I made these a couple of years ago. They were good and different. Everyone does regular cutouts and so this was different and my friends who I gifted with cookies seemed to be appreciative to see something different than regular cutout cookies. Martha Stewart's Dark Chocolate Cutout Cookies It's a Martha Stewart Recipe: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Nonpareils, for sprinkling (optional) DIRECTIONS 1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl. 2. Put butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. mix in egga nd vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or overnight. 3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Chill in freezer 15 minutes. 4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, quickly cut out shapes from dough (if dough begins to soften, chill it in freezer 3 to 5 minutes). Reroll and cut scraps. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Brush flour from shapes. Sprinkle with nonpareils, if using. Chill in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. 5. Bake cookies until crisp, about 9 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookie can be stored betwween layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Without knowing how much flour your recipe uses, I would add about 1 tablespoon of cocoa per cup of flour to your cookie dough and take out a tablespoon of flour. I would also add a good teaspoon of butter (cocoa has a bit of a drying effect) and a teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of cocoa. If this doesn't look "chocolate-y" enough, add more :-)

Leavening/soda makes dough rise. Proving/proofing shows that the yeast is alive (not an issue with dry granulated yeast, but absolutely necessary for cake yeast and starters). Rising is what the dough does. Commercial bakers nowadays proof yeast in the dough while it rises because the yeast is so reliably alive that they skip the step where you feed the yeast and make sure it bubbles up before wasting a batch of flour on it, which is the original meaning of proofing your yeast. They just look at the risen shaped loaves to see the proof. This has become so prevalent that bakers are using the word proof and rise interchangeably. You raise your hand and your crops, and rear your children. :)

There is a recipe for Mary's sugar cookies in my 1978 copy of Betty Crocker's Cooky Book: 1 1/2 C sifted confectioner's sugar 1 C butter or marg 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp almond flavoring 2 1/2 C AP flour 1 tsp soda 1 tsp cream of tartar I'm not going to type the directions--mix according to any sugar cooky recipe. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375, 7-8 minutes.