Chocolate Sugar Cookies

These Chocolate Sugar Cookies are rich and fudgy with the perfect amount of chew in every bite. Rolling each in coarse sugar makes them look extra beautiful and also gives them a nice crunch. Trust me when I say they are going to make your list of favorite cookies.

These cookies are super easy to make and spread as they bake to make a beautiful, flat, yet soft and chewy cookie. The recipe can easily be doubled if needed and they're great to make for any occasion because of how simple yet tasty they are.

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED

• Room Temperature Ingredients:
  • Butter: It’s important that your butter is softened. In a pinch, you can put your butter in the microwave for about 5 seconds on each side, but watch closely to make sure it is just softening and not melting.
  • Eggs: You want to make sure that your eggs are at room temperature to ensure that they are properly incorporated into your batter. If you forget to leave them out before you start baking, place them in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes until they become room temperature.

• Measuring Your Ingredients: I strongly encourage that you use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients and ensure that you have the most accurate measurements possible.
  • However, if you don’t have a scale on hand and will be using cup measurements, make sure to use the “spoon and sweep” method when measuring to avoid packing in too much of any dry ingredient.

• Oven Temperature: Make sure to preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes before you start baking.
  • I recommend purchasing an oven thermometer to get to know your oven so you can adjust your baking temperatures accordingly. Some ovens run slightly warmer or colder so its important to know yours to make sure your baked goods come out right.

• Check out My Favorite Baking Tools to see what I use when I bake.

Let's get started by preheating the oven to 350º. Using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer and a large bowl, blend together the butter and sugar on medium speed until combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Next you'll add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix just until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add in the flour mixture and mix just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Wrap chocolate dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. It's important to not skip this step since this lets the dough rest and firm up before the scooping process. If you're really short on time, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and pop it into the freezer for about 10 minutes or until it is firm but not too hard.

I like to use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for these cookies because it makes them the perfect size cookie. If you don't have this size cookie scoop, you can use whatever size you do have, but make sure to bake the cookies slightly less if the scoop is smaller than 2 tablespoon and slightly longer if the scoop is larger.

Scoop all of the cookie dough at once and place them closely together on a cookie sheet. This recipe makes exactly a dozen cookies with no extra dough left over. Pop the cookie sheet in the fridge to let the cookies chill for a few minutes while you pour the coarse sugar into a small bowl and line another baking sheet with parchment paper.

Once the cookies have had the chance to chill, gently roll each ball of dough in the sugar. Make sure to fully coat the top and sides of each dough ball, covering every inch except for the bottom. Place each cookie a few inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet. Six fit well on a large cookie sheet as they spread quite a bit.

Bake the cookies for about 12-14 minutes until they are firm around the edges. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully moving them to a cooling rack. The cookies will firm up slightly, but will still be soft and chewy in the center.

These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. If needed, you can make the dough in advance and refrigerate it for 1-2 days or freeze it for up to two months. Make sure you pat the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. If you're freezing it, I would recommend pre-scooping it and placing the dough balls in a ziploc bag. Let it come to room temperature slightly before baking and you might need to add on a few extra minutes as well.