Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies
These soft chocolate sugar cookies are rich and really unbelievable. They are the perfect marriage of sugar cookie and chocolate!
This cookie recipe showed up in my life and I had a sudden realization that all this time (we’re talking 35 years here, people), I thought my life my life was fulfilled and complete and happy but really, without even knowing it, I was missing something essential.
There was a hole in my soul, if you will.
And it could only be filled by Chocolate Sugar Cookies.
I have a deep and abiding love for sugar cookies. They are my favorite cookie of all-time. But when you adapt the beloved sugar cookie to be 100% full of chocolate splendor and eliminate the need to refrigerate, roll and cut; well, I’m undone.
I had to give these away approximately 3 seconds after baking them.
Don’t worry, I ate more than would be deemed appropriate before unloading them on friends but keeping the other half of the cookies within the four walls of my small home would not be a healthy choice at this point in my life.
However, even after pawning them off on unsuspecting friends, I can truly say that now more than ever, my life really is complete.
Thank goodness it only took something as simple as cookies (and not, say, a new Ferrari or set of All-Clad pots and pans).
These cookies are rich and really unbelievable.
One Year Ago: Crepes, Crepes, Crepes
Two Years Ago: Homemade Maple Syrup
Three Years Ago: Homemade Taco Tortilla Bowls
Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (71 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (228 g) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (64 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 14 tablespoons (196 g) butter
- 1 ¾ cups (371 g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pour the granulated sugar on a plate or shallow dish like a pie plate and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, melt 10 tablespoons of the butter in the microwave. Take care not to overheat; microwave the butter until just melted. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter until melted. Allow the butter to cool for 5-10 minutes (it should be about 90-95 degrees on an instant read thermometer).
- Whisk the brown sugar, vanilla and salt into the melted butter until the mixture is completely smooth. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons for each cookie. Roll the balls in the granulated sugar and place on lightly greased or lined (with parchment or silpat liners) baking sheets. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten the cookies to about 1/4-inch thick, more or less. Sprinkle the cookies with a bit more granulated sugar (just a pinch per cookie).
- Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they have puffed and have cracks running through the top, about 12-14 minutes. Don’t overbake or the cookies will be dry. Transfer the cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: barely adapted from Cook’s Country
Just made these! Slight modifications had to be made, added probably 10 tbsp more flour to get to a consistency that I could rolled them into balls (it was very hot in my kitchen so that may have contributed). And I also rolled 4-5 cold mini marshmallows into the center for some fun extra gooey ness! Sooooo delicious and fluffy and perfect!!! 10/10
This recipe is amazing ! I got so many delicious cookies! this is my new go-to for chocolate cookies !
These are the best chocolate sugar cookies ever!! This is the first time ever that I made chocolate cookies and they were so easy and taste awsome.
It was pretty hot today when I made these, would you recommend chilling the dough? Mine spread a ton and didn’t get crackly, though they were super yummy.
Yes, if your house is warm, that would be a good idea (also you can try adding a bit more flour, too).
These are the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever made! My whole family loved them and they were gone in less than 24 hours!
These are always my go-to cookies! They are so easy to make and delicious!
I made these on a whim the other day and I’m so glad I did! They turned out absolutely perfect. My husband had more than one… which is saying something because he’s not a huge fan of sweets. I will definitely be saving this recipe to use again!
Just made these cookies. They came out great.
Had to add a little more flour to stiffen up dough. Other then that they look just like the pictures. Definitely a keeper.
So delicious! I underbaked and added a tsp more flour to get them to keep shape rolled. Really perfect cookie. Like a brownie and sugar cookie. So buttery! I really love these. Forever recipe
My family and I have a new favorite sugar cookie.! I made them with the Hersey’s Special Dark Cocoa awesome. They are absolutely perfectly delicious!! They look black like an Oreo since I used the Special Dark Cocoa.
Followed recipe to the “T”…not possible to roll.but used as a drop cookie and WOW!!!!! SO DARNED GOOD!
