Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies
Alright people. Suit up. Gather your armor. We’ve got another holiday to dive into.
I’m talking about Valentine’s Day.
Now listen…. I don’t care where you stand on the Valentine’s Day issue. I don’t care if you’re single or married or smitten or bitter. Valentine’s Day exists… there’s no ignoring it. Flag day we can ignore. Arbor day we can half acknowledge…. but Valentine’s Day, we just have to get in there and deal with.
It’s like going to the dentist… but more romantic (or something).
Maybe you can sorta tell how I feel about Valentine’s Day. Maybe you can sorta tell I’m not that into it. I’m not angry or bitter… it’s just never been a day that’s bowled me over. Wait… is that an expression?
When I was 17, my first boyfriend made me something from his pottery class for Valentine’s Day… that he then took back and gave to another girl. It sounds way more upsetting than it actually was. I remember totally not caring. Aaaannnnddd…that’s that. Moving on.
Let me tell you about these cookies. They’re certainly not your typical rolled out sugar cookie.
These cookies are loaded with good quality cocoa powder and stone ground whole wheat flour. I like them quite a lot. They’re slightly crisp around the edges and soft in the center. The cocoa adds… you know… lots of yumyum. The whole wheat flour adds a nuttiness and makes the cookies more of a mouthful than plain old all-purpose flour. I love the combination.
I topped these cookies with a generous sprinkling of granulated sugar and thought they were just divine.
I bought myself two awesome early Valentine’s Day presents.
The Jamie at Home cookbook. So beautiful! I mean… swooooon! I can’t wait to dive into this book.
And, of course, Ree’s new book. And she signed it. And all is well.
Boooya(kah)!
Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies
Makes: about three dozen cookies
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugars. Beat until well incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add the egg. Beat on medium speed until mixture is glossy and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Stop mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once. Mix on low speed until all of the flour is incorporated Stop mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula. Spoon batter out onto a sheet of waxed paper, and form loosely into a log. Roll and seal cookie dough and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Once chilled, divide dough in half and place one half on a lightly floured counter surface. Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Use a heart shaped (or whatever) cookie cutter to cut out cookies and place dough on prepared baking sheet. Very lightly brush cookies with water and sprinkle with granulated or turbinado sugar.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Roll and cut cookies, re-rolling the dough once or twice, until all cookies are cut and baked.
Cookies will last, in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to five days.
235 Comments Add A Comment
You start the recipe off by saying to preheat the oven, which I did. Then proceed to say put the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours… meaning I just preheated my oven for nothing! :P
Guess that’s what I get for not reading all the instructions before starting. Oh well!
Look forward to trying these… in about 2 and a half hours! :)
Made these today….DELISH!!! They will be repeaters, that’s for sure! Doubled the recipe and got right at five dozen two-inch heart-shaped cookies. Very good cookie. Made mine with the Hershey’s Dark Cocoa and they are dark and wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!
Made these today. Love em!
Very tasty and easy to cut out.
This ones a Keeeeeeper!
I made them today and they turned out yummy. I do have one question though, for anyone or for Joy, how do I get the dough to not crack apart when I start rolling it out? It seems too dry, but I did everything according to Joy’s recipe, everything. I let it chill for 2 hours (like the recipe) and when I went to get it, it was hard and hard to roll out. When I go to roll out the dough, the edges start to crack and split apart; which makes it difficult to cut out more hearts before I have to roll it out again. Does anyone have this problem? I mean, I finished baking all 6 dozens (not as scary as it sounds) cookies still but the rolling out the dough part got a little tedious cause of the dry edges. I had to through out the rest which ended up being just crumbs, but I could’ve gotten at least five more hearts out of’em. Hopefully someone (or Joy) can give me some tips cause I really want to make these again in different fun shapes for my baby girl on non-holiday days too!
maybe the dough was a little tooooo chilled. i’m sorry you had a cracking problem. maybe if it were slightly warmer, you wouldn’t have a cracking problem.
River:
I agree with Joy about being cold. I bake cutouts ALL the time, and I know this challenge! Some doughs are simply more temperamental than others. If you like the cookies enough to make again, I will give you a few technique suggestions:
1) Besides being cold, major edge cracking can mean that the dough is either too short or too dry. You might try adding a tablespoon of milk or water to the dough when making. This can help a lot.
2) There is an optimal dough temperature for rolling. Try to find that temperature….it will NOT be right after you remove from the fridge after chilling. You’ll have to experiment a bit…
3) When the dough is still fairly cool but rollable, make sure you are not too forceful with your rolling pin. Roll AROUND the outer edge of the dough as well…NOT just straight across. And if you do get cracks (which we all do and are virttually inevitable!), simply press them firmly together with your fingers and then roll over them CAREFULLY! Try not to get any flour on the cracked places, as the cracks won’t bond together nearly as well.
4) I am CONSTANTLY working with cracks in rolled dough, and I just accept it and use the above tricks to cope.
