Black Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I peruse a number of blog regularly (see the list), and hopscotch about from there. Lilaloa is an amazing sugar cookie baker. Her trademark is chocolate dough which I have mentioned before. The contrast of the chocolate with the royal icing is stunning. She puts it all out there, tutorials, tips, recipes, the whole package. She is a generous artist, because not everyone shares their tricks. I don't really have any, although one day I will put my own tutorial out there because I am also pretty specific about things. But trust me, nothing earth shattering, and I do a good job on cookies, but Lilaloa is a cookie artiste! So a week or so ago, she started posting Halloween ideas, and her great idea was to take her already fabulous chocolate dough and drop some black in it for the perfect black cookies. I knew I had to try this.

Last weekend was the opening weekend for college volleyball, and our team is black, purple and white. I am certain you know where I went with this. All I could see in my mind was purple disco dust on those black cookies. So I went to town. I did the M, the sword and some rounds. I had ONE day to mix, chill, roll, bake and ice. It was definitely a last minute decision, not full of precision. But a team of volleyball players don't really care too much about your royal icing being too thin and bleeding. Really, no one even mentioned it. I made her recipe for End-All Chocolate Cookies and this time I used the shortening. The last time I made this recipe, I opted not to. I probably should have done all butter, because thanks to Tropical Storm Will, the air in Southern Mississippi was a little soggy, and the shortening has a tendency to keep the cookies softer. But this dough rolls fantastic and holds its shape during baking. The M cookies however were too soft and tended to break. Again, no one seemed to mind!I went with the purple and black and white. A little black and purple disco dust, some black coarse sugar, a few polka dots. What's not to love here. It was a great weekend, good volleyball, a very nice group of parents and players. Looking forward to a fun season and many more cookies. What are you waiting for!