Please help. Also, how long should the dough stay out from the frigde before you start rolling the dough?

Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

Cookie type: cut outs

This is another recipe from www.cookierecipe.com. The recipe was submitted by Robin J. The cookies will puff up slightly. The recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies depending on the cookie cutter.

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teas vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teas baking powder
10 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs, beating well. Mix in vanilla. Combine flour cocoa powder and baking powder, add to cream mixture. Mix well. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough in half. Roll out each half to ¼ inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Decorate. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Decorate.

Cut-Out Chocolate Cookies

Cookie Type: Cut-out

This is another recipe out of Hershey’s Best-Loved recipes. Good texture and taste. It makes about 3 dozen cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:
Beat butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a large bowl until and fluffy. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture, blending well. Chill dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to roll.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

On a lightly floured board or between 2 pieces of wax paper roll a small portion of the dough at a time to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters; place on an ungreased sheet.

Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until no indentations remain when touched lightly. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet onto wire racks. Coo completely, decorate as desired.

Hints, Tips, Tricks and How to Cheat: I found that the dough cracked when I tried to roll it out after chilling. The dough needs to be at room temperature. The cookies also needed a longer baking period 8-9 minutes. Also, I found that if you roll the dough on a silicone mat that is floured, then cut out the cookies, it makes it easier to get the cookies onto the baking sheet.