Like my regular sugar cookies, these chocolate sugar cookies are soft and thick with crisp edges and a nice smooth top for decorating. Use cookie cutters to cut this chocolate dough into shapes, and after baking and cooling, you can decorate them with cookie decorating buttercream, royal icing, or this super easy cookie icing.
I originally published this recipe in 2016, and I’ve since updated it with new photos and more success tips to ensure every batch turns out to be the best chocolate sugar cookies you’ve ever had.
Bakers, you know I aim to bring you only the very best when it comes to sugar cookies. (I solemnly swear on my cookie cutters.) They need to hold their shapes in the oven, have a nice flat surface for decorating, and, obviously, taste amazing! So, in the mid 2010’s, developing a chocolate version of this popular recipe was not a task I took lightly.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Soft & thick centers with lightly crisp edges
- Rich chocolate flavor (not dry or bland!)
- Holds shape beautifully for cookie cutters
- Smooth surface for decorating (I used cookie buttercream and naturally-colored sprinkles)
- Make-ahead-friendly dough for easy planning
One reader, Abbey, commented: “These are one of my go-to recipes for cookie orders. People love them! It’s like a brownie in cookie form. These are the ones that get requested most often. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Pam, commented: “These rolled out well, baked up perfectly, and were SO delicious! My family and friends went crazy for them, and I’ll be making them again soon. Who wouldn’t love a ‘brownie cookie?’ ★★★★★“
Another reader, Peggy, commented: “My kids have labeled these Brownie Cookies because they taste like the perfect combination of a cutout and a brownie. They were so easy to make and very sturdy like your gingerbread cookie recipe. We used the easy glaze and just did a quick drizzle over the top. This is a great addition to my cutout cookie rotation. ★★★★★“
Key Ingredients & Why They Matter
With only 8 ingredients in this recipe, each and every one has an important job to do:
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides structure so the cookies hold their cut-out shapes.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: The star of the show! You can use natural or Dutch-process for slightly different flavor profiles. See the section below on this.
- Baking Powder: Gives a slight lift without puffing too much (important for flat tops!).
- Salt: For flavor balance.
- Butter: Unparalleled for buttery sugar cookies. Make sure it’s properly softened to room temperature. And if you’re a baking beginner, check out my tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens and helps create those slightly crisp edges.
- Egg: Binds everything together and adds richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the chocolate flavor without overpowering it.
By the way, you can use this exact dough when making Halloween cookies, my reader-favorite homemade thin mint cookies, and holiday-perfect peppermint bark cookies. They also look great decorated as fireworks cookies or football cookies. This is a very versatile chocolate sugar cookie dough!
And if you’re looking for a drop-style chocolate cookie recipe, you’ll love these double chocolate chip cookies or these chocolate frosted cookies.
Success Tips for the Best Chocolate Sugar Cookies
There are a few tricks to making sure your chocolate sugar cookies hold their cookie-cutter shapes in the oven (rather than spreading into unrecognizable blobs):
- Roll out the dough BEFORE chilling. It’s much more effective to chill the cookie dough *after* rolling it out, just as you do when making regular sugar cookies or brown sugar cut-out cookies. Trying to roll out hard, chilled sugar cookie dough is frustrating and difficult. So, once you’ve mixed together your dough, divide it into 2 halves, and roll out each portion before chilling the rolled-out dough in the refrigerator.
- Another trick: Roll out the cookie dough directly on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for 2 baking sheets in your refrigerator, stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other, with parchment in between.
- Roll evenly: Aim for about 1/4-inch thickness so they bake evenly and stay soft.
- My final trick: Instead of dusting your hands and work surface with flour like you usually do when handling/working with dough, use cocoa powder—an ingredient you need for the dough anyway! Flour is tasteless, so might as well use cocoa powder for extra chocolate flavor, right?
Natural Cocoa Powder or Dutch-Process?
Cocoa powder is the key ingredient in these chocolate sugar cookies. But which one should you use: natural cocoa powder or Dutch-process?
If you’re not sure about the difference between them and are interested, you can read more on my Dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder page. Though Dutch-process is typically what you would use when paired with baking powder, for this cookie recipe (and actually for these brownie cookies, too) it’s OK to use either Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder.
So choose whichever cocoa powder you like best! I typically use this brand of Dutch-process cocoa, or I also love Ghirardelli brand.
3 Cookie Icing Options
Once cooled, these cookies are your canvas! Because the cookies bake with a flat, smooth top, decorating is much easier and more professional-looking.
I have 3 cookie icing recipes, so you have several options to choose from, based on your skill level and decorating needs. Here are the basic differences:
1. Buttercream Frosting: I decorated the pictured chocolate sugar cookie hearts with cookie decorating buttercream, piped on with a Wilton 1A piping tip. Then I spread it around to flatten it out and added these sprinkles. This is a classic vanilla buttercream frosting that soft-sets on cookies after a few hours. In a nutshell:
- Only 5 ingredients
- Creamy + sweet
- Great for beginners
- Can decorate with piping tips or simply spread on cookies
- Can be tinted any color with gel food coloring
2. Royal Icing: I have a separate post for royal icing where you can find many FAQs, make-ahead instructions, and a video tutorial. This icing is ideal for intermediate or advanced cookie decorators. In a nutshell:
- Sturdy icing for piping sharp detail and fine designs
- Sets on the cookie in just 1–2 hours
- Dries firm but still soft, not a hard cement-like texture
- Make with an electric mixer
- Meringue powder eliminates the need for raw egg whites
- Can be flavored with your favorite flavor extract
- Can be tinted any color with gel food coloring
- Decorate with piping bags (reusable or disposable) and tips
3. Easy Glaze Icing: Another option is this easy cookie icing, which I typically use on these Christmas sugar cookies. This glaze-style icing is great for beginners and much easier to make than royal icing because you don’t need an electric mixer or the perfect icing consistency for success. It isn’t as sturdy as royal icing, though, so you won’t be able to pipe concise details. It also takes a good 24 hours to dry. In a nutshell:
- Easy to make with just a fork/whisk and bowl
- Just 5 basic ingredients
- Can decorate with piping tips or a squeeze bottle (good for beginners and young bakers)
- Can color with gel food coloring
- Sets on the cookie in 24 hours
For more decorating inspiration, here is my full tutorial (video included) on how to decorate sugar cookies.
And if you’re not into piping tips, you can just dunk the tops of the chocolate sugar cookies into icing like when making mini animal cracker cookies. A fun option if you’re baking with kids!
Not much! This recipe is designed to hold its shape, especially when the dough is properly chilled.
Yes! Chill it for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Absolutely. Freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator before rolling. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough for more info.
Recommended Tools for Cut-Out Cookies
Before I leave you with the recipe, let me suggest some useful chocolate sugar cookie tools. These are the exact products I use and trust in my own kitchen:
For even more recommendations, here is a detailed list of cookie decorating supplies.
Chocolate Sugar Cookie Supplies
Description
These are soft, thick chocolate sugar cookies with lightly crisp edges and rich cocoa flavor. This easy cut-out cookie dough rolls out smoothly, holds its shape, and bakes with a flat surface perfect for decorating with icing or buttercream. Chilling is the most important step, so don’t skip it. The number of cookies this recipe yields depends on the size of the cookie cutter you use. If you’d like to make dozens of cookies for a large crowd, double the recipe.
- Make the cookies: Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Roll the dough: Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Dust 2 large pieces of parchment paper or 2 silicone baking mats with cocoa powder or flour. Place a dough half on each. With a rolling pin lightly dusted with cocoa powder or flour, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more cocoa powder/flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Chill the dough: Lightly dust one of the rolled-out doughs with cocoa powder or flour. Place a piece of parchment on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven & shape cookies: Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough, using more cocoa powder or flour to lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin, and continue cutting the dough until all is used. Work quickly so the dough doesn’t become too warm or soft. If it does, stop what you’re doing and place any unused dough back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to stiffen up again. Repeat cutting into shapes with 2nd half of dough. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Bake & cool: Arrange shaped cookies on baking sheets 3 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until edges are set. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Make icing or buttercream: Prepare the royal icing, cookie glaze icing, or cookie decorating buttercream, and decorate the cooled cookies however you’d like. I decorated the pictured chocolate sugar cookie hearts with cookie decorating buttercream, piped on with a Wilton 1A piping tip. Then I spread it around to flatten it out, and topped with these sprinkles. This is a classic vanilla buttercream frosting that soft-sets on cookies after a few hours.
- Enjoy cookies right away or wait until the frosting/icing sets to serve them. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifting or for sending. Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing/buttercream to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months before rolling it out. Prepare the dough through step 3, divide in half, flatten both halves into a disk as we do with pie crust, wrap each in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the disks in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin or this Adjustable Rolling Pin | Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutter | Cooling Rack | Naturally-Colored Sprinkles
- Room Temperature: Room temperature butter is essential. If the dough is too sticky, your butter may have been too soft. Room temperature butter is actually cool to the touch. Room temperature egg is preferred so it’s quickly and evenly mixed into the cookie dough.
- Icing or Buttercream: Use royal icing, cookie glaze icing, or cookie buttercream (what I used). See post above to read about the differences.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
