This is a simple recipe for dark chocolate sugar cookies. It’s the perfect blank canvas for your cookie decorating projects.

Today I’m sharing my favorite chocolate sugar cookie recipe that is ideal for decorating. It contains no chemical leavening, so it bakes up evenly for a perfectly smooth decorating surface. I use this recipe for decorating Christmas cookies. They’re also good sandwiched with a little buttercream.

Modcloth sent me some fun baking and kitchen wares. I just love this owl apron! Browsing their kitchen items is so much fun. You can check out more of what they carry here.

You can find a similar stackable bowl set, right here. I’m always looking for ways to save space, and this nesting set is amazing! All the bowls and measuring cups fit together perfectly.

Here’s a biscuit cookie, that looks like my pug. (A biscuit biscuit?!) These cookies are great for decorating with royal icing – fondant, too! I often use a combination of the two for a smooth finish.

These chocolate sugar cookies are very simple, but so satisfying. The yield will change according to the size of your cookie cutter. But you’ll get at least 3 dozen with a 3-inch cutter (with re-rolling scraps). These cookies are sturdy, too! You can make extra-large cookies and they’ll bake up firm and hold together well.
Also consider trying another of my favorite dark chocolate sugar cookie recipes, right here.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. two US sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 scant cup dark cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix at this stage, or the cookies may spread while baking.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently as needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on low speed until a dough is formed and there are no longer any streaks of butter in the mixing bowl. The dough will often clump around the paddle attachment while being mixed. This is normal and a good sign that your dough is the right consistency.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of wax paper and top with a second sheet. Roll dough into an oblong disc between the paper with a rolling pin. Transfer dough – wax paper and all – to a large cookie sheet. Wrap the dough tightly onto the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Remove top sheet of wax paper and roll dough a little thinner. It should not be sticky. You may dust the surface lightly with flour if it is sticky, but not too much! You don’t want streaks of white flour baked onto your pretty dark chocolate cookies.
- Roll dough to a ¼-inch to ½ -inch thickness.
- Cut out desired shapes from the dough and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Be careful not to stretch the cutout shapes or they will be distorted after baking.
- Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes. This will help the cookies maintain a crisp shape during baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Decorate the cookies when completely cooled.
I'd love to receive the Ingredi-antique Measuring Spoons for Christmas, they'd be a great fit in my kitchen!
I felt in love with this: http://www.modcloth.com/shop/kitchen-decor/cat-ula -> Cat spatula!! jajajja
I have 8 cats!! and 5 are maine coons, so I love all the things related with cats.
This is my e-mail: anna.barri84(at)gmail.com
Kisses!
Hi! Your cookies look delectable as always 🙂
I am an aspiring baker and I would just love to have the quirky and colorful Roy G. B-aker Food Prep Set.
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/kitchen-decor/roy-g-b-aker-food-prep-set
It would be a tough choice, but I would probably choose something with an owl or a mustache on it, my two latest obsessions.
I love to give gifts for or from the kitchen.
I would love the cutlery sets. It would be hard to choose between them all- maybe mix and match??
The Vinyl Vittles Bento Box- I've been wanting a bento box for a while now . . .
I would LOVE that pretty cupcake kit, I need all the help I can get in my baking pretty department!
I would also love the cupcake kit–I love to make cupcakes!
I'm in love with those moustaches cookies cutters!
So cute :3
I would love a new apron! I saw some very cute ones on the website!
Lots of friends buy me the cutest aprons when they find out I'm obsessed with baking, so I'd return the favor and buy one of modcloths' aprons for my new-to-baking friends, and then also buy the deco dot apron for myself! Those ruffles are adorable 🙂 and you have to look cute and have fun in the kitchen to have a baking success!
-Stephanie
S.chazan@yahoo.com
I really love the Paw me a Cup tea set and the If You Can't Stand the Hoot apron!
I would like to try making cake pops so I would get this kit: http://www.modcloth.com/shop/kitchen-decor/cake-pops-kit
I love the meow for measuring cups!! So cute. Also, love these cookies!
The matryoshka kitchen timer! The matryoshka salt & pepper shakers! I swoon.
shannon.amber.roche@gmail.com
