Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
For all of the Christmas cookies, candy and goodies that my family has always made for the holidays, somehow crinkle cookies have never been something to show up on cookie trays. I guess we’re always a little too occupied with peanut butter blossoms, snowballs, buckeyes, pizzelle, biscotti and peppermint bark. Those beautiful powdered sugar-covered chocolate crinkle cookies have always been something that I wanted to try and I finally put them on my baking list for this year. If I had known how easy they were to make (no electric mixer required!) and how absolutely phenomenal they tasted, I would have started making them years ago.
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While I love my KitchenAid mixer, I am a huge fan of any recipe that can be made with a couple of bowls, a whisk and a spatula. These cookies fit the bill and the resulting flavor is outstanding. The cookies themselves taste like dense, fudge-like brownies, and the dusting of powdered sugar looks like a fresh snowfall (which I am still impatiently waiting for!).
Are you a crinkle cookie newbie or have you been making them for years? If they’re not part of your holiday repertoire yet, add them to your baking list immediately. Do as I say, not as I do!
One year ago: Classic Thumbprint Cookies
Five years ago: Date Nut Spice Bread
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1½ cups (330 g) light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Whisk together the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Combine the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a small bowl and microwave at 50 percent power, stirring occasionally, until melted, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Fold in the flour mixture until no dry streaks remain. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Place the granulated sugar and powdered sugar in separate shallow bowls. Working with 2 tablespoons dough (or a medium cookie scoop) at a time, roll into balls. Drop dough balls directly into granulated sugar and roll to coat. Transfer dough balls to powdered sugar and roll to coat evenly. Evenly space the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until puffed and cracked and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cool completely on sheet before serving. The cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Hello there,
I just made these cookies and they are delightful! There was a moment of panic as the dough was initially really wet and too sticky to form balls; I added more flour and all was well.
Thanks for the yumminess!
Tiffany
Easy to make , great, but mine didn’t flatten out to cookies. They needed more than 12 mins in the oven.
Can I freeze them?
Hi Ros, Yes, you can freeze these!
I was looking for a chocolate crinkle cookie that used butter, not oil, as most CCC recipes call for. I made these today, and will offer a few comments. I hope BEB will not mind, because they are only intended to help all of us. I melted the butter and chocolate ahead of time and let the mixture cool to room temp. Next time I will cut back the brown sugar to 1-1/4 cups to make them a little less sweet. Next, I refrigerated the dough for several hours (or overnight next time). The dough was impossible to handle, otherwise. I made the cookies small–maybe 1-1/2 tsp. of dough per ball. I still baked them at 325 for 12 minutes and they were perfect. We like sampler size so we can try many kinds at Christmas. Lastly, when I put the dough balls on the cookie sheet (15 per sheet for the smaller size balls) I gently flattened them with the bottom of a juice glass. Thanks for the recipe! I’ve added it to our Christmas cookie list for next year.
I lost my recipe for these cookies- and this recipe is perfection! I made these last night for Christmas, and my family ate them so fast, I have to make another batch for Christmas! Thank you for the recipe! :)
I love these! They taste like brownies, but look like Christmas creations! And they are fun to make. Instead of leaving them to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes I actually put the dough in the fridge. Made it much easier to roll into balls.
Mine turned out really nicely, except they didn’t flatten out, they just stayed in little mounds. Still very delicious, just wondering what could have happened.
Hi Michelle, have had these bookmarked for YEARS! Oops! Last Christmas was hectic so they got overlooked.
I live in the UK and with nearly of your recipes I know most of the chocolate equivalents I.e. Bittersweet= 50%+ (cocoa solids) dark chocolate over here.
This is the first time I’m going to be using unsweetened chocolate and was wondering if you knew the percentage of cocoa solids it would be, we can get anything up to 100% here in the UK but I don’t want it to be too bitter. I was thinking maybe 80% cocoa solids.
Any advice would be appreciated : ) thanks
Hi Faye, For unsweetened chocolate I use 99% or 100%. Enjoy the cookies! :)
AMAZING!
The second sheet is in the oven as I’m writing this.
Everything I expected and more.
This is America’s Test Kitchen recipes I have their cookbook and its word for word no wonder its A GOOD COOKIE
I love crinkle cookies! Do you think these would hold up well in the mail? I’d like to send some out as Christmas gifts to family!
Hi Julie, Yes! I think these would be a perfect candidate for shipping!
This is one of my favorite blogs to get recipes from! I made these for a barbeque a year ago and people still remember them and ask me to make them again. They are easy and turn out great! To make them taller and puffier I add 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder and refrigerate the dough for a half hour before baking. My real favorite part of these cookies is all the sugar and little cooky crumbles that collect in the bottom of the bag/container. They are amazing on ice cream!
I made these yesterday and they were absolutely a HIT! It was my first time making any kind of crinkle cookies so I was very happy with the result. I did have some concerns about the dough not needing to be chilled, so I read reviews to see what others did. Here is all you need to know to get past the stickiness of the unrefrigerated dough:Make sure to take some other reviewer’s advice and NOT roll dough into balls until you ‘plop’ it into the sugar. Once you begin rolling it into the granulated sugar (then into the powdered sugar), you’ll have no problem forming it into a ball. Also, allowing the dough to sit for the 10 minutes does help, I believe, to make it a little more manageable. It allows it to cool down from the melting of chocolate.
