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.
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!
Delicious but not traditional, turned out puffy and more like brownies. I was hoping to make crinkles like my grandma and nanny used to make but I should have just looked in the ancient cook books I took after they passed. My fault for trying to take a short cut but wasn’t what I was expecting. Maybe if you were to cook them longer or something? Or less egg? Idk but they rose up and didn’t fall back down.
I haven’t baked them yet. But they look incredibly sticky. All the recipes I tried for this cookie are the same when it comes to stickiness! Any hints on how to roll balls with this texture?
I have been making these, using this recipe for years. The ONLY modification i have made is to refrigerate the dough before rolling in to balls. I usually refrigerate 10-20 minutes instead of leaving to room temperature for 10 minutes. They come out PERFECT every time and taste wonderful. Our Christmas tradition and we look forward all year for them. AMAZING!
This recipe… does not make real chocolate crinkle cookies haha.. the batter is so liquidy that it’s impossible to roll them into balls and cover in powdered sugar. They end up as fluffy cakey cookies. Bummed because I was hoping for something dense chewy. For dense cookies probably want to leave out all that baking powder?
I did a test run at the beginning of last week and these turned out perfectly!! Should refrigerate/ freeze and then bake them the day of or bake and then freeze?
OK…so I made these on Friday and I got a serious feeling of deja vu…they came out flat as a pancake and stuck to the parchment paper! I then remembered I tried making them a couple of years ago and the same thing happened :( So frustrating! I even tried chilling the batter and still flat and super sticky. I texted a friend who makes a similar cookie and told her about my woes and asked for her recipe. Guess what? Exact same recipe and hers turn out perfect every time! OK…I am going to give it one more try…this time I weighed all the ingredients and sifted the flour & cocoa powder and increased the baking temp to 350. Voila! They came out beautifully!!! A very nice addition to any holiday cookie platter, for sure :) I’m a happy girl! (four stars cuz of the two previous failures by this experienced baker)
Had a recipe similar to this.LOVE CHOCOLATE CRINKLE COOKIES.
Great Recipe! First time making them. Definitely will make again
I’ve made these multiple times now and they’re always a favourite around Christmas!
I tried this recipe but mine did not spread out thin like the pictures above. They stayed in the thick ball and I had to smash them down a bit. They still taste great but I was wondering what I may have done wrong.
I did exactly like the recipe said and the dough was thin and hard to maneuver with
I love this recipe! Thank you!
The first time around they came out flat and very crunchy.. the taste was great though.
I decided to give it a second shot and they were just amazingly fluffy and fudgy.
Made these last night, and I have already been asked for a copy of the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly. The cookies came out perfectly! These will be a great addition to my holiday treat boxes.
I have been baking these for the last few Holuday Seasons and we love them. I follow the recipe as written and have never had any trouble with it.
Excellent, chocolatey cookie!
Just finished baking our favorite chocolate crinkles!!!
It’s perfect 👌 👌👌 my kids loves this cookies so much. Love this recipe but I had to change a little. ♥️♥️♥️
Favorite crinkle cookie recipe by far! I prefer to melt my chocolate over a double boiler and I add a pinch of espresso powder. I have never had issues with the dough running to thin or being unmanageable, even without chilling. I think the majority of negative reviews are due to user error. Making them again this year for cookie boxes :) Excellent cookies!
really? Couldn’t just post a review without slamming everyone else in effort to make you feel better about yourself?
Wish I read the reviews
Hi. Does the chocolate crinkle dough freeze well?
Hi Marilyn, It does! You can freeze it for up to 3 months.
These biscuits just run into flat, thin biscuits when baking. I tried to chill the dough and rolling the balls smaller, but they still run all over the baking sheet. Tastes good, but the consistency is all wrong. The end result looks nothing like the picture.
I found the dough didn’t setup. I added more flour and could have even added more but just slopped teaspoonfuls in the sugar then powdered sugar. They weren’t pretty but tasted good. My six year old granddaughter had fun helping me.
So very yummy!! I think these are like brownies in cookie form. I tripled this recipe as I needed to take some to three different places. I thought 24 apiece would be a great amount each…except that I ended up with 136 cookies!? They were all very good sized cookies, too! For some reason I always end up with more cookies than the recipe says…not a bad problem to have! For those who haven’t made this before, the dough is more like brownie batter, pretty impossible to roll into balls, even though the recipe says to roll it into a ball and then roll in sugar. I just plopped the blob of dough into the bowl of granulated sugar, coated it and then it would roll. Then I rolled it again in sugar, then in powdered sugar, and they were perfect!
I love your recipe and appreciate that I don’t have to use vegetables oil like the other recipes out there. I refrigerated over night and they came out so fudgey and delicious.
Followed recipe exactly and these cookies turned out perfect! So glad to add this recipe to my cookie collection.
I have made other recipes by the brown-eyed baker, and I have never been disappointed.
Respectfully,
From another brown-eyed baker, but much older.😉
It needs to sit over night or for four hours
This is the closest recipe to what my mother made for over 50 years. I use semi-sweet chocolate and chill the batter overnight before using it. 13 minutes in my oven @ 325 and they come out perfect every time. A little crunch on the exterior with a pillowy smooth interior full of chocolaty goodness. They bring down the house wherever I take them…