Happy Halloween! (aka Chocolate Sugar Cookies)

Check out the cute cookies we made yesterday!

We made regular sugar cookies a few weeks ago and tried to use these cookie cutters, but the dough was too gooey and just stuck to the cookie cutters. We were very sad, and just ended up doing circles. But this recipe makes much stiffer dough and it worked perfectly with our fun cookie cutters!

I had originally planned on putting orange frosting on these, but couldn't bare to cover up the cute faces so I just sprinkled them with sugar. After the first batch, I realized that I had to sprinkle the sugar before cutting them or it would obscure the faces. I don't know if it really even needed this, though.

Not only are these cookies cute, they are also really good! They aren't too sweet, and feel really holliday-ish. I found they are perfect with the pumpkin ice cream I had that was (almost) too sweet to eat by itself.

I'm dreaming of a pumpkin ice cream pie with a chocolate cookie crust for Thanksgiving...

Anyway, here's the recipe (Slightly altered from Southern Living here):

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups whole white wheat flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg, beating until blended.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended.
3. Divide dough into 2 equal portions; flatten each portion into a disk. Cover and chill 10 minutes.
4. Place 1 portion of dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a 3- or 4 1/2-inch butterfly-shaped cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Repeat procedure with remaining dough portion.
5. Bake, in batches, at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes (for 3-inch cookies) and 15 to 17 minutes (for 4 1/2-inch cookies) or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets 5 minutes; remove to wire racks, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool. Decorate baked cookies as desired.