Chocolate Cookies For Valentine's day ! by Flours and Frostings

Dark chocolate sugar cookies

“Love is not what makes the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile”

Would it be too cliche to tell you that I don’t like Valentine’s day ? Well, its true. I enjoy the fact that there is one more reason to celebrate ( and I feel life should have far more celebrations!) . And I am a romantic at heart (aren’t we all!) .What I don’t buy into is all the overrated hype and hoopla of it . And all the red .. there ‘s red balloons and banners and roses and cards and candy . And the hearts.. I have never liked the heart shape , I mean I never drew little hearts instead of dots when I wrote as a teen , I never had a heart shaped anything in life , and I don’t even own a heart shaped baking pan. Just a pet peeve of mine.

But one of my resolutions this year is to let go of my peeves (I have got quite a few , I’ ll tell you that!) and grow  a bit.And I’m starting with Valentine’s day. Another reason ( and to be frank a MUCH more valid one ) is that since I started the blog five months back, the most requests I have gotten is for V Day bakes and romantic desserts. So there will be a lot of reds, and pinks and hearts (yes !) on these pages the next couple of weeks.

And the perfect way to start would be the Creative Cookie Challenge where we were asked to make cookies for “Hearts/Love” . I chose to make these super simple dark chocolate sugar cookies . As I typed this , I just realised that I have chosen chocolate in some form or another for almost all my cookies in the group ! Anyways … I think chocolate is always romantic and of course I used a heart shaped cookie cutter. I also tried to decorate them a couple of ways . Thats one more thing I never do ..decorate my cookies, I like them fuss free and rustic. But I figured what better reason to pull out the stops other than for love ! Ok, that was corny. Sorry.

So , I ll stop talking now . I made these awesome dark chocolate sugar cookies that I adapted from Sprinklebakes. They are perfect cut-out cookies , taste crisp and chocolatey. I also made my own coloured sugar and decorated the cookies in as valentine-sy a way as I could . Not too happy with my effort though. Could definitely be neater and better. But I didn’t mind as the cookies are so delicious !

You’ ll need:

  • 225 grams or 1 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
  • 200 grams or 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg , at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250 grams or 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 90 grams or 1 cup dark cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

For decorating (optional):

  • 200 grams or 1 cup granulated sugar
  • gel food colouring of your choice
  • 100 grams dark chocolate
  • 100 grams white chocolate

Makes : 2 dozen cookies (of around 4 cms)
Time : 15 mins prep + 1 1/2 hours chilling time + 15-20 mins baking time per batch

Lets get started:

Whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Keep aside.

In another bowl ,beat together your room temperature butter and sugar until just combined. You can use a hand / stand mixer , I used a wooden spoon.

Add and mix in the egg and vanilla until incorporated well.

Add in the flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl as required.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for atleast an hour.

In batches (half / fourths) , roll out parts of dough until 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick . I roll out my cookie dough between two sheets of parchment. Using a cookie cutter , cut shapes and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Chill for atleast half an hour so that they retain their shape while baking. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 180 C/ 350 F.

Bake for 15- 20 mins . Cool completely and store away or decorate as you please.

Make your own coloured sugar :

Take the amount of granulated sugar in a clear ziplock bag and add a drop or two of gel colouring.

Rub it in until the colour is evenly distributed throughout . This takes a few minutes. You can also take the sugar and colour in a  clear glass jar , close the lid and shake vigorously. If you find the colour too light , add another drop. If its too dark , add more sugar.

Decorating technique one : Place the cookies on parchment. Melt the white chocolate and using a fork , flick the chocolate onto the cookies . If the chocolate is thin , it ll fall in streaks . If its thicker like mine , it’ ll form s splotches. Sprinkle some sugar on top. Once dry , shake off excess sugar.

Decorating technique two : Melt the dark chocolate . Dip the cookies in the chocolate , shake off excess and dip in the coloured sugar. You can dip the front , or the whole cookie. I just did about a third of each cookie. Let cool on parchment

Decorating technique three: Use round cutters to make the cookies . Place a heart shaped cookie cutter in the centre and sprinkle the coloured sugar inside. Carefully lift the cutter off and remove any stray sugar. Chill and bake as above.

Also :

  • Store in a closed airtight container at room temperature for upto a week.
  • The dough can be chilled for upto 3 days and frozen for couple of months.
  • Coloured sugar can be stored in the ziplock bag or closed container for months
  • You can use sprinkles instead of the sugar.

