If you’re like me, a craving for chocolate hits regularly. When a piece of candy just won’t do, bake a batch of these dark cocoa cookies, which taste like a brownie but eat like a biscuit. Make small shapes, and they’re perfect for snacking.
These dark cocoa cookies are exquisite as is but also delicious slathered with nut butter or crumbled over ice cream. And in the style of these petite treats, I’ll keep this post short and sweet by now leaving you with the recipe.
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.
Dark Cocoa Cookies
Makes 72 1" + 24 1½" cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, salt and baking powder.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well blended.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat into a rectangle about 1" thick. Wrap dough and chill until firm, about 1 hour or overnight.
- When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center position.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough until it's about ¼" thick. Flour your work surface as necessary to prevent sticking.
- Cut out cookies with a cutter; I used a 1" bear and 1½" round cutter, but any shape and size will work. Place the cutouts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Press together scraps, chill and repeat.
- Bake cookies until slightly firm to the touch, 8-12 minutes. Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
For this batch, I used HERSHEY's Cocoa SPECIAL DARK, which is a blend of natural and Dutch-processed cocoa powders.
beautiful photos, great!