For Christmas I am creating a cupcake baking set for my little sister who just got married in June. She's always loved baking but recently gotten into cupcakes and she loves it. So I'm creating an all things cupcake basket for her. Shh don't tell her!! She's also collected teacups for many years now. She likes to have friends over for little cupcake parties, and while I already have a lot of cupcake-related things, she doesn't have any cutesy little teacups to use when she has people over. The Floral to Ceiling Tea Set would be just perfect to go… Read more »
The owl oven mitts are too cute! Love the cookies, nice post as usual!
stephaniemvandellen@gmail.com
there are so many beautiful things! I love first of all "Washing & Hoping & Dreaming Dish Rack" but also "Retro-freshment Bottle Set" and "Cutensils Cutlery Set". They are adorable! 😉
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Wow I can't believe how many cute things modcloth has! It was hard to pick only one but I really like the tiffin box! I've been looking for one for a long time but haven't found one I liked until now!
http://www.modcloth.com/Modcloth/Apartment/Kitchen+Bath/-Tasty-Trio-Tiffin-Box-in-Bold-Breakfast
I've never had a chocolate sugar cookie before…looks yummy!
Mary
iammaryburke @ gmail.com
I love all the tea things and the water bottles. Seriously, nice stuff!
I love the Delectable Duo Tiffin Box. So cute!
stkavdiel AT gmail DOT com
Ingredi-antique Measuring spoons for my sister-in-law and Washing & Hoping & Dreaming Dish Rack for my mom. These are really cute.
kitkat0803@yahoo.com
The haute hibiscus apron would be perfect for my sister who lives in Hawaii.
I love all the tea related stuff on modcloth…but everything they have is pretty great! So many great gift ideas! Also, love those sweet little pug cookies!
cindy@hungrygirlporvida.com
A great giveaway! A pity I don't live in the uS.
Your decorated cookies are so cute!
Cheers,
Rosa
Lori says. Liv my lucky ay dress! Lmoffitt@bex.net
That would be luv..
my friend who's throwing me my baby shower is having a mustache-themed party for her 1-year-old soon…i would SO get here the mustachioed refreshment straws!
I love MODCLOTH! I have them on bookmark!
I would like the OWL coffee cup! or anything there. Anything OWL or otherwise 🙂
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/kitchen-decor/know-it-owl-mug-in-coffee
I am getting the Be Pre Slice cutting board for my friend Anna, who is a very Type A chef, it's perfect! I hope someone gets me the I can't stand the hoot apron!! Love this site.. Do you have a vanilla sugar cookie recipe which is as good?
My sister loves to bake/cook and LOVES ModCloth…I would so enjoy being able to get her a few Christmas goodies that she would love…including that owl apron!!!
Oh, Heather. Post of awesomeness! My husband is a lover of Shark themed kitchen gadgets and would love that oven mitt. My 2 year old daughter is already a cupcake-baking scholar and would adore the pretty cupcake kit. Dreaming for myself, a stay at home mom, I envision myself in the No Taste Like Home apron with that plunging V neckline, feeling sassy and inspired baking in something other than my sweats! Thank you for the giveaway!
I so need a new bag!
I'd give the pretty cupcake kit to my cousin – we both have a "thing" for cupcakes. 🙂
Oh LOVE the cupcake kit! The girls I nanny for would absolutely love helping me bake with this!
What an awesome website! Hard to pick… but I would probably get the tiffin box for my friend Bruce who loves all things Indian and the cat-ula for a dear friend, Jess who loves cats and baking! (cole12880_at_hotmail_dot_com)
I have to say that when I am cooking, I love to drink coffee. I am an avid collector of coffee cups and would add any of those cups to my collection. But the dinosaur ice cup tray would go over so big with my kids!!!
I would love the Be Pre-slice Cutting Board for me!
So many great items! For myself, I'd really love the Woodland Holiday Apron. I love all things Christmas!
The Brew La La Bottle opener! Love this new site and have added it to my favorites. Your cookies look great!
My Grandmother is a huge fan of elephants and she would love the Trunks Full of Taste shaker set.
So many cute things! I think the Bursting With Flavor Tumbler set is my favorite, so colorful.
I would DEFINITELY pick (to have or give away!) either the Whale measuring cups or the owl cutting board for no other reason than being super cute.
Awesome giveaway I love modcloth. I'd probably get my mom the tea infuser set for Christmas or get myself one of their lunch bags since I always take my lunch to work. The recipe card index is cute too (if anyone saw my pile of unorganized recipes they'd cringe). These cookies look delicious 🙂
The Penguin Pals Oven MItts are adorable! I would love to give a pair of those to my mom.
The Whale Measuring Cups! Oh my goodness, I need those in my house right now. I had no idea ModCloth sold awesome kitchen stuff.
I just bought a couple dresses, earrings and scarf from ModCloth. I *know* they sell apartment stuff, but never even looked. (Maybe because I spend enough time looking at their party dresses?!)
However, now that I've spied through their kitchen stuff I've fallen in love with a few pieces. Shake Your Towel-feather Dispenser is so chic and adorable for my new house.