 

These cookies are deliciously crisp and keep their shape like a dream . The chocolate flavour is deep and dark , so the cookie carries the extra sweetness of the decorations well. I ‘ll be honest . I loved them plain just as good as I liked the jazzed up ones. But thats just me :-). Make them any shape you want and decorate as you please. But they are perfect to spread some love with these tiny hearts this Valentines . Or any other day 🙂

If you like these cookies or this page , do show some love on my Facebook page or follow me on Instagram

The Creative Cookie Exchange 

It is late January guys and you know what that means! Soon love will be in the air! Too corny? OK fine, but we all know Valentine’s Day is about to start trending, and we have the perfect cookies! Hearts, love, anything symbolizing hearts and love, we have it all! Check out our hearts and love cookies below and maybe make them for your loved ones!

You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

56 thoughts on “Dark chocolate sugar cookies”

  2. I have to agree about the hype about Valentine’s Day, and I never go out to dinner on that night. The best thing about the day is when the candy goes on sale :). Your cookies looks fantastic and I appreciate you giving different ways of decorating them.

    Reply

  3. I have to agree about the hype about Valentine’s Day, and I never go out to dinner on that night. The best thing about the day is when the candy goes on sale :). Your cookies looks fantastic and I appreciate you giving different ways of decorating them.

    Reply

  7. Nooooo Laura.. Hearts or love have so much more to do than Valentine’s day. And I m glad for the theme as I got to do something new. And like I said , I m embracing the new this year!
    So thank u !!!

    Reply

  10. All of the cookies are beautiful but I am especially partial to the ones you dipped in chocolate then the colored sugar. Very classy looking hearts!

    Reply

  11. All of the cookies are beautiful but I am especially partial to the ones you dipped in chocolate then the colored sugar. Very classy looking hearts!

    Reply

  13. In a way I’m also not much into Valentine’s Day, I’m glad that there are others as well 😀 Dark chocolate with crunchy sugar bits must taste so goooood!

    Reply

  14. I agree most of the Valentine gifts are cheesy, and the whole thing can be so over rated! But I do like the sweets that come with it! Dark chocolate is my favorite, and these cookies look like they would satisfy that crave! Nicely done!

    Reply

  15. I agree most of the Valentine gifts are cheesy, and the whole thing can be so over rated! But I do like the sweets that come with it! Dark chocolate is my favorite, and these cookies look like they would satisfy that crave! Nicely done!

    Reply

  16. This post made me laugh–are you secretly hating my theme? It;’s ok if you did, I have secretly hated some themes over the years lol. I will confess as well to thinking about SEO more than any deep love for the holiday. 🙂 The cookies are awesome though–chocolate cookies are always a good choice!

    Reply

    1. Nooooo Laura.. Hearts or love have so much more to do than Valentine’s day. And I m glad for the theme as I got to do something new. And like I said , I m embracing the new this year!
      So thank u !!!

      Reply

  17. This post made me laugh–are you secretly hating my theme? It;’s ok if you did, I have secretly hated some themes over the years lol. I will confess as well to thinking about SEO more than any deep love for the holiday. 🙂 The cookies are awesome though–chocolate cookies are always a good choice!

    Reply

  24. I like your third technique especially because it could be used with any shape. I agree with you– Valentine’s is NOT my sort of holiday– but any excuse to bake and share treats is a good one and on Valentine’s cookies and sweets are so much fun!

    Reply

  25. I like your third technique especially because it could be used with any shape. I agree with you– Valentine’s is NOT my sort of holiday– but any excuse to bake and share treats is a good one and on Valentine’s cookies and sweets are so much fun!

    Reply

  27. Don’t you just love dark cocoa! Those little hearts and all of the decorating ideas are wonderful looking! Very cute!

    Reply

  36. What pretty cookies! You did good! (one pet peeve down) Love the white chocolate with colored sugar but the dark chocolate dip has got to be my favorite.

    Reply

  38. I’m with you on the whole over-hyped Valentine’s Day thing but these cookies would be a winner, holiday or not. Lovely!

    Reply

  41. Those are pretty little cookies and so great to have all the different ways to decorate them. It makes it even more fun and gives a variety.

    Reply

  42. Those are pretty little cookies and so great to have all the different ways to decorate them. It makes it even more fun and gives a variety.

    Reply

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