Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies

My birthday gift to you: For the month of July, I’m sharing some favorite cookie recipes. I love baking, and I especially love baking cookies. These are some of my favorites.

Who doesn’t love sprinkles, amiright? Let’s add some sprinkle fun to a lovely chewy chocolatey cookie. Everyone will be happy to see these as an option on your cookie plate!

The great thing about this recipe — I mean besides the yummy cookies it produces — is that it uses oil, so you can make this dough quickly. You will have to wait for the dough to chill in the fridge for a couple hours; this helps minimize the spread as the cookies bake

Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies

Yield: 18 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules (optional)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (especially nice if you can find mini chips)

1 cup chocolate jimmies

Directions

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the cocoa powder, sugar, and vegetable oil. The mixture will be grainy. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring until smooth and glossy. Stir in the espresso, if using, and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine. The mixture will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips and use a spatula to ensure that all of the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Just before baking, place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place sprinkles in a shallow bowl. Scoop the cookie dough using a cookie scoop (1 1/2 tablespoonful). Drop the dough balls into the sprinkles and roll around to coat the dough balls entirely in chocolate sprinkles.

Place each sprinkle-covered ball on the cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Very lightly flatten the tops of the dough balls.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies spread and look set. They'll be soft when they come out of the oven. Allow to rest on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Continue until all of the cookies are baked.

Enjoy!