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!
If you want to experience the extra softness and chewiness of your favorite chocolate chip cookies, chop up a bar of dark chocolate and mix the chunks in the dough. Dark chocolate, which contains from 50% to 90% cocoa solids, is often referred to as the best chocolate for cookies.
Baking powder simply adds carbon dioxide to the equation, providing a more forceful pressure that encourages a dough to spread up and out. Without the well-developed elasticity of a bread dough, the strands of gluten in cookies would sooner snap than stretch, cracking along the surface.
Putting a slice of fresh white bread in the container with the cookies will help the cookies stay soft: fresh bread is moist, and that slice will give up its moisture for the greater good: keeping the cookies from drying out.
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.
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.
Bittersweet chocolate is a type of chocolate that contains a higher percentage of cocoa than semisweet chocolate, but with less sugar. It has a deep, rich flavor and is often used in baking because it doesn't make the finished product too sweet.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips are the standard inclusion in basic chocolate chip cookies, and Nestle Toll House specifies their use (naturally) in the classic “back of the bag” recipe—the one that “started it all.” Semi-sweet chocolate contains less added sugar than other varieties, which gives the baker better control ...
If you want a more speckled look for your cookies, finely chop the chocolate bar into ⅛-, ¼-, and ½-inch pieces. This method will result in a chocolate chip cookie with a “freckled” chocolate appearance, with a smoother mouthfeel without the chocolate pools of fèves.
Baking soda is generally about three times stronger than baking powder, so adjust your recipe accordingly. Baking soda and baking powder can produce cookies with different textures. Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies.
Baking powder, in particular, is one of those ingredients you can easily run out of without noticing, but when it comes to baking, it does a very particular job, and can be difficult to replace. Most baked goods need a leavening agent to make them rise, and if you leave it out, your cake or your cookies will fall flat.
Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.
Cookies aren't cake, they have a lot more sugar. All that sugar liquifies as they bake. If you bake out all the moisture until they feel like a done cake, you are left with rock hard cookies when the sugar cools down and re-solidifies.
This isn't a revolutionary tip and is probably quite obvious, but if you leave your cookies in the oven for even a few minutes longer than necessary, the mix will dry too quickly and lead to more rigid, dry cookies.
To help cookies keep their shape, freeze them! I freeze each batch of cut-out cookies for 5 to 10 minutes before baking. They rise just slightly higher and keep their shape better. This really helps when using an intricate cookie cutter, but I do this even when baking circles.
Different fats will affect the shape of your cookies, as will the temperature of the dough when it goes into the oven. Softer fat like shortening and margarine will spread more than butter, and cookies with butter in them, if refrigerated before baking, will hold their shape, even when quite thick.
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.
Introduction: My name is Aron Pacocha, I am a happy, tasty, innocent, proud, talented, courageous, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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