Chocolate Chip Cut Out Cookies are like typical chocolate chip cookies, only better! Rolled out and cut with cookie cutters, they can be made into any shape for any occasion.
I believe that chocolate chip cookies are always a GOOD idea!
I love that this Chocolate Chip Cut Out Cookie Recipe allows me to cut them into any fun shape I want. I love hearts just about as much as I love cookies, so I decided on heart-shaped cookies.
They’d brighten anyone’s day!
The Cut Out Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for this recipe is just perfect…
you get warm, perfectly soft, and chewy chocolate chip cookies every time.
Trust me… I’ve sampled enough that I consider myself an expert at this point.
How Do I Decorate Chocolate Chip Cut Out Cookies?
You can decorate these chocolate chip cut out cookies with glaze or buttercream frosting, sprinkles, or any candy of your choice! Here are some of my posts on decorating cookies and making glaze icing or buttercream frosting:
- How to Ice Cookies Without a Piping bag
- Glaze Icing Recipe
- How to Decorate Cookies WITH a Piping Bag
- Buttercream Frosting Recipe
and
Don’t forget to get my COOKIE GUIDE, it’s free!
What is the best way to roll this dough out with a rolling pin, so the cookies don’t stick?
Rolling cookie dough out between two pieces of wax paper eliminates the use for extra flour (and that will ensure the cookies won’t dry out) I roll my cookies out with the wax paper and level my straight rolling pin to glide on top of wooden dowels so the cookie sare all the same thickness. I typically use 1/4″ dowels.
Can any cookie-cutter be used for this recipe?
Since this recipe has chocolate chips in the recipe, it’s best to use a less intricate. Cookie cuters with small pieces off the main part of the cutter may not cut well. Simple shapes are best with this recipe, Hearts, circles, squares, stars, or similar will work best.
Can I Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
You can definitely freeze chocolate chip cookie dough. In fact, it’s one of my favorite hacks for having warm chocolate chip cookies on a whim. For this Roll Out Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I prefer to roll the dough out between two pieces of wax paper or parchment before freezing. Wrap the rolled dough tightly with plastic wrap, cover in a layer of foil, and place in the freezer until you’re ready for cookies!
Just thaw at room temperature until the dough is soft enough to cut and you’re good to go. Cut and bake as usual.
How Long is Homemade Cookie Dough Good in the Freezer?
If wrapped tightly, homemade cookie dough is good in the freezer for about 4-6months, although we never go without eating it for that long around here!
What Can I Add to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
I’ve added all kinds of things to these cookies, from rainbow sprinkles, mini M&Ms, cut-up candy bars, even different kinds of chips like white chocolate or peanut butter. Just add to the dough when you’re adding your chocolate chips and mix well. If adding chocolate candy or other chips, I typically reduce the amount of chocolate chips in this recipe to even it out.
If you like these, be sure to check out some of my other cookie recipes, and this great post on baking perfect cut-out cookies.
There are lots of good ones to choose from… keep scrolling I’ve added lots more info after the recipe.
I’m not sure I’d bake as much as I do if it weren’t for THIS mixer, it sure makes it easy.
Check out these chocolate chip cookie recipes:
- Brown Butter Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough- no baking required
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites (skillet)
How to make sure these cookies bake up without changing shape:
- Do not roll the cookie dough too thin, roll it at least 1/4″ thick.
- If it’s hot in your kitchen, chill the cut out shapes on baking sheets for 10 minutes to be sure the dough is firm before baking.
What can I add to make these cookies even more fun?
Add in a cup of sprinkles like rainbow jimmies, when the cookies are completely cooled dip them into melted chocolate. Apply colorful icing in a drizzle or flood the top of the cookies.
- 1/3 cup melted butter (salted)
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 cups flour
- 3 cups chocolate chips (mini chips)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix butter and brown sugar together, then add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beat until each is incorporated.
- Add baking powder and flour, mix well on medium speed.
- Add the mini chocolate chips and blend so they are all incorporated.
- Flour your surface and roll out dough or roll dough between 2 sheets of wax paper. And use a flat rolling pin on 1/4 inch dowels on each side of the wax paper so the cookie thickness is even with all the cookies.