5) ADDRESS THE CRACKS WHEN THEY ARE SMALL, AND DON’T WAIT UNTIL THEY ARE HUGE FISSURES! This helps immensely! It also sounds as if you are pressing too hard and fast with your rolling pin. Use a gentler touch….it may take you a bit longer, but the cracking won’t be as bad! Hope this helps!
I made these last night and they came out so great. It was my first time using whole wheat flour and the results exceeded my expectations. Instead of granulated sugar, I used red sanding/decorator sugar. The colors were awesome and the sweetness was right on point.
Thanks for the fantastic recipe.
Tameka
Joy, these are amazing. I made them for my husband’s birthday. He was pleased! Thanks as always for the recipes and inspirations. Your blog has been bookmark-tabbed in my browser for months… please keep the deliciousness coming for many more!
I made these yesterday — wonderful! I bake a lot, but not usually with whole wheat flour and was a little afraid they’d be dry. Perfect cookie I will bake these again. Thank you for the great recipe!
Joy please, please, please, please, please, please come out with a cook book! I just love all of your recipes so much!! (My laptop is starting to get a bunch of flour gunk all over it from having it sit on the counter all the time.I am kinda a messy person when I bake.)
workin on it! i just turned in the first draft of my cookbook today. look for it early 2012!
These look great… just the kind I like. Not too sweet, a little crisp, and a little chocolaty. Great with tea or cocoa or coffee. (Can’t wait for the cookbook! Congrats!)
These were fantastic! My daughter and I made them on Valentine’s Day and were gone by bedtime. Thanks for the recipe!
ok, so I’ve been following this blog for a while… but haven’t commented until now… I like to try a lot of your recipes–and i’m impressed (obviously)… but these cookies just make me so happy. I substituted agave for the brown sugar cause I was out of brown sugar, but I have to say. Delish. Great tea time snack (yes I have tea time…because i’m persian… it just happens. )
i’m so glad you liked these cookies!
I’ve just made them and they are divine! I’ve also added a link back to your site from my blog.
http://themorethanoccasionalbaker.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-heart-cookies.html
I had a coworker of mine make these and between me, her and another coworker we polished them off! I kept thinking “Fiber has never been sooo good!” Thanks for the recipe :)
Almosot amde these for Valentines’, but they didn’t last. I found they’re also great to simply roll into logs, freeze and slice when you want a few. Not as pretty as the hearts, but easy and quick — maybe a little too easy if you’ve always got dough handy.
so sweet and also the decor too!!!
Joy, I made these delights with some friends the other day and we decided to get a bit creative with your original recipe. These are the variations we came up with:
- Cookie covered in Peanut Butter
- Cookie dipped in Chocolate
- Cookie dipped in chocolate and then in coconut shavings (favorite!)
- Cookie with Strawberry Preserves spread on top and covered in a Chocolate Drizzle
Thanks for inspiring so many delicious treats!
I was thinking the same thing as another about just slicing and baking rather than rolling them out. I will try these for sure. I am lazy when it comes to rolling cookies. I am a new convert to baking more with whole wheat flour rather than all purpose white. I like the grainy texture it adds to some things.
Super delicious. I can’t actually tell that they contain whole wheat flour at all. They just taste like chocolate and deliciousness. Yum.
Hi Joy!
I just finished making these, but I wasn’t in the mood for just chocolate so I changed them up a bit. I split the dough and made half White Chocolate Mocha cookies (added instant coffee and white chocolate chips) and the other half Mexican Chocolate cookies (added cayenne pepper and cinnamon). Both were really good! Easy to overbake and dry out, but good! Thanks!
Kat
Just about to make a few dozen of these and can’t wait – I’ll follow up.
But I had to comment on the photo of your Lenox china. LOVE that pattern, and it’s nearly impossible to find. So pretty. :)
Great blog!
I totally made these…sort of. I changed them. The originals were good (I made those, too) but I added cinnamon and chili powder and vanilla and chocolate chips and called them Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies (my changes are on my blog at indiedomestic.wordpress.com). So delicious! Thanks as always for having amazing recipes…and being a great inspiration!
Hi, I just made those cookies!
They are awesome! Thanks for sharing.
I didn’t used regular flour, only whole wheat and + 1 tablespoon of flax seed.
Also right before they went to the oven I added chocolate chips on top.
Just wanted to tell you, as I make these a second time, they are probably my almost-2-year-old’s favorite cookies I’ve ever made. I’m making them for her 2nd birthday party — they were a total hit at her cousin’s birthday in September. Toddlers love them and they’re healthier than most cookies, win/win! I simplified slightly by using just white-whole-wheat and just unrefined granulated, rather than using two types of flour and sugar, and it worked perfectly.
Making these today for valentines gifts and I plan on adding crushed pistachios on top of some of them, I think it will be pretty yummy!
Thanks again Joy!