Tag Archives: chocolate

Chocolate Sugar Cookies {Recipe}

Chocolate Sugar Cookies | Lil Miss Cakes

When a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies from Handmade Charlotte showed up on my Instagram feed, I knew I had to try it. I’ve been craving a chocolate sugar cookie for as long as I could remember and this cookie looked perfect.. But if you have been here before you know I specialize in dairy free desserts so I had to adapt the recipe to fit my needs. I also added a pinch of cinnamon for a bit more of a complex flavor. You won’t really taste it but it gives a nice background flavor that pairs nicely with the chocolate.

Chocolate Sugar Cookie Bite | Lil Miss CakesThese cookies are chocolate heaven. They are intense but also sweet. The sugar coating adds a really nice crunchy coating while the inside is chewy and tender. To get the cookies this really deep almost black color I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. It’s a combination of regular cocoa powder and dutch process cocoa powder and I’m kind of obsessed with it lately. I find it in my local supermarket but I’ll include an affiliate link in case you can’t find it locally: Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa, 8-Ounce Container (Pack of 2). You can probably use regular cocoa powder but your cookies will look a lot lighter in color. They also freeze well! Here is my dairy-free recipe adapted from Handmade Charlotte.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies {Recipe}
Author: 
Serves: 36
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups + 2 Tbs. flour
  • ¾ cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 4 Tbs. margarine
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • ¼ cup sugar for rolling
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
  2. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set asode.
  3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the shortening, margarine, and sugars until smooth.
  4. Add in the eggs one at a time making sure to combine well after each addition.
  5. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and mix to combine.
  6. With the mixer on low add in the flour mixture and mix until the cookie dough comes together.
  7. Using a medium sized cookie scoop, form balls of batter. Roll in the sugar and set each cookie on the prepared cookie sheet.
  8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are flat and cracked on top.
  9. Allow to cool on wire rack before enjoying!

Here’s an affiliate link to my favorite cookie scoop and the size I used in this recipe:

Mint Chocolate Cookies and Cream Donuts {Recipe}

Mint Chocolate Cookies and Cream Donuts | Lil Miss Cakes

I can’t believe I haven’t shared my chocolate baked donut with you yet! These are amazing-if I do say so myself. The great parts of this recipe: easy to make, no frying required, donuts look perfect every time. Negatives: they aren’t fried, and you need a donut pan. But once you have a donut pan, you will find yourself using it all the time. Try muffin recipes in it for a fun twist on the original. I only have one donut pan and this recipe makes 18 so I needed to bake 3 rounds, but they bake quickly: 10 minutes each and then they just pop right out, so I never felt the need for more of these pans. I also have the mini donut pan and I really don’t recommend it. The donuts just don’t bake nicely, they come out funny looking and making minis is just a pain. I would stick to the regular size; it works fabulously. These donuts are light and fluffy in texture, but very chocolaty and rich in taste. They definitely need to be served with a tall glass of cold milk. These donuts get their minty flavor from peppermint chocolate sandwich cookies. The cookies are filled with crushed up peppermint candy and are insanely good! They are a seasonable item so get them while you can! I won’t tell you how many boxes I am hoarding right now, it’s embarrassing! If you can’t get the cookies, you can use regular chocolate sandwich cookies with a teaspoon of peppermint extract. Here’s my easy, dairy-free baked donut recipe!

Mint Chocolate Cookies and Cream Donuts {Recipe}
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 18
 
Ingredients
Donuts
  • ⅔ cup dutch process cocoa powder
  • ¾ cup hot water
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ cup non-dairy sour cream (such as Tofutti Brand)
  • 1⅓ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup margarine
  • ¼ cup shortening
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ cup crushed peppermint chocolate sandwich cookies
Icing
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼-1/2 cup cold water
  • green food coloring, optional
  • ½ cup crushed peppermint chocolate sandwich cookies
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Using baking spray grease a donut pan and set aside.
  3. In a medium sized bowl whisk the cocoa powder with the hot water until dissolved.
  4. Stir in the baking soda and sour cream and set aside.
  5. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar with the margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.
  6. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
  7. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and beat on low speed for a few seconds.
  8. Pour the cocoa mixture into the mixer and mix until smooth and combined.
  9. Stir in ½ cup crushed cookies (from about 4 cookies).
  10. Pipe the batter into the donut pan filling most of the way up.
  11. Bake for 10 minutes until the donuts spring back to the touch.
  12. Allow to cool before icing.
  13. Icing
  14. Pour the powdered sugar into a large bowl.
  15. Drop in a tiny bit of green food coloring.
  16. Slowly add the water and stir until smooth. Keep adding water a little at a time until desired consistency is reached.
  17. Dip the donuts in the icing, and top with crushed cookies. Alternatively, drizzle or spread the icing on top.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies With Mint Chocolate Ganache {Video}

Football Chocolate Sandwich Cookie with Mint Chocolate Ganache

It’s time for the second biggest food holiday of the year; Superbowl Sunday!  I love coming up with fun desserts to celebrate the big game.  Last year I piped my regular whoopie pie batter into fun football shapes and made football whoopie pies.  This year I wanted to make a crispy chocolate sandwich cookie.  I used this recipe from Sweetapolita as my starting point at tweaked it to my version dairy-free.  The cookie has a rich, intense dark chocolate flavor with just the right amount of sweetness.  The dough is really easy to work with, it rolls out really nicely, cuts like a dream, and doesn’t spread at all in the oven.  This was exactly the cookie I was looking for.  Once the cookies were baked, they were just begging for a filling.  I thought about going with a simple vanilla cream filling reminiscent of an Oreo, but that was a little too similar to my whoopie pies so I went in the opposite direction.  I added to the chocolate decadence by making a non-dairy chocolate ganache filling.  To make the ganache dairy-free I used coconut milk in the place of heavy cream (similar to my salted caramel sauce) and it worked wonderfully.  The coconut flavor is not detectable, it just gives the ganache the perfect smooth and creamy texture.  The chocolate was delicious but needed a little something to cut through the intensity so I added a hint of mint extract and created a perfect dessert for any Superbowl party!

Here’s how I piped the laces onto the cookies to create the cute footballs, enjoy!


Chocolate Sandwich Cookies With Mint Chocolate Ganache
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 30
 
Ingredients
Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 cups flour
  • ½+2 Tbs. dutch process cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
Mint Chocolate Ganache
  • ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk
  • 12 oz. (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 tsp. corn syrup
  • ½ tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp, peppermint extract
Instructions
Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
  3. Add in flour, cocoa, and salt, and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
  4. Roll the dough out on parchment paper, cut out shapes, and remove excess dough.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool before filling.
Mint Chocolate Ganache
  1. Prepare a double boiler: heat about 2 inches of water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once the water is simmering, place a heatproof bowl over the pan. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.
  2. Place the coconut milk, chocolate, and corn syrup into the bowl and stir until melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and mint extracts.
  3. Allow the ganache to cool for several hours until thickened and ready to spread. Once the ganache is thick, spread or pipe onto the bottom of one cookie and sandwich together with a second cookie.