Cocoa Snowflake Crisps

These thin and crispy chocolate cookies are a perfect holiday treat! Cocoa Snowflake Crisps are made with good cocoa and salted butter which help to make them super chocolatey and buttery with a snap-crisp texture. Top them with a thin sugary glaze to make them extra tasty and super festive too!

Christmastime is synonymous with cookie-cutter cookies. These Cocoa Snowflake Crisps are a simple and inexpensive way to add a special touch to a deliciously classic cookie. Besides, who doesn’t love playing with cookie cutters and icing at Christmastime!? Cookie-cutter cookies have been a regular part of Christmastime sweets and treats all of my life.  I remember how they were planted on the table in the colourful tin they were bought in; don’t you?

What?  Your parents made cookie-cutter cookies from scratch?  Mine didn’t.  I’ve said a million times that my mom was a great cook and baker.  But, in all of my lifetime, she never once ventured to make her own cookie-cutter cookies. Both of my parents worked. In addition to being a mom of three, she also needed to go to work every day.  There was never a time that we didn’t have delicious cookies in our kitchen. But, she never did mess around with cookie cutters.  Shortcuts were sought out and expected in almost everything she did.

I’m going to tell you all about this cookie recipe and how you can make it in your home this holiday season, but first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. I know we’re getting closer to the big day, so it’s time to get to the cookie recipes! Before I get into this brand-new series, let me make mention of the three previous holiday confection countdowns that I just finished up this year.

Back in October, I kicked off the holiday season with a holiday recipe series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Donuts and followed that up with a second series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers. And now, I’m starting out on this new series, which is the sixth annual instalment! I cannot believe that this is the sixth year in a row that I’ve shared Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas! But, before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for today’s recipe, let me tell you about this series and more!

LORD BYRON’S 24 COOKIES OF CHRISTMAS SERIES

Another holiday series, Lord Byron? Yes – why not!? Welcome, Dear Reader, to the fourth of my annual holiday recipe series for this season! This one is called Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas – Volume 6! I will try to keep the recipes in this series quick and easy, just like in previous years. Even if a recipe looks complex, I promise you that it is not! My goal, as always, is to share recipes with you that are not too complex to whip up as a holiday treat for your family. 

Like every other holiday series I’ve shared over the years, this series will share a new recipe every day for the next 24 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday recipes year after year?

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series! Even though this is the fourth series for this holiday season, you can always look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this Cocoa Snowflake Crisps recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is softened and at room temperature.
• Flour – This recipe has only been tested with all-purpose, unbleached flour.
• Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavor to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! If you don’t have dark, you can use regular cocoa.
• Confectioner’s Sugar – You might call it powdered sugar or icing sugar.
• Milk – When a baking recipe requires milk, I always use whole milk, unless otherwise stated. 

HOW TO MAKE COCOA SNOWFLAKE CRISPS

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and confectioner’s sugar until well blended. Add the flour and cocoa. On low speed, beat into the butter and sugar mixture until just incorporated. Do not over mix! Divide the dough in half and form each half into a disk measuring an inch thick. Wrap each disk in a sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Set aside.

Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll it to 1/4 inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper. Using parchment paper eliminates the need to dust the rolling surface or rolling pin with flour, which will ensure a dark, chocolatey cookie.

Dust the cookie stamp by pressing the stamp end gently into a bowl of flour. Tap the stamp firmly on the edge of the bowl to get rid of the excess flour. Holding the stamp as straight as possible, press the stamp into the dough just slightly to make the indent. (This might take a time or two to practice how hard you need to press to get a deep enough indent.)

Next, set the stamp aside, and use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to cut around the stamped dough. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet using a flat, slotted, metal spatula. Leave 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven promptly and allow the cookies to rest for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Re-roll the leftover dough, and bake the next batch. Once all of the cookies are baked and fully cooled, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar with the milk until smooth. Heavily drizzle the glaze over the cookies to fully coat. Pay close attention to the snowflake imprint, filling it in with the glaze to add contrast and to make the decoration stand out. Once the glaze has hardened, transfer the Cocoa Snowflake Crisps to a food-safe container with a tight-fitting lid. Keep at room temperature.

COOKIE CUTTERS ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH CHRISTMAS

Cookie-cutter cookies were never eaten throughout the year.  I can only remember eating them at Christmastime. They always came packaged in a tin can that would be later used for storage. Usually, it was buttons or another cookie recipe that mom would make later in the New Year.  Sometimes, that tin would hold a cake as well.  You could always find them stored in the basement in the deep freezer.

You know the tin I’m talking about, right?  It was the vibrant purplish-blue round tin with gold accents.  The brand was Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies.  There were pictures on the lid of the various cookies (butter cookies) inside. And a lovely image of what looked to be an English Countryside manner.  Every time we go shopping for antiques, I see these tins everywhere.

I know those were in fact shortbread cookies. They were the only cookies I knew to be cookie-cutter cookies as a child.  In my adult years, I took to making my own cookie-cutter cookies. I don’t save them just for Christmastime, but throughout the year or whenever the mood hits me.  In some instances, I will colour the cookie dough with food colouring. It creates a festive cookie to fit a particular occasion.

COCOA POWDER

Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product that adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! I have two types of cocoa that I use when baking. In cookies like these Hot Chocolate Cookies, just a regular, inexpensive cocoa powder will do just fine. Even though I don’t care for Hershey’s chocolate, I do like to use Hershey’s cocoa powder for cookies.

If, however, I’m making a cake or a cookie recipe with very few ingredients, I want to use better-quality cocoa powder. For me, Fry’s Premium Quality Cocoa has all that I’m looking for. It has a stronger chocolatey scent than other cocoa powders. When it comes to flavour, Fry’s wins out again. The only thing that Fry’s doesn’t offer is a deeper, chocolatey colour like you see in the photos. I find that Hershey’s does a better job in terms of colour.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Cocoa Snowflake Cookies, you certainly can! Pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer-friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out on a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. If packaging, wait until the condensation has evaporated. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!