The Ultimate Healthy Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Yields: 22 sugar cookies

These are my all-time favorite chocolate sugar cookies! They’re perfectly chewy and full of rich chocolate flavor, similar to 72% dark chocolate. They remind me of fudgy brownies! Leftovers will keep for at least one week if stored in an airtight container—if they last that long!

¾ cup (90) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
½ cup + 2 tbsp (50g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
¾ tsp cornstarch
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tbsp (15mL) nonfat milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp butter extract
¼ cup (60mL) honey
¾ tsp vanilla stevia

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, egg, milk, vanilla extract, and butter extract. Stir in the honey and vanilla stevia. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1”-tall rectangle. Cover the top with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days*).
Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Leaving the cookie dough between the sheets of plastic wrap, roll it out until between ⅛” and 1/16” thick. Carefully peel back one piece of the plastic wrap. Lightly flour your cookie cutter, and press it into the dough, making sure each shape lies as close to its neighbors as possible to minimize unused dough. Peel the unused dough away from the shapes, and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the unused dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, and repeat.
Bake the cut out cookie dough at 325°F for 7-9 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes: Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted in a pinch, but the cookies will have detectable “wheat-y” taste.

Use a store-bought gluten-free flour blend (like this one!) for the gluten-free option, but make sure you measure it carefully, like this or with my favorite kitchen scale!

You just need regular unsweetened cocoa powder, like this! The cookies already taste very rich and dark chocolaty without Dutched or special dark cocoa powder.

It’s very important to measure the flour and cocoa powder correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much of either will dry out your cookie dough and make your sugar cookies crumbly. Too much cocoa powder will also make your cookies taste bitter, rather than rich and chocolaty.

For cookies that don’t taste as dark chocolaty, substitute 2-4 tablespoons (10-20g) of cocoa powder with the same amount of white whole wheat flour (15-30g).

If using coconut oil, the cookies may have a faintly detectable coconut flour.

Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.

Vanilla extract may be substituted for the butter extract, but the cookies will not have the same iconic “sugar cookie” taste.

Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey.

I highly recommend using the vanilla stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients (you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!), and I buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. You cannot substitute additional honey for the vanilla stevia because cookies require a precise balance of wet and dry ingredients. However, you may substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) coconut sugar (or granulated sugar, if you aren’t concerned about keeping these cookies clean eating friendly) for both the honey and stevia, but the cookies may appear slightly “speckled” if using coconut sugar because it doesn’t dissolve as well.

This is my favorite plastic wrap. It clings SO much better than other brands I’ve tried!

If chilling the cookie dough longer than 2 hours, it may be necessary to “thaw” the cookie dough on the counter for 15-20 minutes before trying to roll it out. It gets stiffer the longer it chills, so letting it rest on the counter for a short period of time makes it easier for you to roll it out!

This is the heart-shaped cookie cutter that I used. I got it as part of this set!

{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}

Recipe by Amy's Healthy Baking at https://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2018/01/24/the-ultimate-healthy-chocolate-sugar-cookies/