Brownie Roll-Out Cookies (with Cherry Buttercream)
09
I’ve started taking a shine to chocolate cookies lately, which is sort of weird given that I’ve never been a huge fan. By that, I mostly mean a chocolate base – anything mixed or topped with chocolate has pretty much always been fair game. Something that also makes chocolate cookies appealing? When they have the word “brownie” in the title.
These are some of the easiest cookies I’ve ever made. You don’t even have to wait till after the butter and sugar are creamed together to add extract, eggs, etc. All the wet ingredients and the cocoa powder all get mixed at the same time before you add the flour. The dough then gets refrigerated until it’s firm enough to roll out (and would freeze easily, too). Cut out, bake, eat brownie-flavored cookies, repeat.
Like most roll-out cookies, these are very versatile. You can eat them as-is, decorate them with royal icing, frost them with ganache or buttercream, or turn them into sandwiches with cherry buttercream, which is what I did for about 1/3 of them. (I recently decorated sugar cookies for a baby shower, so I already reached my limit for time spent doing that without ripping my hair out.) I love the combination of chocolate and cherries, so this was a no-brainer for me. Plus, I just picked up a jar of morello cherries from Trader Joe’s. How I didn’t just sit there and eat all of the cherries directly from the jar with a spoon is beyond me. That’s willpower, guys. If you don’t have a TJ’s or can’t find jarred morellos, you can use maraschino cherries instead (or of course fresh ones when they’re in season).
Brownie Roll-Out Cookies
From Smitten Kitchen
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt*
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) lightly salted butter*
1.5 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Slowly add in the flour mixture, beating until smooth and just incorporated. Form the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour or longer.
Preheat the oven to 350º and line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment or silicon baking sheets.
Roll the cookie dough out onto a lightly floured surface, about 1/4″ thick. Cut into desired shapes, brushing excess flour off the top, and place on prepared pans. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.
*Note: Deb uses a stick of salted butter and a stick of unsalted. I don’t really buy salted butter, so I used 2 sticks of unsalted and increased the amount of salt to a heaping 3/4 tsp.
Cherry Buttercream
(my recipe)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1.5 – 2 Tbsp. morello or maraschino cherry juice (from the jar)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
12-15 finely chopped morello or maraschino cherries
In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Slowly beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the vanilla and cherry juice. If buttercream is too thick, add a little more juice. If too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar. Fold in the cherries.
Love this idea! These sound so scrumptious!
These are so cute, Elly!
Yum, these look fantastic!
My friend recently emailed me a brownie roll out cookie. Yours look great and I love cherry anything.
I’m not really super into chocolate things either but as a vehicle for eating cherry buttercream? Yes, I could totally get into that.
Made the dough last night and baking them tonight for my son’s kindergarten Valentine party. I had sworn off roll out cookies but these made me change my mind!
Hope you like them, Amy! My kiddo was a big fan, especially when I let him slather some buttercream on them. 🙂
And the verdict is- super tasty! Loved them! Have made up with my rolling pin.
Glad to hear it!