Hot Cocoa Sugar Cookies
Welcome to 12 days of Christmas Cookies, my way of celebrating the holidays by sharing with you all 12 unique yet nostalgic cookie recipes to bake over the holidays. For day 4 I am sharing with you these chewy, decadent hot cocoa sugar cookies with a cocoa dusted buttercream. I don’t know about you but hot cocoa always reminds me of the holidays, and so a hot cocoa inspired cookie felt like a must! I love the soft, chewy nature of a sugar cookie but decided to give these a twist with addition of the cocoa powder. And who doesn’t love buttercream?! The buttercream helps to even out these richer cookies with a light, fluffy and sweet element.
12 Days of Christmas Cookies is inspired by nostalgic, holiday flavours but combined in a way that you hopefully haven’t seen before. Cookies are kind of my thing…. the limits of creativity feel endless when it comes to cookies and I am always so giddy about coming up with a new flavour combination, and so combing my favourite dessert with my favourite holiday just felt fitting! Between December 1st to the 12th you will see 12 completely different cookie recipes, ranging from easy, throw together recipes to recipes with a little more TLC, but something for bakers of every level. A lot of these cookies compliment each other if you want to throw them together in a cookie box to bring in to the office or gift to someone you love. They also all freeze really well if you are like me and would like to get a head start on your Christmas baking early in the month so that you have goodies to pull out on December 21st when you want something sweet but are overwhelmed with beautiful chaos!
All of the cookie recipes you see over the next 12 days are unique recipes that I have created, tested and retested for you to enjoy in your own kitchens. If you do decide to make any of these recipes, please do tag me on socials because I love to see what you come up with!
The Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature and unsalted
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs, one full egg and one yolk only
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp milk
For the Buttercream
- 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 tbsp marshmallow fluff (jiffy brand)
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 2-4 tbsp milk
The Instructions
- As always, I recommend starting by grabbing all of your needed ingredients to ensure you aren’t missing anything and preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Next, in a large stand mixer or a glass bowl with a hand mixer, combine the butter and both sugars and whip until smooth.
- Add in your one full egg and one egg yolk and mix. Once this is combined, add in your cocoa powder in 1/4 cup increments, along with the milk, until well mixed.
- Combine your flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and then gradually add to the wet mixture.
- Roll the cookie dough out on a floured surface to a just under an inch thickness, depending on your preference. Use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and then bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 9-10 minutes. If your cookies are larger, adjust the baking time accordingly.
- For the buttercream, combine all ingredients in your electric mixer and combine on high until smooth.
- Once the cookies have cooked and cooled completely, decorate them! I like to pipe the icing on with a piping bag but you can also smear it on with a knife. I used a mesh strainer to dust a small amount of cocoa on each one for the hot cocoa effect.
- Store these at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for a week! Recipes make about 14-16 small cookies.
Ingredients
Method
- As always, I recommend starting by grabbing all of your needed ingredients to ensure you aren’t missing anything and preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Next, in a large stand mixer or a glass bowl with a hand mixer, combine the butter and both sugars and whip until smooth.
- Add in your one full egg and one egg yolk and mix. Once this is combined, add in your cocoa powder in 1/4 cup increments, along with the milk, until well mixed.
- Combine your flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and then gradually add to the wet mixture.
- Roll the cookie dough out on a floured surface to a 1-1.5 inch thickness, depending on your preference. Use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and then bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 9-10 minutes. If your cookies are larger, adjust the baking time accordingly.
- For the buttercream, combine all ingredients in your electric mixer and combine on high until smooth.
- Once the cookies have cooked and cooled completely, decorate them! I like to pipe the icing on with a piping bag but you can also smear it on with a knife. I used a mesh strainer to dust a small amount of cocoa on each one for the hot cocoa effect.
- Store these at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for a week! Recipes make about 14-16 small cookies.