- The chips do make it more challenging to roll the dough, but it will come together easily to be cut into shapes.
- Cut with a cookie cutter and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 10 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool completely before stacking.
If you LOVE hearts, you’ll love this post filled with TONS of heart-shaped recipes HERE.
I have LOTS of posts on all types of cookies, be sure to check them out. (links below)
- cookie tips guide
- how to bake perfect cookies
- Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Cookie Dough Recipe that holds its shape
- Soft Sugar Cookies and Frosting
- How to ice cookies with a piping bag
- Brush on glaze icing
- resources, recipes, items, and instructions for baking perfect cookies
- royal icing recipe
Be sure to sign up for my Emails specifically for COOKIE TIPS HERE!
If you like chocolate chip cookies, you will LOVE THIS!
If you like this or any other recipe at 
addy says
Hi!
You think if I add almonds would they still work?
Diane says
yes 🙂 that sounds yummy
Emma Vogelsang says
These cookies were different than the average chocolate chip cookie. Me and my family did enjoy them very much though. I made some homemade icing to put on them and it was the perfect touch!
nikki says
these cookies are the perfect chocolate chip recipe that I have been looking for thanks 🙂
carolina says
awful. they were not cooked and gooey and just gross. also, the directions don’t day anything about the vanilla?!!!!??? i did everything it said and reread the directions and ingredients about 5 times… 🙁
Diane says
Sorry the recipe didn’t work for you. It has for me many times without trouble. If you feel you followed the instructions and you cookies were undercooked, I typically suggest checking your oven temperature with an oven thermometer. You can always bake them longer or at a slightly higher temperature (375)
Diane says
I used unsalted butter and just added a little salt. I used half milk and half semi sweet chocolate chips. I didn’t roll the dough, I patted it out so I didn’t want to add too much flour. 10 minutes was the perfect time for my oven – gas. I had very soft butter for the first batch which made 46 cookies with a heart cutter that is 2 1/4 inches wide at the widest part of the heart. These don’t spread as much as my Toll House recipe so maintained the heart shape much better. I’m going to try melted butter for the next batch. I’m freezing them for the traditional cookie table at western Pennsylvania weddings which will be in Denver June 4 for our first daughter’s wedding!
Tyler says
maybe you didn’t add vanilla extract…? the person who created the recipe didn’t necessarily add that; it’s probably a helpful ingredient
Diane says
This recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of vanilla. These cookies taste great!
Kerry says
Hmm… I’m having to cook mine longer as well, but they are delicious. Maybe my cookie cutter is larger. Is it two cups packed brown sugar? They taste so good I’m willing to play around with the recipe until it comes out.
Diane says
Hi, baking time and temperature will depend on each individual oven. I believe the cookie cutter I used is 2 1/2 inches across the widest part of the heart, it’s not a large cutter. Yes, two cups of packed brown sugar. Try baking just two cookies at a time in the center of a cookie sheet if you need to adjust something, it will save you from “testing” on a whole tray.
Kaila says
Was thinking of making these for a kids valentine party at school. How many cookies, does this
recipe make? Thank you Kaila
Kaila says
Was thinking of making these for a kids valentine party at school. How many cookies, does this
recipe make? Thank you Kaila
Kaila says
How many cookies, does this recipe make? Want to make for valentine kids party. Thanks kaila
Diane says
I believe it made 36 cut cookies in this size.
Lilian says
Hi
When you say vanilla can I use vanilla extract?
Diane says
Yes, use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
Emma says
what size cookie cutter should be used?
Diane says
you can use any size cookie cutter you’d like, the cutter I use is 2 3/4 inches across the widest part of the heart.
Sarah says
I tried this recipe and it is a keeper. This recipe is great if you desire a chocolate chip cut out cookie! Pick any cut out shape you like! The hearts turn out really cute! The dough is tough so don’t be tempted to add anything to it or fix it some way. At first it seems 3 cups of chocolate chips is too much- won’t mix into the dough. However although the dough is tough, once you roll out – dough has the consistency of clay – and all those morsels can be worked in. I used a combination of morsels – white, miniature, and medium sized semisweet. I really like this recipe because you don’t have refridgerate the dough (wait) to make them. I wanted to add nuts, but I was making these for the youth movie night and some have nut allergies, so I had to leave them out. These turned out just like the posted picture. I hope this review encourages others to give this recipe a try!
