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?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
I had tried making these cookies and mine did not come out like it looks. The receipt does not stay how long to cook them and does not say after you roll into ball and dip in sugars to flatten them or leave in ball shape. In the over all they came out ok just a little hard and doesn’t look like pictured.
Cookies are very good! I doubled the recipe and got 75 cookies. Dough is very sticky, so I used a spoon to drop dough in sugar and rolled it, then put it in powered sugar and rolled it.
Made these last year and loved them.
Can I use regular or Dutch processed cocoa? I don’t remember which one I used last year.
Thanks!
Hi Molly, So glad you loved them! You should use regular cocoa powder :)
The day I baked these I did not think they had the chocolate flavor I thought they should and was somewhat disappointed, however after they mellowed for a day or two the flavor truly developed and they were delicious. My son who is not a cookie eater says they are really good and to keep that recipe.. I’ll be using this recipe a lot.
I read all of the reviews and was confident these were going to be good cookies. They are currently baking and have become twice the size of the ball and look nothing like the picture. I followed the recipe exactly. Two tablespoons per ball is way too large. I will try again and make the balls smaller. They cooked into each other and I’m hoping they at least taste good. I think the instructions should be modified. And, I agree with the reviewers, the dough is extremely difficult to work with even after an hour in the refrigerator.
we don’t usually use brown sugar with ours, we just use regular granulated sugar and add a tsp of cinnamon. You can also substitute in dark choclolate coco powder. These things are absolutely amazing.
These are always a hit when I make them for the holidays! Question: If I wanted to die dough red, when do you suggest I do this and how much do you think I would need? (to get that really nice “Christmas red” color). Thanks!
Hi Kelly, So awesome to hear you’ve enjoyed them! I honestly don’t think you’ll be able to successfully dye these cookies red… there’s too much chocolate.
I didn’t try this recipe yet. I want to tell Kelly to try Cool Whip Cookies to make red and green cookies like these. I will comment back after making these. I like to read the comments first. Thank you
Very bitter and dough is much more difficult to handle than Betty Crocker version. I tried again adding 1/3 c more brown sugar. Still an adult version of bitter dark chocolate, and even harder to form into balls. No wonder its bitter: old recipe uses 4 oz unsweetened chocolate and 2 cups granulated sugar. This version uses same 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, but piles on 1/2 cup cocoa powder and only adds 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Amazed almost no one finds it too bitter.
These were so good! I used two tablespoons of dough per cookie but I think that’s a little too much–they expanded a lot. But then again, I’ve never made crinkle cookies before, so maybe I messed something up. Great recipe!
These turned out GREAT! A brownie-like cookie. I didn’t even have any notes to make on the recipe after I made it — turned out great as stated. Thank you!!
Hi Kari, So glad you enjoyed these cookies! Thanks for stopping back to share a review!
dough is very messy to roll into balls. All over my hands. Do I need more flour?
Hi Phyllis, You shouldn’t add any more flour than the recipe calls for, but you can quickly pop the dough into the refrigerator if it didn’t thicken up enough during the resting time.
even refrigerating them for longer than the 3 hours you’ll end up with dough all over your hands, it’s just kinda how balling these works. They’re totally worth it though.
I found that also, but I sprayed my hands with cooking spray (just lightly) and that worked great.
I’m a skilled and experienced baker and I followed this recipe exactly and something went horribly wrong. The dough was fairly thin. It was a cross between brownie batter and cake batter. I went with it and I basically got a cookie sheet cake 😂 Any ideas about what may have happened? The batter is delicious! But I didn’t quite get cookies out of it 🤷🏻♀️
Hi Mary, If you did let the dough sit for 10 minutes and it was still too thin, you might try popping it into the refrigerator. It thickens as it rests, but if the room is warmer than usual, it may not firm up enough.
Oh it looks so absolutely delicious.
Now in the pre-wintertime that are The cookies I need! So I will try the recipe!
Your recipes and your blog is so great, I love it to read and try your recipes. :)
Greetings, Sandra.
You should give credit to Cooks Illustrated since you copied their recipe (eliminating the optional espresso powder). They posted theirs in November 2014. Yours is a December 2014.
Ahh… I now see that you do credit it.
Standard practice is to give credit at the beginning of the recipe; not at the end.
P.S. The recipe is better with the espresso powder.
Thank you so much!! These cookies are to die for! I had only 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, so I ended up using another ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate. They taste exactly like the ones we get at Pikes Place market in Seattle, WA.
These are terrific! I’m so glad I made a double batch, between the kids and I we are ten by the time we baked them all! They look fantastic too. The dough was definitely sticky, so it helped to refrigerate overnight before scooping and rolling in sugar. I also added about a teaspoon of instant coffee crystals. They are so rich that I made the cookies smaller than advised—a tablespoon each was just right. These are definitely going into heavy rotation!
