Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

Pretty stained glass cookies! After getting the low down from Leslie (personal chef extraordinaire) about these cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma, I couldn't resist. Too cute! And there's a million different ways to use them, with shortbreads or maybe as linzer cookie cutters and for gingerbread or sugar cookies... They are a PITA to clean, though, just FYI if you purchase them yourself...

These chocolate cut-out cookies are great - they only spread slightly, have a wonderful deep chocolate flavor, and are nice and soft. If you want to make stained glass cookies like I did, just crush some Lifesaver or other colored hard candies, and fill the gaps in your cut shapes with the crushed candy. They will melt nicely while your cookies bake up.

Thanks again Leslie! :)

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

(adapted from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 egg + 1 yolk
1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 F . On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Dough is sticky so be sure to add more flour to the rolling surface as needed. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven (mine were more on the 7-8 minute range, to keep them soft). Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.