Valentines Day Cookies

5 from 3 votes

Deep, rich chocolate cookies with the perfect texture that's not too soft and not too crisp. Top with melted chocolate and crushed freeze dried raspberries or festive sprinkles!

Prep Time20

Cook Time8

chilling8

Total Time8 28

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate, cookies, Valentine's Day

Servings: (3-inch cookies)

Calories: 113kcal

Author: Tricia

Equipment

parchment paper for rolling out the dough

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

1 cup unsalted butter (226g) room temperature
1 ounce cream cheese room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar (222g)
1 large egg room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon espresso powder
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (318g)
½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (48g) SEE NOTE #1
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

8 ounces chocolate melted SEE NOTE 2
1/4 cup freeze dried raspberries or sprinkles

Instructions

To prepare the cookies:

In a large mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. In a small bowl combine the vanilla and espresso powder. Add the egg and vanilla mixture to the butter and sugar. Beat until combined.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powders, baking powder and salt. Add half the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and blend on low until incorporated. Add the final half of the flour mixture and beat until a soft dough forms. Add additional flour, if needed, one tablespoon at a time until the dough is soft and no longer sticky. For best results don’t add more then one or two additional tablespoons or the cookies may be dry. The dough will firm up in the refrigerator.
Gather the dough into a ball and cut into three or four pieces. Press one ball of dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with a second piece of parchment. Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/4th-inch thickness. Place the entire sheet of parchment and rolled out cookie dough onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough, stacking the dough disks on top of each other. Refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours, or up to two days.

To Bake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Remove one disc of cookie dough from the refrigerator and cut into the desired shapes. Transfer the unbaked cookies to the prepared baking sheet about 2-inches apart. Gather any scraps together and refrigerate until you’ve cut out all the remaining dough.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of the cookies) or until the cookies are set and you start to smell chocolate. For best results, do not over-bake! Cool on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before topping.
Gather all scraps of dough and re-roll between parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 to 30 minutes. Cut, bake and repeat as needed.

Decorate

Melt the chocolate according to package directions. Dip half the cookie into the chocolate allowing an excess to drip back into the bowl. Place the dipped cookie on a piece of parchment. Sprinkle the chocolate with freeze dried raspberries or sprinkles.

Notes

NOTE #1 - Once measured replace up to three tablespoons of the cocoa powder with black cocoa powder for a deeper, richer chocolate flavor.
NOTE #2 - For dipping or topping the cookies you can use chocolate chips, semisweet, bittersweet, dark, white or milk chocolate depending on how sweet you’d like it. If spreading the chocolate on half the cookie (just on the top) you won’t need the entire 8 ounces of chocolate. Start with 5 or 6 ounces then melt more as needed.

For these cookies I used a 2-1/2 by 3-inch cookie cutter with the dough rolled to 1/4-inch thickness.
Don't place unbaked cookies on a hot cookie sheet until ready to bake as they will spread.
DON'T OVER-BAKE! The cookies should be just set and you should be able to smell chocolate.
Baking time will vary depending on the size and thickness of the cookies.
Baked, cooled, plain cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months

Nutritional information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered as an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition