Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

These Easy Sugar Cookies are ones that will become your go-to sugar cookie recipe. They are delicious on their own but even sweeter dipped in chocolate!

This recipe for Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies can be made quickly and you probably have most, if not all, the ingredients already in your house. At my house, it is cold outside today, so if I can skip a trip to the grocery store, then that makes me happy and warm!

These cookies are a recipe I like to make for Valentine’s Day and Christmas but can be made any time of the year. You can use a heart cookie cutter or whatever cookie cutter works for you. The heart shapes are great to make for your special someone, kids, or for anyone who loves cookies! 

They are delicious when eaten plain but we decided to make them look a little more festive by adding the melted chocolate and colorful sprinkles. Adding the chocolate is perfect for all you chocolate lovers out there!

These are one of our favorite cookie recipes to make. They are up there with Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies and Cookie Bars.

Why chill cookie dough? 

This recipe requires the cookie dough to be chilled for at least three hours or overnight. 

• By chilling the dough it will be easier to work with and it won’t stick to the rolling pin or working surface as much.
• The cookie dough will spread less while baking if the dough is chilled.
• It also gives nice edges when cutting out the dough with cookie cutters.

Recipe Tip: Make sure your butter is softened before starting to make the dough. Using softened butter helps the butter mix in easier with the other ingredients. 

How to Soften Butter:

The butter needs to sit out at room temperature to soften up a little. I typically leave the butter on my counter for 30-40 minutes. The time can vary a little depending on the temperature in your home.

Once you can gently press down on the butter with your finger and get a slight imprint, it is soft enough to mix in with the sugar and get the dough light and fluffy.

No time to let the butter soften? If this happens, just cut the butter into small pieces (about 1/4 -1/2″ size) and add them in with the other ingredients. Here is a post on other ways to soften butter quickly.

Ingredient List:

• unsalted butter
• granulated sugar
• salt
• an egg
• vanilla extract
• all-purpose flour
• Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate bar
• sprinkles

If you don’t have Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate bar you can use melted chocolate chips instead. I prefer the Baker’s chocolate bar because I think it is easier to work with and I like the look of it. However, melting chocolate chips works just fine.

How to make cookie dough:

First, to make the dough, cream the softened butter and sugar in your mixing bowl until light and fluffy. 

Next, add the salt, egg, and vanilla. Slowly mix the flour into your mixing bowl. 

Once all the ingredients are combined, shape the dough into three separate dough balls. It is easier to divide the dough before it is chilled. This way you can work with a small portion of the dough at a time.

Place the dough balls in a bowl, cover tightly, and chill the dough for at least three hours to overnight. 

How to bake the sugar cookies:

Preheat your oven to 375°F and cover your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. 

When you are ready to make the cookies, take out the dough and let it sit on your counter to soften up a little while the oven preheats. 

If you chill the dough overnight it will be pretty hard from chilling that long and will need to soften up a little while the oven is preheating. The dough won’t be as hard if you only chill it for a few hours and may not need to sit out to soften. Check the dough after you turn your oven on.

Take one of the dough balls out at a time to work with. Leave the other two cookie dough balls in the bowl. 

If you only chilled the dough for a few hours and the dough is slightly soft, keep the other dough balls in your refrigerator to keep them chilled until you are ready to use them.

Cutting Out the Cookies:

Generously flour your rolling pin and the area that you will be using to cut out the cookie dough. This way the dough will not stick to the cookie cutters or rolling pin. Have some extra flour in a small bowl to add to the working area and a rolling pin as you are working.

Using your rolling pin, roll out the dough so that it is about 1/4″ thickness. Take the cookie cutter and cut out as many cookie shapes as you can by leaving as little space in between each one so that you use as much dough as possible.

Recipe Tip: Having a hard time getting the cookies off the counter and onto your baking sheet? Use a thin pie server or spatula (covered with some flour) to lift up the cookies from your working area to the baking sheet. It is best to place them on the baking sheet soon after cutting them out.

Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake them at 375°F for 8 – 10 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely before decorating.

What to do with the extra dough after cutting the cookies out? If there is any extra dough after cutting out the cookies, roll it into a small ball and place it back into the refrigerator. At the end, combine any extra dough to form another dough ball and cut out more cookies. 

How to Decorate Cookies:

The cookies need to be completely cooled before you dip them in the melted chocolate.

I prefer using Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate bars over chocolate chips. You can use chocolate chips if that is what you have on hand. Bakers chocolate bars melt nicely and don’t seem to harden up as quickly as chocolate chips which gives you more time to work the chocolate.

To Melt the Chocolate:

Break apart the chocolate bars and place them into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high for 30 seconds and stir. Heat for an additional 30 seconds and stir again. If the chocolate is not completely melted, heat for 10 second increments, stirring each time until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

If you are using chocolate chips, you can melt them in your microwave at 30 seconds and stir. Repeat if needed, just make sure you stir after each time you heat the chocolate chips.

How to Add the Sprinkles:

For easy clean-up, place parchment paper over your work area. Dip half of your cookie into the melted chocolate. If you have a larger cookie, use a spoon to place the melted chocolate on the cookies and spread the chocolate evenly over half of the cookie. 

Right after you add the melted chocolate, add the sprinkles over the melted chocolate on the cookies. Let them sit until the chocolate sets.

These make amazing Christmas cookies! I recently made these Easy Sugar Cookies using a large mitten cookie cutter for my family for the Christmas season. That is the great thing about this recipe is you can use a cookie cutter for the different holidays, birthdays, or any day and they will be a festive treat!

Recipe Notes:

• How many cookies you get from this recipe depends on the size of your cookie cutter. I used a heart cookie cutter that was about 3″ and made 18 cookies.
• Make sure your butter is softened before starting to make the dough. Using softened butter helps the butter mix in easier with the other ingredients. 
• Chill the dough so that it will stick less to the counter and the rolling pin while making them. Chilling the dough also gives the cookies nice clean-cut edges.
• Make sure you generously flour your working area before rolling out the dough. Also, sprinkle flour over your rolling pin so that the dough will not stick to it.
• If the dough is sticking to your working surface, use a thin pie server or spatula to lift up the cookies from your working area. Make sure you sprinkle some flour on the pie server or spatula to prevent sticking.

Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a comment and rating below. I love hearing from you. 

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Update Note: This recipe was posted earlier, but was published again in 2022 to include updated directions and new photos.