Black Cocoa Cookies

5 from 1 vote

These soft and spooky black cocoa cookies are made with black Dutch cocoa powder for delicate chocolate flavor and intense black color (without food coloring). This quick and easy Halloween cookie recipe includes decorating instructions for creating a white chocolate mummy or spiderweb design.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Chill Time30

Total Time1 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 318kcal

Author: Allison Ferraro

Equipment

Stand mixer or electric hand mixer

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup black cocoa powder*
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup white chocolate melting wafers
Candy eyeballs, optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the cookie dough

In a medium bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer), cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Add egg, milk, and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat to combine.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture blending until combined and stopping to scrape the bowl as needed.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the cookie dough in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Use a 1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop or measuring spoons to scoop 1 ½ Tablespoon balls of cookie dough. Place cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies.

Bake the cookies, one tray at a time, for 10 minutes or until the cookies are flattened with slightly puffed centers. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt the white chocolate.

When the cookies are completely cooled, melt the white chocolate wafers in a small bowl in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring until completely melted and smooth.

Decorate the cookies.

Add the melted chocolate to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip (or simply use a large plastic food storage bag with one corner snipped off). Working quickly (since the chocolate will firm up as it cools), decorate the cookies.
To decorate mummy cookies, pipe a small drop of melted chocolate onto the back of two candy eyeballs. Affix the eyeballs just above the center of a cookie. Pipe lines of chocolate back and forth, covering each corner of the cookie, to create the mummy's wrapping.
To decorate spiderweb cookies, pipe a spiral of melted white chocolate onto a cookie. Using a toothpick, drag lines from the center of the cookie outward to create the spiderweb pattern.

Notes

Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Freezing: These cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. For best results, freeze the cookies without decorations, then defrost and decorate before serving.

*This cookie recipe calls for black cocoa powder, which creates an intensely black cookie without food coloring. Black cocoa powder is an ultra-dutched (aka alkalized or neutralized) Dutch cocoa powder, so it adds a delicate, non-bitter chocolate flavor to these cookies. I recommend King Arthur Baking black cocoa powder, which is available online.

Dutch-processed cocoa powder can be substituted for black cocoa powder in this recipe, though the resulting cookies will be a dark brown color rather than deep black. Dutch cocoa powder can be found in the baking aisle at well-stocked grocery stores, at specialty grocery stores, and online. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder will likely be the easiest Dutch cocoa powder to find in stores.

Nutrition