Scroll to the bottom of the post to get ALL the “12 Days” recipes from 2019, 2020, and 2021!
Welcome to Day 5 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch (as many of us will still be attending/ hosting smaller gatherings) – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019, 2020 and 2021 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
Today’s treat is a soft, not-too-sweet chocolate sugar cookie which you can enjoy plain or fancy up with some chocolate and sprinkles (because, of course!). Stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings and in the meantime… I like these because, while they are bigger than some of this year’s treats, they really are not very sweet at all and therefore are perfect to add to a sweets table or cookie exchange!
This recipe is based on the Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies from last year and includes a little cocoa powder (you can add more if you like) and really couldn’t be simpler. It’s a soft dough so it benefits from some time in the fridge/ freezer and if you’re working with it and it is getting too soft, feel free to pop it back in for a short spell. As for decorating? You can let your imagination go wild! I stayed classic with melted chocolate and sprinkles but you could really decorate with anything you like (they do need a little something in my opinion because they are not very sweet).
Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Soft chocolate sugar cookies that aren't too sweet.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 113g (1/2 cup/ 8 tablespoons) salted butter, softened
- 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 225g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons milk
For the chocolate topping
- Approx. 1 cup (200g) chocolate chips
- sprinkles
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
- Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with electric hand beaters at high speed until pale in colour and creamy.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the egg yolk and vanilla, then continue to beat until combined.
- Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, mixing until the dry ingredients are just combined.
- With the speed still low, add the milk and beat until the dough starts to clump together.
- Gather the dough together with your hands into a disk. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface or in between two large sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough until it’s roughly 1/3-inch thick.
- Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut approximately 20 cookies or a 2 1/2-inch cutter to cut approximately 12 cookies.
- Place the cutout cookies on the prepared baking tray and put it in the freezer while you heat the oven.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F.
- When oven is at temperature, bake the cookies for 13- 16 minutes until lightly golden all over.
- Remove from the oven and place the trays on wire cooling racks to cool completely.
- Melt chocolate in a metal or ceramic bowl set over a pot of simmering water (or in a microwave at 50-60% power in bursts of 30 seconds until it's just about melted and then stir to melt the remainder).
- Spoon a little of the chocolate on top of each cookie and dust with sprinkles or crushed candy cane.
- Allow to cool completely.
Make the cookies
Bake the cookies
Decorate
Notes
Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
Simply Organic Pure Vanilla Extract, Certified Organic, 4 oz Glass Bottle -
Farberware Professional French Wood Rolling Pin
-
Bakeware Set – 2 Aluminum Sheet Pan – Half Size (13" x 18")
-
Reynolds Kitchens Parchment Paper Roll with SmartGrid - 3 Boxes
-
Cuisinart 5-speed hand mixer
-
Two Side Round Cookie Cutters, Set of 6
-
Ateco Offset Spatula
-
Callebaut Dark Semi Sweet Chocolate Callets
-
Sweetapolita Sprinkles + Stuff
Stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings and in the meantime…
Baking up a storm this holiday season?
(this is an affiliate link, but I genuinely use Nuts.com products and love them. Highly recommended if you are in the US/ Canada where they currently ship)
Check out the rest of 2022’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Chocolate Peppermint Creme Cups
Day 2: Chocolate-Dipped Wafer Cookies
Day 3: Gingerbread madeleines
Day 4: Funfetti Cookies
Day 5: Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Day 6: Coffee Financiers
Day 7: No-Bake Strawbery Cheesecake Cups
Day 8: Holiday Joys
Day 9: Holiday Spice Marmalade
Day 10: Soft Molasses Cookies
Day 11: Coconut Roughs
Day 12: Holiday Lights Jam Sandwich Cookies
Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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It sounds like a candy marathon. Okay, I accept the challenge, thank you!
Enjoy!