Enjoli says
Followed the recipe to a T! Dough doesn’t seem firm enough to roll and cut out. Any suggestions?
Diane says
Try a small portion and roll it out, if the dough seems too soft add a bit of flour, like a tablespoon at a time. This dough is not overly firm, it should roll smoothly (with the exception of the bumps that the chips give it) If more flour worked well, add more flour to the rest of the dough. Flour will make the dough firmer, but will also make the cookie dryer if you add too much, so add sparingly.
Jessica says
I want to make this recipe, but I don’t want 36 cookies. If I try to cut the recipe in half, should I add one egg, or two eggs?
Diane says
cutting down cookie recipes
If you need to “cut an egg in half” meaning the original recipe calls for 3 eggs, you’ll then need 1 1/2 eggs.
If you add one egg, you will have a dryer cookie, if you add 2 eggs you will have a wetter batter and the cookies can then spread more and puff up more than normal.
Mix the egg you need to cut in half a large egg is 3 tablespoons, then scoop out 1 1/2 tablespoons of the mixed up egg to use in the recipe.
Some recipes are more sensitive than others to cutting down and adding more, baking is a science and the proportions are important.
Other alternatives:
make the whole batch of dough and freeze 1/2 to baking another time, scoop it out onto cookie sheets then freeze for an hour then place in a zipper freezer bag, roll the dough into a log and wrap in wax paper then a zipper bag and freeze and then slice to bake round cookies later. Keep the dough in the fridge to bake in an 8” or larger pie plate or cake pan as a large cookie cake.
Chrissy Pimentel says
These turned out absolutely perfect. I used 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips. I used plenty of flour turned out on the table and on my rolling pin. I rolled the flour to the tickness the full sized chips would allow. Using a star shaped cookie cutter I easily made 48 cookies. I still had a little pile of scrap dough after I re-rolled out and stamped out the second batch of 24. This was just your average .99 christmas cutter. It isn’t very big but I wouldn’t call them small cookies either.
Seraphim says
I want to make these using a woodland animals cookie cutter set. Do they hold their shape well? Or donthey expand a lot? (For example: Would the deer antlers become blobs?) Thank you! I can’t wait to try these!
Diane says
Since these have chips in them a smaller detailed cutter would not work so well. This cookie recipe does swell a little but I have a sugar cookie recipe that does not spread and is great for detailed cookie cutters, you could possibly add mini chocolate chip to the dough, it’s hard to cut small cookie cutter with chips in the dough if you haven’t done it before. or you could dunk the back of the cookies in chocolate if you’d like. https://www.createdby-diane.com/2011/07/sugar-cookie-recipe.html.
Jess says
What flour does this use? Self raising or all purpose? Thanks
Diane says
All purpose flour
Rina says
Can I replace the melted butter for oil?
Diane says
I have not made cookies with oil, and butter and oil are different compounds and I’m not sure how they will turn out, my thought would be they would be too oily, but if you do try it, let me know how they turn out. I also feel cookies taste really delicious when made with butter vs other items such as shortening. So if you want the best tasting cookies my choice would be to use butter.
Boo karat says
“Stir the butter and sugar together” means literally mixing the 2 together or creaming it? Does it need to be light a fluffy kind or just stirred? Thank in advance
Diane says
I do cream them together.
Boo karat says
Also 350 degreee as in the C or F ? Thanks!
Alisha Ross says
Never thought to put roasted tomatoes into a salad, but of course it goes so well with the roasted squash. I added roasted beets since I had some. Don’t have pine nuts; subbed pecans. For the dressing, I didn’t have orange/juice and the stores don’t yet have frozen or fresh cranberries, so I reconstituted dried with hot water. Made my own balsamic dressing with a bit of Dijon mustard. Added strips of grilled tempeh (I’m really not obsessed with protein, but just wanted to use it up).
Rose Martine says
I enjoy trying new dishes to serve my family. This looks absolutely delicious.
