Christmas baking time is here for me, and I’m ready to share a new recipe, chocolaty goodness combined with classic roll out sugar cookies – chocolate chip cut out cookies.
A combination of these chocolate chip cookies and my go-to sugar cookie recipe, they’re easy to make, and the dough or baked cookies can easily be frozen as is.
Delicious without the royal icing too, I’ve opted to keep these ones plain. You could freeze them and decorate a little closer to Christmas time or you can also decorate them early and freeze the iced cookies.
The key to these cookies keeping their shape lies not only in the combination of ingredients (exact measurement in baking is important) and omission of the leavening agent (i.e. baking powder), but in some crucial points in the process. You can find a whole post dedicated to cookies keeping their shapehere.
Use mini chocolate chips for this recipe. You could chop up larger chocolate chips, but I find they make the dough look messier. Just fine if you like more chocolate streaks in your dough though! It ends up looking more marbled because of the chocolate “crumbs”.
I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips because that’s all I could find, but I’m pretty sure I’d love milk chocolate chips even more in this recipe. Please let me know if you find mini milk chocolate chips somewhere!
In case you missed it, these cookies will be frozen to keep them as fresh as possible for Christmas time. Find a post on freezing cookieshere.
Here’s my digital download complete guide to cut-out cookies, including tips, tricks and a video on making sugar cookies.
If you’re baking a little closer to Christmas than I am, here’s a post for you on theshelf life of cookies.
Such a simple recipe to make and the perfect palette for sweet cookie designs – have fun making them too!
2cupssalted butter, room temperature (1 lb or 454 g)
2large eggs
2tspvanilla extract
5 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour (1 lb 9 oz or 698 g)
1 1/2cupsmini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed, using the paddle attachment. Mix until incorporated – for about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
Add eggs and vanilla extract slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula if needed and mix again.
Add all of the flour to the bowl. Place a large tea towel between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won't escape. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the tea towel and observe the dough mixing; when it starts to come together add the mini chocolate chips and mix until the dough clumps around the paddle attachment. The dough should peel away from the sides of the mixer and clump around the paddle attachment. You can also test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture. There are various reasons why a dough can be too dry or too sticky, ranging from humidity in the environment, to what kind of flour you use, the fat content of the butter etc., however, there are ways to fix the issues if you run into them. Already mentioned, add flour if your dough is too sticky, and if it’s too dry, make sure you’ve mixed it as best as you can first, and if it’s still too dry, add a little water or milk until your dough comes together.
Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If your dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
Once all cut out, put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate if you like! If you’re new to decorating cookies,here is a cookie decorating tutorialwith everything you’ll need to know to begin!
Pull off the top sheet of parchment, then slide the sheet of dough onto a baking sheet, then pop it in the freezer. (You can stack as many sheets of dough onto one baking sheet as you'd like.) Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze!
Dip your cookie cutters in flour with each cut. Work from the center of the rolled-out dough to the edges, cutting shapes close to one another to prevent extra scraps and extra rerolling. If the cookie cutters get really sticky, wipe them off with a damp paper towel.
(In general, you're looking for a smooth dough that can be rolled thin, cuts cleanly and contains little or no baking powder.) If the dough gets too warm, refrigerate or freeze it until it becomes firm again. Your leaf shapes should do just fine.
A lower temperature will require more cooking time and will ultimately result in a thinner, crisper chocolate chip cookie. For those ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookies, 375 degrees Fahrenheit is your sweet spot.
Too much flour will make your cookies dry and crumbly. Too much sugar and butter can make sugar cookies spread and lose their shape when baked. This one requires a little patience because once you roll out your dough, you are ready to bake. Be patient and bake your cookies when the dough is really cold.
Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer. Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies.
Butter is the ideal fat for cookies because it adds the best flavor. However, stick margarine (with at least 80% fat content) and shortening will also yield good results.
To ensure the wonderfully soft sugar cookies of your dreams, you want to roll the dough about ¼-inch thick. This may seem too thick when you are rolling and cutting, but it's absolutely vital.
To prevent this make sure the baking sheets are always at least on room temperature. Ideally you want to cut your cookies and then chill them with the baking sheet. that way the tray is still cool when it goes in the oven and the cookies have no time to spread before they are baked through.
Simple metal cookie cutters can transform store-bought slice-and-bake dough into the most festive holiday dessert. For these Christmas cut-outs, all you need is a 16.5-ounce roll of Pillsbury sugar-cookie dough, some flour, and an oven (elbow grease not included).
Pay particular attention to the areas on the cutters where there is a lot of detail, making sure flour gets into all the little corners since that is where sticking is most likely to be a problem.
“The best cookie cutters have a small rolled lip of metal or plastic around the top to protect my hands and give me an edge to grab onto to pull the cutter back up,” Bushman says. “I also look for a nice seam where the metal of the cookie cutter joins together so I don't have a weird shape on one edge of my cookie.”
Melted butter is best suited for drop doughs such as chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies, as well as most cookie bars. You can usually adapt recipes that don't originally call for melted butter to use this technique if you're looking for an even fudgier texture.
Bake at 375 degrees F until golden and tender, 12 to 15 minutes. For crispy-cakey cookies: Bake the cookies at 425 degrees F until golden and crunchy on the outside, 8 to 10 minutes. For chewy cookies: Use 1 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup corn syrup and omit the granulated sugar.
“For the best results, choose a silicone baking mat or parchment paper to line your pan,” Dawn recommends. “Simply greasing your pan — basically adding fat to it — will encourage your cookies to spread.” (Check out our side-by-side test baking to see for yourself.)
Introduction: My name is Tish Haag, I am a excited, delightful, curious, beautiful, agreeable, enchanting, fancy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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