This is a really great cookie. Deeply chocolate. It is like a brownie with the crunchy edges, but soft and tender in the middle. I found that chilling the batter in the fridge worked well for scooping dough balls. After rolling in powdered sugar, I froze the balls, so I’d have them ready for a day when I needed a fast treat. Baked from frozen, they were perfect. Thank you for another delicious recipe.
Made this recipe for Christmas 2016. Followed exactly and it did work perfect. Exactly 2 dozen cookies. Watched the timing and they came out great!. Love the idea of the gradulated sugar then the powdered sugar. Can’t believe how well that worked. It really made life easier. They looked great and tasted great! Just about the only cookie that worked out great this year. Thanks.
I made these this weekend for the office to snack on over the holiday and they turned out perfectly! Everyone raved over them :) thank you!
I made this recipe exactly to the directions. My cookies turned out flat and did not rise at all. The dough was extremely soft and hard to work with. Unhappy I wasted time and ingredients.
Hey Michelle
I absolutely love your recipes and so far everyone that I’ve tried have always worked. I was making a batch of these with my daughter for Santa tonight but the mixture came out very runny. I put it in the fridge to harden it a bit so that I can roll it in the sugar. It did harden but when I baked 2 tbs of dough it melted out. It certainly didn’t look like yours. I wonder where I went wrong :(
This will be my second year my daughter and I make these. Last year they became one of her favorites. First time wasn’t a success but after Cooks Illustrated explained the science behind the “cracking” every batch has been perfect. They sure are eye-catching on any cookie plate.
These cookies are so good! They turned out excactly like yours look and taste like amazing little brownie cookies! I would love to make these into a mint chocolate cookie and im curious how you think would be the best way to do that. Thank you so much!
This is the best fudgy chocolate crinkle cookie recipe I have ever used! The only thing I did differently is I cooled the batter for a few hours so it was easier to roll. I’m gonna be using this recipe from now on. Thank you !!
This is my favorite crinkle cookies recipe- and I have tried a lot of them! This one is the best! Thanks!
They tasted good but looked horrible! I even put the dough in the freezer for 2 hrs to harden then made balls and froze those and then powdered them and they still came out bad! So annoying cuz it took so long and everyone was looking forward
Is there any tips to make them look better because they taste good
Very wet to work with but a snap once you get used to it.
They are yummy sooo good and look like the photo
I want to make this dough in advance and freeze the rolled balls. Should I roll them in the granulated sugar before freezing?
Hi Kathy, I would roll the balls of dough in both the granulated and powdered sugars immediately before baking.
Hi Michelle! I’ve made these 4 times already but my crinkles always come out very flat since the dough isn’t firm enough at first. But even after waiting 10 mins room temp and/or chilling so the dough’s firm enough to roll, it still comes out flat :( Any suggestions? It’s still a great recipe though and tastes amazing that I still make it even if it spreads haha! But I bake in a cake tin instead, but I’d love to bake it at its real form! :) Thanks!
Can the dough for this be made in advance and chilled over night?
Hi Paulette, Yes, that would be just fine!
I made these today with my daughter and they look fantastic!
I have never made these before and I’m not a massive cookie baker but my partner loves cookies and I wanted to make them for him. I had read most of the comments about how the dough was hard to handle and was a bit skeptical at first, no need!
I just took two tablespoons of cookie dough dropped them into the granulated sugar, moved it around until it was covered, then picked it up and rolled it gently between my fingers and Palm to then finally giving it a good coating in the powdered sugar. They dough was still soft as I did this but manageable. I baked for exactly 12 minuets rotating half way through. When they came out of the oven I was amazed how true to Michelle’s photos these looked, lovely chocolatly cracks with a white snowy exterior. It was the appearance of these that drew my to bake them but I have it on good authority that they taste pretty awesome too.
I get great satisfaction from baking a recipe and it turning out as great as the photos advertise.
Thank you Michelle and happy Christmas to you and your little family : )
What a great cookie! So beautiful looking, I did a taste test run to see about adding them to holiday baking list. Some comments mention sloppy dough… I wonder if their butter/chocolate mixture is too warm when they are adding it. I did the melt as my first prep step and found the dough easy to work with. I did have an issue with the dough sticking to my hands when forming the balls, so I tried the trick mentioned in the post of getting some sugar on the dough before rolling and the problem was solved. My cookies came out exactly as Michelle has pictured and they were an amazing chocolatey cocoa, cakey, brownie cookie. Three desserts in one! How could this be anything but delicious!