I was wondering one thing, though: Does anyone think the cookies could be made to be a bit sweeter? Have you tried to sweeten them in any way? Overall, though, I found the cookies to be an absolutely amazing (and quick) version for crinkle cookies. Thanks for the recipe! This will be a keeper.
Hi Kelly, If you’d like them sweeter, you could try substituting bittersweet chocolate in place of the unsweetened chocolate. If you would like them sweeter still, then you could try semisweet chocolate. Enjoy!
Thanks for the advice! I plan on making these again this weekend for my brother-in-law’s birthday, but perhaps a bit sweeter based on your suggestions. I made these for his birthday the other year and he absolutely LOVED them! I’ll let you know how the sweeter version turns out ?
Update: I used half bittersweet (2 oz) and half unsweetened (2 oz) and they turned out fantastic! Keeping this version of the recipe, for sure. Thanks for such a quick and delicious recipe!! My brother in law thought this was better than first time I made them ? to be fair though I DO have the worlds biggest sweet tooth, too…
Hi, does anyone know if the cookies are supposed to be baked 12 mins per sheet or 6 mins per sheet? Thanks :)
Hi Sandy, Bake each sheet for 12 minutes.
Made these for my family for christmas, a real hit :)
Thank you, everyone, for your advice! You’re a really helpful bunch of people! I really cherish this community of bakers! :-)
I’ve made these a couple times now and they are DELICIOUS. However, both times they haven’t “cracked” as described in the recipe. They kind of rise and then fall. I can never get them thick enough! Any ideas?
these are awesome! My dough was quite sticky and more like brownie batter initially. but after 10 minutes it was just sticky. I didn’t roll it into a ball prior to rolling it into the sugar. I just kinda plopped it in the bowl and rolled it as I went. It worked and they turned out beautiful!
Thank you, Jen, for your advice! Yep, after a couple of messy tries I did the same: rolled the dough in the sugar first. It became totally manageable after this trick. The cookies turned out absolutely delicious with a beautiful presentation! I wish the recipe would have some dough clarification…. :-) Happy holidays, everybody!
I made these cookies for my company cookie exchange and took home the award for best tasting cookie! Thank you for yet another fabulous recipe. :)
These look delicious, definately going to give them a go….
read through all the comments saw answer to can I freeze.
I am having gooey dough issue same as a few others. Any suggestions?
I learned that if they sit a few minutes longer, the dough is easier to manage for rolling in the sugar. I also dropped the dough straight in the granulated sugar and then rolled it into a ball before the powdered sugar. Much easier and cleaner. Just don’t let the dough sit too long or it becomes difficult to get out of the cookie scoop.
Thanks! I ended up refrigerating and they came out perfect.
Making these as I type. Can I freeze after baked. It will only be for about a week and I will pack carefully. Please say yes :)
Yes, definitely!
so yummy
I love these cookies! My mom makes them every year for Christmas because it’s what her grandmother would make each year. My Great Grandmother passed away last year in June, and this year my mom made them in remembrance of her. They are so chocolaty and yummy, you really can’t go wrong with them. Plus they have a sweet memory attached to them with my Great Grandmother, who by the way, was such an amazing cook! I was so lucky to get to know her and learn her cooking.
I’m making these cookies right now. The dough is too gooey, and it’s impossible to roll it into the balls. I checked the recipe twice. I did everything perfect according to the recipe. After all, I have a type A personality. I think the dough has to stay in the refrigerator for 10 minutes not at the room temperature before rolling in the balls.
Any advice? Thank you.
Hi Yelena, Mine was fine at room temperature for 10 minutes, but you could try refrigerating the dough for a period of time until firm enough to roll into balls.
After digging through many recipes for the best chocolate crinkle recipe to delve into this year, I’ve settled on this one. And I am so excited to try it! I am hosting a cookie exchange this weekend with lots of food, friends, family, and fun and I have a feeling these chocolate crinkles will be the star of the show. Thanks for the great recipe!
I LOVE chocolate crinkle cookies. I lost my tried-and-true recipe I had been using, and I’m so glad I found this one because it’s super close to how I remember making them in the past. I also love adding a splash of peppermint extract!
These are so beautiful. They look so fluffy and Chocolatey. I don’t think I would stop eating them.
These look fantastic!! I’m not much of a cookie baker/eater, but these look to be the right size.
I have a couple of questions to the recipe:
1. Is each cookie two tablespoons worth of dough, or do you make smaller cookies from the ‘working with two tables of dough’? If not, could you?
2. Do you place the cookies in their round/ball shape on the tray to bake, or do you flatten them before baking?
Thanks
Hi Nomes, Each cookie is two tablespoons worth of dough, I did not make smaller cookies. You could if you wanted to, but be sure to decrease the baking time. I do not flatten the cookies, they are placed on the baking sheet in a ball shape.
Add a dash of instant espresso powder to enrich the chocolate flavor.