These chocolate butter cookies are the cocoa-kissed version of my classic homemade butter cookies. They’re every bit as soft and buttery, and absolutely melt in your mouth. Use a large piping tip to pipe the dough into swirly designs. They’re delicious and beautiful plain, but feel free to jazz them up with sprinkles, a dip in melted chocolate, or a cherry in the center for a festive touch!
Like a good superhero movie, you don’t have to know much about the original butter cookies recipe to enjoy this standalone sequel: chocolate butter cookies. 😉 This darker (but not in a villainous way!) version is just as buttery and melt-in-your-mouth soft, but with the addition of incredible chocolate flavor.
These Chocolate Butter Cookies Are:
- Buttery, chocolatey flavor, like chocolate sugar cookies
- Melt-in-your-mouth soft like snowball cookies
- Piped with a piping tip like chocolate swirled meringue cookies
- A 1-bowl cookie recipe
- Ready to be an extra festive dessert with a melted chocolate dip, cherries, and/or sprinkles
This cookie dough comes together easily with only 9 ingredients. You need an electric mixer for the dough, plus a piping bag and large piping tip (I use this one) to pipe the cookie dough.
Ingredients in Chocolate Butter Cookies
FAQ: Should I Line the Cookie Sheet? Some swear by using an unlined, bare baking sheet to bake butter cookies, but I’ve tested these chocolate butter cookies both with and without lining, and there was no noticeable difference. (I use silicone baking mats for all my cookies and these are no different.) If you choose not to line the pan, don’t grease it either. The cookies will spread, as all cookies do, but they should maintain some of their piped shape.
How to Pipe Butter Cookies
SUCCESS TIP: Start small. Begin by placing just a little bit of dough in the piping bag so you can determine if it’s creamy enough to pipe. If it’s too thick, it’s impossible to pipe, and you’ll have to put the dough back in the bowl and add a little more milk. Doing a test with a small amount of dough is a lot easier than filling the whole piping bag and then having to transfer it all back out again!
Best Piping Tips to Use
The cookie dough is thick, so it’s imperative to use a large piping tip with about a 1/2-inch opening. (That’s big!) The smaller the size, the harder it will be to pipe. I highly recommend an open star piping tip, but I actually use Ateco 849 which is a closed star tip. The opening is so large that it still works wonderfully!
The popular Wilton 1M works too, but you may need to add more milk to the cookie dough to thin it out because this piping tip is smaller. Remember, the more milk you add, the longer you need to chill the shaped cookies, or else they will over-spread in the oven.
Don’t forget your piping bags, too! (Disposable or Reusable)
By the way, these piping tips and a set of bags would be a great holiday gift for any baker. I always include them in my Holiday Gifts for Bakers guide!
Another Success Tip: Chill the Shaped Cookies Before Baking
Whatever design you pipe, I highly recommend chilling the piped cookies on the baking sheet for an hour before baking. Without this chill time, the cookies will lose their piped shape. We need the dough to be soft enough to pipe, but then that soft dough would spread way too much in the oven, so we need to chill the cookies before baking to firm them up a bit.
I promise it’s worth it.
Refrigerate the shaped cookies for at least 1 hour, and up to 1 day. (If chilling for longer than 1 hour, cover them.) If you need to speed things along, you can start chilling them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes; at that point they will be solid enough that you can pick them up and transfer them to a smaller plate (if freezer space is an issue) and freeze them for another 20–30 minutes.
Some Decorating Options
- Sprinkle with coarse sugar or festive sprinkles before baking.
- Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each cookie before baking.
- Dollop 1/2 teaspoon raspberry (or other flavor) jam into the center before baking.
- Dip cooled cookies in melted chocolate, add sprinkles, and let set.
- Dip cooled cookies in melted white chocolate, add crushed candy canes, and let set.
The refrigerator will help set the chocolate dip quickly.
Piped Chocolate Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Make room in your refrigerator for a baking sheet so the shaped cookies can chill for 20–30 minutes. Without chilling, the piped cookies will overspread. If you chill the dough prior to shaping, the dough will be too cold/stiff to pipe.
- Line 2–3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, or leave unlined. If unlined, do not grease the pan.
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until very soft and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add granulated sugar to the butter, and beat together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamed, another 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- On low speed, beat in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Turn up to high speed and beat until completely combined.
- Warm the milk to about 150°F (66°C)—about 20 seconds in the microwave—then mix in the espresso powder until it dissolves. Add the warm espresso-milk mixture to the dough, and beat on medium speed. You want a dough that’s creamy and pipe-able (but still thick), so you may need another 1/2 Tablespoon of milk. (Tip: The more milk you add, the more the cookies will spread, so chilling in step 7 is imperative. I recommend keeping the amount of milk small and using a large enough piping tip, like the ones I suggest in the post above.)
- Add your large piping tip to the piping bag. Spoon a little bit of dough into the piping bag and pipe a 1- to 2-inch swirl or line on the prepared baking sheet. The reason I suggest only a little bit of dough to start is because the dough may still be too thick to pipe. If it’s too thick, transfer that dough back to the mixing bowl and add another 1/2 Tablespoon of milk. If the dough is creamy enough to pipe, continue piping the dough in 1- to 2-inch swirls or lines, 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. If desired, place a maraschino cherry in the center of the swirl or sprinkle the dough with sprinkles and/or coarse sugar. (Tip: Since the dough is very thick and stiff, so the first few cookies you pipe will be the hardest. Don’t give up! It gets easier as you go along, as you handle the piping bag and the dough becomes more malleable.)
- Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator and chill the shaped cookies for 20–30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Bake the chilled cookies for 12–15 minutes or until the edges seem set. The cookies will spread like all cookies do, but not completely lose their shape, especially if you refrigerated the shaped cookies. If the cookies are smaller, they will take closer to 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- You can melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave: place the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Melt in 20-second increments in the microwave, stirring after each increment until completely melted and smooth. Dip the cookies in chocolate and top with sprinkles, if desired. Allow the chocolate to set completely at room temperature for about 1 hour or in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Once set, you can stack, store, transport, and gift the cookies.
- Cookies with chocolate or cherries stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Cookies without chocolate or cherries stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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