I’ve just started weight watchers so I tried substituting some mashed banana for part of the butter (used one small banana, 1/4 c margarine and about 2 tbsp I can’t believe isn’t not butter light). I don’t mind a little banana flavor if it’s going to cut fat calories. I did have to add more flour, it was still soft so I just just small cookie scoop. Very good cookie.
I made these yesterday, and they taste delicious. I don’t know what I did wrong, but they are as hard as a brick. Maybe I cooked them too long? Help!
Hi Melanie – if they are that hard, it does seem like they might have been overcooked. How long did you bake them?
I made these tonight!! I didn’t have any Brown sugar so I used white with a spoon full of molasses. They taste amazing. Huge hit!
I made these tonight!! I didn’t have any Brown sugar so I used white with a spoon full of molasses. They taste amazing. Huge hit!
Oh my these are delicious. First time I made them I didn’t make the cookie big enough and they were a little too crispy. The second time they were big and perfect!! I used some coarse sugar mixed in with the granulated sugar when rolling the dough.
Oh boy these are DEE-LICIOUS!!! I made exactly as written, weighing my ingredients, and they turned out perfectly. I tried a test cookie pressed with a glass and another just left in the ball. They both turned out, and that ball actually looked closer to the picture, but I liked the little bit thinner cookies better. Interestingly, I used one light and one dark sheet, both with parchment, and the light sheet produced puffier, crinkling cookies. All taste fantastic 🙂
I am new at baking. How many dozen does this recipe make…
1-2 dozen depending on how big you make them.
I made your Chocolate Sugar Cookies. They tasted wonderful but mine were flat as a pancake. What did I do wrong?
Loree
Try adding a few tablespoons more flour or upping the baking temp by 25 degrees.
Fantastic! This is seriously the BEST chocolate cookie recipe I’ve ever made. Will become a regular with my baking.
I used light brown sift sugar – turned out great.
Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks, Sal!
I have had this recipe for 30 years. Mine has mint added to it. Yummy
Really good cookie. Has a brownie taste with a cookie feel. I did however made one MAGA mom cookie(5 scoops of dough). So technically mom only had 1 cookie! Lol Thanks for the sweet recipe!
Mine came out the consistency of brownie dough, not possible to roll so I just added more flour (didn’t measure) enough to make it able to roll and I cooked them 12 minutes. They came out perfect. I live in the mountains but not what is considered high elevation. It was also a rainy day. I will be making these regularly. Thanks for the recipe.
Great recipe! Easy and chocolatey. Based on previous reviews I baked two test cookies. One cookie ball was flattened with a glass the other was not. The flattened cookie barely cracked and was a bit more crispy. The ball that was not flattened looked just like the picture. These are definitely a cookie i will make again.
I made them twice now. just love them. FYI they make great ice cream sandwich cookies
Mine did not puff up and crinkle. They flattened out completely. I followed the recipe exactly and used only fresh ingredients. What did I do wrong?
Sometimes you need to add a bit more flour. Because flour absorbency varies – especially when using melted butter. Try a couple more tablespoons.
I made these and I just rolled them in sugar and they flattened on their own
I substituted pure maple syrup for the vanilla, and used light brown sugar. I cut the dough balls down to 1 Tablespoon. Then I cut the time down to 9 minutes. They turned out great! Love them!
These are very good! I followed the recipe as written.
The dough was soft (my butter was NOT warm) so I did refrigerate the dough. They turned out better for me using a small scoop to form the cookies (big scoop made them too big/flat). The smaller cookies puffed up a bit but didn’t really have cracks. Thanks! I will make these again!!
Awesome cookies! I am allergic to eggs, so I used an egg substitute and they turned out AMAZING. I used light brown sugar too which turned out fine!
I just got done mixing all the ingredients together following each step. But my result was very mushy and slippery. I’m not sure what happened, but I was really looking forward to making these 🙁
How many calories in one cookie? I’m trying to determine how many I can afford to eat! They are fabulous!!!
