Phenomenal Phoods

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 2 cups butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt

For the buttercream:

• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

For the cookies:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer until smooth.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing until a dough forms.
3. Divide the dough into three equal parts. Flatten each part into a round disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. I like to make the dough the day before and just leave it in the fridge overnight.
4. When you are ready to roll out your dough, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, remove the dough from the fridge and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.
5. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness (or however thick you like your sugar cookies) and cut out shapes.
6. Place the cookies about an inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes. It's hard to tell when these are done because of the chocolate dough. If you rolled out your cookies a little thicker, go with 12 minutes.
7. Let cookies cool completely before frosting. I find it easiest to frost them when they have been in the freezer for a little while.

For the buttercream:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add extra milk or icing sugar if the consistency is too thick or thin for piping. Frost the cookies either by piping or just use an offset spatula.
2. For the chocolate buttercream, just replace 1 cup of the icing sugar with 1 cup of cocoa powder.