Happy Valentine’s Day!
These cookies are what would happen if traditional roll-out sugar cookies married brownies and they had a baby. A brownie roll-out cookie baby. The are thick and sturdy but still soft and chewy. Deb (from Smitten Kitchen) says you can roll them 1/8″ or 1/4″ thick, but I agree with her that I like them better on thicker side. You will really be impressed with how well they roll-out and cut (unless of course you’re using XOXO cookie cutters which happen to be the biggest PIA ever).
For Valentine’s day I decided to skip the icing/frosting and leave ’em naked! 😉 But they are really ideal for royal icing. They would also make for an excellent ice cream sandwich cookie! Or the perfect pair for a cherry buttercream! Or you could follow Jesse’s lead and smear one with peanut butter then top with a second cookie. You really can’t go wrong with these versatile little cookies.
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.
In a large bowl (or standing mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs, beat to incorporate. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Turn mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Mix until a solid/smooth dough forms. Form dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for an hour.
While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
After chilling, place dough on a lightly floured surface (a pastry mat or sheet of parchment paper dusted with flour is perfect) and roll, using a lightly floured rolling pin, to 1/4-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes. Combine and re-roll scraps as needed. Use as little flour as necessary for each step.
Place cut out cookies 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-11 minutes Allow to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to coll completely.
Source: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
LOVE everything about these! Hope you & Jesse have a lovely Valentine’s Day! 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day! This sounds like the perfect dessert for those of us who can never decide if they want either a brownie or a cookie. Now we can have both!
Love these, and I’ve been wanting to make these cookies, too! I love your new purple prop board! Hope you and Jesse have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
What a fabulous idea! I’m a brownie gal, myself, and would be ALL over these!
I made these tonight, the dough was very thick and challenged my mixer quite a bit, then when I attempted to roll the dough out it was very crumbly. Also I didn’t get even two dozen out of the batch. They were delicious though. Any hints on how to solve these issues?
Because we can all measure things just a little bit differently, I can see how the dough could take on different textures. If this were to happen to happen to me, I would probably try adding a tablespoon or so of milk.