Rich Chocolate Cutout Cookies

Submitted by Andi the grate

"A very rich, dark chocolate cutout cookie that bakes up almost black, great with milk. Perfect to decorate for Halloween. Makes about 44 2-3 inch cookies. Can also be used to make a Hauted House. From Martha Stewart. Prep time includes chill time."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 40mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 44 cookies
• Serves: 44

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
2. With an electric mixer on medium, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. 3-4 minute.
3. Beat in whole egg, yolk, and vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in three additions.
5. Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 2 hrs (or up to 1 day).
6. Preheat oven to 375°F Remove 1 disk from refrigerator, and let stand until room temperature.
7. Lightly dust two large sheets of parchment with cocoa powder, and roll out disk of dough between sheets to a 1/4 inch thickness.
8. Transfer to a baking sheet, and freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes.
9. Remove top parchment sheet, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
10. Remove excess dough and space cookies evenly. Re-freeze until firm.
11. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

Reviews

[DoubletheGarlic]

I was nearly scared away by the refrig-roomtemp-freezer-refreeze routine, but this is a great dough to work with. I made two batches and only gave the first 1/4 of it the freezer treatment. Mine was easy enough to work with at room temperature. (Neither of my batches was over-moist like stormylee's.) Quite oreo-like, but much more of a dark brown than a black.

 

[stormylee]

Very good - extremely chocolatey and intensive. I did add a bit of more flour (scant 1/4 cup) when mixing the dough so that it no longer stuck to the bowl and formed a ball. The dough was still quite sticky so I worried if the cookies would keep their shape, but the freezer trick worked perfectly; no problems with the baking part at all! Lovely cookies, thank you for sharing!