Ingredients
Units
For the cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
For the coating:
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients of the coating in a small shallow bowl. Reserve.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF / 190ºC.
- Grease cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- Beat butter with sugar for a few minutes in a large bowl, until creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well.
- Add vanilla and mix.
- Sift dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt (I measure them and sift directly over the butter, but you can do it in another bowl if you want).
- Add to the butter and mix well until no dry spots remain.
- Scoop pieces of dough and make balls the size of walnuts.
- Roll them in the sugar and place them on the prepared sheets, spacing them a few inches apart to let them expand during baking.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until the top is dry and the cookies barely start to crackle. It might take a few minutes longer, depending on your oven. I recommend you do a test run with a couple of cookies and check the baking time before you bake them all.Â
- Let them cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack, and remove them carefully with a spatula.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack and keep them in tins or airtight cookie jars.
Notes
- Organization:Â read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperatures, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time:Â keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that the temperature is right. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.Â
- Cocoa powder and cinnamon: the better the cocoa powder and cinnamon quality, the better the flavor of these cookies.Â
Cocoa powder: always use unsweetened. I like Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder, Ghirardelli Premium baking cocoa, and Scharffen Berger natural cocoa powder. And, in my experience, the dark ones are the best (this does not apply to the super dark used for making homemade oreo cookies known as dark cocoa powder).
Cinnamon: any ground cinnamon you usually use works fine. I like Frontier Vietnamese cinnamon, Mc Cormick's culinary cinnamon, or Simply Organic Ceylon cinnamon. - Make ahead: these cookies keep well for several days, so you can make them a few days in advance from when you plan to eat or gift them.
- Large batch: you can double the recipe (a good idea if making lots of these cookies for the holidays) and use the stand mixer to make the dough.
- Size: I use a cookie dough scoop that's 1,57 inches (4cm), the small one of this cookie scoop set). If you use a larger one the cookies will take a few more minutes to bake, and the recipe will render fewer cookies.Â
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/25
- Calories: 167
- Sugar: 13.1 g
- Sodium: 69.4 mg
- Fat: 8.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.9 g
- Fiber: 0.9 g
- Protein: 2.1 g
- Cholesterol: 34.4 mg