cookie without flowing off the edges and that dries firm enough for the cookies to be stackable. I include visual cues in my video but you want it to ribbon smoothly off a whisk and hold its shape for several seconds before dissolving back into the bowl. You can also just use trial and error, drizzle it over an extra cookie with a spoon and add more milk as needed until it behaves as you’d like it to!

Pipe icing onto your cookies and use a scribe tool or toothpick to swirl through the gaps and make a smooth surface. If you want sprinkles on top of the icing, add them while the icing is still wet so that they stick (the icing dries fast!).

SAM’S TIP: If you find that your icing is too thick when you’ve mixed all of your ingredients together, you can simply add more milk (about a teaspoon at a time) until the proper consistency is reached. Conversely, if your icing is too thin, you can add more powdered sugar until it’s thickened.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’d love to see how you decorate your chocolate sugar cookies! Please tag me on Instagram @sugarspun_sam to share your photos with me.

Enjoy!

Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜

I originally published this recipe in 2018. I’ve updated the recipe to use Dutch cocoa and to include helpful hints and notes.

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