These super cute Christmas Pudding Chocolate Cookies make perfect treats to enjoy or gift during the festive season. They are totally chocolate flavoured cookies, but made to look like Christmas puddings, or figgy puddings. The decoration is so easy to do without any special equipment, and the cookies can be baked straight away or chilled first for a chunkier result. I used some ready made holly decorations, but you could use sprinkles, fondant or pipe them on with coloured buttercream or chocolate instead.
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Ingredient Tips & Equipment Information
- Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
- I prefer to use unsalted butter for this recipe, but you can also use a baking spread.
- I used dark chocolate chips in the cookies, you could use milk chocolate, or omit them entirely if your prefer.
- For the holly and berries, I used ready made royal icing decorations.
- I recommend using light brown soft sugar for delicious flavour and a more gooey cookie, but you can replace it with caster sugar if you can't get hold of brown sugar.
- Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
- For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.
For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.
How to make Christmas Pudding Chocolate Cookies
Mix the caster sugar, light brown sugar and butter together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for about 3-5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix in. Then add the dark chocolate chips and mix briefly to combine.
Divide the mixture into portions and roll into balls with your hands. Place on a lined baking tray, and either bake immediately or chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking. When ready to bake, arrange on a lined baking tray with space in between the dough balls. Bake for 12 minutes, leave to cool for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. When fully cool, melt the white chocolate and use a spoon to decorate the cookies with it. Add the holly decorations while the chocolate is still wet so that it sticks to it. Leave the chocolate to set.
For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Do you have to chill the cookies before baking them?
You can chill them before baking for thicker cookies, but you don't have to and you can bake them straight away too.
How do you get perfectly round cookies?
As soon as they come out of the oven get a round cookie cutter, or a glass held upside down, that is larger than the cookies and put it over each cookie. Move it in a circular motion, pressing against the sides of the cookies gently to adjust any irregularities. This is called "scooting" or "hula hooping" the cookies.
How should the cookies be stored and can they be frozen?
You can keep the balls of unbaked cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months, and you can bake them straight from frozen whenever you fancy a fresh cookie. The baked cookies will last for 3-4 days in an airtight container in a cool place. You can freeze the baked cookies too, wrap them well or store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Put a square of baking paper between each one to stop them from sticking together.
How do you make the holly decorations?
I used ready made royal icing holly decorations* from the brand Culpitt. There are also other brands that make similar ready made royal icing holly decorations. You could also use holly and berry sprinkles, make the holly leaves and berries out of fondant, or use red and green coloured buttercream or chocolate and pipe it onto the cookies.
Do you need any electric mixer to make this recipe?
While an electric mixer is helpful in making these cookies and will give the best results, you don't need one to make them. You can absolutely make the cookies by hand with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease. If you have an electric stand mixer, then you can use the paddle attachment to make these cookies.
Can this recipe be made gluten free?
For gluten free you can replace the plain flour with a gluten free plain flour blend. You may also like to add ¼ tsp xanthan gum for better texture. Please check the labels of everything you use if serving to someone with an allergy or intolerance.
Can this recipe be made dairy free?
For a dairy free version, use a dairy free baking spread instead of butter for the cookies. You will also need to use dairy free dark chocolate chips and dairy free white chocolate. Please do check the labels of everything you use if serving to someone with an allergy or intolerance.
More tips for making the Christmas Pudding Chocolate Cookies:
- Make sure to leave space between the balls of cookie dough on the baking trays as they will spread when baking, about 2" should ensure they don't stick together. If you make bigger cookies, you will need to leave more space.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for at least 5 minutes (nearer to 10 minutes is ideal) before trying to move them onto a cooling rack. Otherwise they will be too soft and will break or stick to the baking paper.
Troubleshooting
If you have any questions about this recipe, or if something went wrong and you need help, please use the comment form below and I will get back to you. You can also get in touch with me on my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!
Recommended equipment & ingredients
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring spoons
- Baking trays
- Cooling rack
- Kitchen scales
- Electric hand mixer
- Piping bags
- Stand mixer
- Round cutters
- White chocolate
- Holly decorations
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More Christmas cookie recipes...
Christmas Pudding Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 125 g Butter unsalted, softened
- 125 g Light brown soft sugar
- 75 g Caster sugar
- 1 Egg large
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 215 g Plain flour
- 35 g Cocoa powder
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 200 g Dark chocolate chips
For decoration
- 125 g White chocolate melted
- 12 Holly and berry decorations
Instructions
- If you want to bake the cookies straight away and not chill them, then pre-heat your oven to 180C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6 at the start. If you want to chill them, then wait to turn the oven on until they are chilling
- Ideally using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, caster sugar and light brown soft sugar together until fluffy and paler in colour. This will take 3-5 minutes in an electric mixer (I use speed 3)
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix in
- Add the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix them in until just combined
- Then mix in the dark chocolate chips briefly, just to evenly distribute them
- Divide the dough into portions, I weighed the dough out to make each cookie an equal size
- Roll the dough portions into balls using your hands, if you want chunkier cookies then you can chill them before baking them. To do so, place them on either a lined baking tray, or into a tupperware container lined with baking paper. Chill them in the fridge for 30 minutes
- After the 30 minutes is up and your oven is pre-heated, place the dough balls onto lined baking trays, leaving space (at least 2") between them to spread. If you don't have enough baking trays, keep the dough in the fridge and bake the cookies in batches
- Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking trays before moving to a cooling rack
- To decorate, melt the white chocolate. I prefer to do this in a microwave, break the chocolate into chunks and place into a suitable bowl. Blast for 30 seconds, stir, then blast for 10 seconds and stir, repeat until melted. Use a spoon to add the melted white chocolate to the cookies. Add the holly decoration while the chocolate is still wet so that they stick. Place onto baking paper and leave the chocolate to set
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and eat within 3 days
Notes
- Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
- I prefer to use unsalted butter for this recipe, but you can also use a baking spread.
- I used dark chocolate chips in the cookies, you could use milk chocolate, or omit them entirely if your prefer.
- For the holly and berries, I used ready made royal icing decorations.
- I recommend using light brown soft sugar for delicious flavour and a more gooey cookie, but you can replace it with caster sugar if you can't get hold of brown sugar.
- Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
- For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.
Tracy
I think I followed the recipe correctly and the cookies came out soft but hardened so there was no ‘squidgy’ 😔 Did I leave them in too long? They were in for the recommended time, but I must have done something wrong.
Thank you so much
thebakingexplorer
Hi Tracy, they should be soft in the centre, it sounds like they could possibly be overbaked. All ovens are different so yours might run a little hotter and they didn't need as long. You can get oven thermometers to show you the exact internal temperature of your oven, as most ovens as not accurate to what the dial says.
MP
Have just made these as the last of my Christmas baking, as rudolphs rather than puddings but the underlying cookie recipe is excellent. Into my rotation it goes.
Nephews and nieces will love these tomorrow.