I just made these exactly by the recipe but my dough was not a,stiff consistency to make the dough balls. I had to a good bit more flour. What could I’ve done wrong? I did let my butter cool just like the recipe said.
I’m not really sure, Dorothy – it could be that we just measure our flour a bit differently?
Maybe buy new baking soda and powder?
I had the same problem. Mush. And I weighed my ingredients.
Do you live at high elevation, Kari?
I had the same problem
Making these as we wait for Hurricane Matthew. These are delicious and an addition to my tried and true recipes! Thanks!
Stay safe!
Made these today, didn’t have baking powder, but they turned out SOOO good. They were chewy, crunchy, fudgy, just awesome!
Should the butter be unsalted or doesn’t it matter?
I always use salted butter.
Has anyone used this recipe for cut out cookies??
Oh. My. Heavens. These are INCREDIBLE. So moist and chocolately, more than just your average chocolate cookie. At first I was a little nervous to use light brown sugar, but then I went for it and the result was heavenly. Yes, about another 1/4 to 1/2 of flour was needed, but that was no problem. I can’t stop raving about these little desserts straight from heaven.
Oh my goodness!!! These are absolutely the best!!! I dared to hope that they would turn out this delicious, but they did, and I can’t wait to make them again for Christmas.
I did have to add about 3/4c flour to the end batter in order to handle the dough, but, it didn’t affect the flavor at all. Plus, I only baked them for ten minutes. These are definitely going in my ‘favorites’ file!! (but I think I’ll call it a secret recipe).
Oh my dear gracious, these are absolutely amazing. Thank you for the pure inspiration that you put into my life!
Although mine did not puff as much, they are still delicious and everyone can’t get enough of them! Thank you for the recipe!
Had been wanting to make these cookies for a week or so. Finally made them today. They are delicious. I did use light brown sugar. In addition to the sugar coating I added crushed peppermint sticks. They melted into the cookie and it was a bit chewy and a bit crunchy. It was the perfect touch for mine. I made them without the peppermint for my husband. He loved them as well. Mine did not puff and crack much. As per a note I saw in comments I will add less flour next time and there will be a next time 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe.
Have you tried rolling and using a cookie cutter for this dough? I need shaped cookies, but I don’t have time to frost them. Thanks!
I haven’t, Sindy, sorry!
These are amazing. Thank you for a about great recipe that I will make for years to come.
Decent recipe, with the exception of your instruction to smash the cookies to 1/4 inch, which is way too thin. The cookies in your picture are at least 1/2 inch thick or more.
Yep, because they puff up during baking.
Hi Mel, This is now my go-to cookie for making homemade ice cream sandwiches. Mine turn out a little flatter than yours (I also don’t roll them in sugar for this) and when you freeze them they don’t get too hard. I know this recipe and comment thread is from forever ago, but since it’s summer I thought I’d mention it. 🙂
I only had 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar, so that’s what I used. I baked them and checked at 14 minutes, and saw they hadn’t puffed up or cracked. I assumed they weren’t done, so I let them bake for another three minutes. They still hadn’t puffed or cracked, but I took them out because they were burning at the edges. I tried one and it was dry! Was is just because I didn’t have enough sugar? Or did I do something else wrong? Was it the overbaking?
Hi Vega, reducing the sugar could make a difference. Also make sure you aren’t over flouring the dough. Did you use a scale? If not make sure the flour isn’t packed into the cup.
Hey Mel 🙂 we are celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary in June, I am looking for some desserts that I can make ahead of time. We would like to do some kid friendly cookies. How are these cookies 2 days after? Have you ever frozen the dough?? If not these cookies do you have any of your other cookies that would work?
thanks,
Melissa
I left the comment above and I believe spell check changed my email… I did not notice until I hit post comment.
Love these cookies! Delicious. I made them today for my sister’s birthday on Wednesday…. thinking I may need to make another batch! Thanks for the recipe.