Holiday Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Last updated on February 23, 2019 by Liza Hawkins

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray for yummy holiday chocolate sugar cookies.

It’s time to start thinking about holiday baking, right? Thanksgiving is next week (GAH!), and yet I feel like school just started, summer just ended and the leaves just began to change. Now all of the sudden I’m looking out at leaf-free branches and we’re entering the last week of November. Yikes!

Holiday Cookie Baking

During the holidays my family has always made (and devoured) loads of cookies. It was a tradition growing up to go to my grandparents’ house and bake the same 4-5 different types of cookies with all the women of the family – grandmother, aunt, grand-kids, cousins. Great holiday memories!

Among the different types of cookies was a simple sugar cookie, rolled out and cut into traditional Christmas cookie shapes and then frosted with a quick homemade powdered sugar icing.

My baking style has always been no fuss, mostly because I don’t have the patience for how precarious some cake, cookie and dessert recipes can be. I love a simple recipe that can be transformed with a few minor adjustments, and so the basic sugar cookie recipe is a favorite of mine. With only 7 ingredients, most of which you probably have sitting in your pantry and fridge right now, it’s the queen of easy cookies (except for perhaps a shortbread cookie, which has maybe 3 ingredients).

Chocolate + Grapeseed Oil Spray?!?!

But what if we did something crazy like adding some cocoa powder? And, what if we substitute some of the butter with something like Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray?

It’s an all-natural cooking spray imported from FRANCE with a high smoke point. And for someone who’s notorious for burning the bottoms of cookies (okay, I don’t burn every batch, but usually at least one), I thought maybe this would help create a crisp cookie bottom, without the risk of burning.

Isn’t the color pretty?

I used it for baking this time, but Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray is also great for sautéing, grilling and stir-frying. A plethora of uses!

Baking for Better Challenge

Pompeian and celebrity chef/executive chef Duff Goldman (of Charm City Cakes fame!) have teamed up to show Americans how to enhance their baking by using the new Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray – it’s called the Baking for Better Challenge. If you want to give it a whirl, you have until 11:59:59 PM EST on December 6, 2013. Just upload a photo to Instagram using the #Bake4Better hashtag, and  showcase how you’re giving your baked goods a tune-up using the new Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray. All the details can be found here.

The person with the most innovative photo (chosen by none other than chef Duff Goldman himself!!) will receive a $5,000 donation to a local food bank in their name. Nothing says “holiday spirit” than being able to help feed lots of hungry people! The winner also gets a super cool gift basket from Pompeian. Interested in some of chef Duff Goldman’s baking tips? You can download his TOP 5 right here. Enjoy!

Back to the cookies! Om-nom-nom….

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Holiday Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup salted butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Set it aside.

In a large bowl with a mixer, cream together the butter, Grapeseed Oil Spray and sugar on medium-high for 3 minutes until it's smooth and creamy looking. Beat in the egg and vanilla, and mix for another minute. With the mixer on low, gradually beat in the dry ingredients until they're just combined - do not over mix. The dough will be kind of crumbly.

Roll the dough into teaspoon-sized balls, and place them on ungreased cookie sheets, pressing down a bit to flatten. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they're no longer shiny and the centers are done. Let the cookies stand on the baking sheets for 1-2 minutes before transferring them to racks to cool completely.

Makes about 32 cookies.

For the Baking for Better official rules, please visithttp://www.pompeian.com/bakebetter.  Coupons for Pompeian products can be found at http://www.pompeian.com.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pompeian Grapeseed Oil Spray.