Katie says
I am planning on using this recipe however 3 eggs seems like a lot, I usually use 2. Do you think 2 is enough?
Katie says
Also, do the cookies loose any of their shape in the oven as choc chip tends to spread? If so, do you recommend putting the shapes in the refrigerator before baking?
Diane says
I haven’t had any trouble with the cookies losing their shape at all. They come out just like photographed in the post. I didn’t refrigerate the dough before baking. You could always bake a couple to be sure that everything will work out for you by placing two or three in the middle of a baking sheet.
Katie says
Okay! Yes I will test a few out, but if you say that they hold shape then that is great
Thank you!
Diane says
I’m sure using two eggs will be fine.
Katie says
Oh no! I have tried a few out and they have spread into blobs! They haven’t held their shape at all :/
Diane says
I’m not sure why, since the butter is melted they typically don’t spread. My suggestions are that you’re sure your oven holds the temperature (do this by using an additional oven thermometer about $3 at walmart, and put it in the oven to be sure it’s holding accurate temp. This is often a problem, if your oven goes high, then cools off you’ll have to adjust for that in baking) Be sure you’re using heavy-duty baking sheets, they bake well, cookies tend to spread really quickly on thin cookie sheets. There are my favorite https://amzn.to/2vu0t71 I have the nonstick versions as well. Bake in the middle to upper portion of your oven as most ovens are hotter on the bottom.(I bake my cookies one rack above center) I have lots of tips on baking cookies here https://www.createdby-diane.com/2018/11/cookie-baking-must-see-posts.html, Be sure you measured everything correctly, add more flour if needed to firm up the dough, be sure to roll the dough thick enough so it won’t spread, thin cookies spread fast. I roll 1/4″-3/8″ for cut out cookies and yes I use dowels so I’m sure they aren’t thinner.
Verena says
You’ve made my life (and kitchen) so happy and mess free I just had to comment and THANK YOU for that priceless tip of rolling cookie dough between two sheets of waxed paper. It works like a charm!!! Such wonderful recipes and advice. Thank you <3
Diane says
I’m so glad you like the tip, it really makes baking cut out cookies less messy. I’m planning on baking some tomorrow!
Hannah says
I made spaghetti squash for the first time last night and LOVED it! I started eating gluten free recently, and my gluten-eating BF was craving pasta I tried spaghetti squash. He tried a bit of mine, and liked it – so it looks like i’ll be searching out more spaghetti squash recipes!
Jessica newa says
Nice post. I learn something new sites I
stumble upon every day. It will always be helpful to read content from you
Jessica newa says
I will immediately snatch your rss as I can not find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Thanks.
Diane says
Hi Jessica, you can sign up to get my emails here http://bit.ly/CBDcoleslawpack
and it comes with a fun ebook too.
Stephen newman says
great job….20+ ads on 1 recipe blog post. How sad and pathetic
Diane says
Pathetic is someone who would leave this comment!
Hannah says
Hello! I just love these chocolate chip cookies they look amazing and I’m going to make them tonight.
Kelly Hubbard says
I love these cookies, they are easy to make and taste delicious. I just made your bahn mi meatballs and my family loved them, I love getting your emails it makes meals so easy. Thanks Diane, you’re amazing!
Hailey says
By the way- I love this recipe for cut out chocolate chip cookies, they turned out perfectly and I roasted my spaghetti squash using your method, thanks so much for all your great recipes Diane! Your emails are the best!
Gus says
Dough was far too sticky to use any cutter. The cookies were very delicious though. I hand mixed. You think was the problem. Also, used parchment instead of wax. Was that another problem. Also, would it help to freeze of cool first?
Diane says
It’s hard to mix the butter and sugar creamy by hand, it certainly can be done but the ingredients need to be very well blended, not just mixed to combine them. That is why the instructions say beat them( with a mixer) air help blend them as the speed of the machine combines the ingredients.Think of it as trying to melt the sugar into the butter and make it creamy by whipping quickly. If by hand a whisk might be the best choice then use a wooden soon to mix the rest of the ingredients.
When rolling out the dough, if it sticky add a little flour, you can roll it in between parchment or waxed paper, they both work well. No need to chill until the batter is not mixed well. Which is why it was probably sticky.