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
Yield: About 2 dozen cookies
MY OTHER RECIPESPrep:20 minutes
A classic Christmas cookies – rich, fudge-like chocolate cookies covered in powdered sugar.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Directions:
- 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.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
(Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)
All images and text ©
This looks absolutely delicious… I love the look of the powdered sugar, looks like snow :)
I made the Red Velvet Crinkle with white chocolate they are beautiful on a Christmas plate.
These look like THE perfect holiday cookie! Love all those big crinkles! Pinned :)
These crinkles are my all time favorite Christmas cookie!!!! PINNED!
I’ve been making these for years. They’re one of the few cookies that make the cut. My ex-husband used to call them “cowpies in the snow”.
I make these, but I use mint chips instead of chocolate :) They go very quickly in my house!
I agree, sometimes its nice to not pull out your mixer. I love crinkle cookies, its the one request I get from my husband every year
This is one of my favorite cookies to make at Christmas time! Thank you for the reminder to add them to my baking list!
Everyone in the family gets one “must have” for our Christmas baking and this is the only one my son requests. I have always used a recipe from the old Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book that my mom used, but will give this one a try with the slight variations. Thanks!
Are these pretty soft or are they crispy? I have had soft/chewy crinkles which taste divine. I have had crispy ones that I haven’t liked nearly as much. You said these are fudge – like so I am thinking (hoping) they are soft. Thanks!
Hi Laura, They are definitely soft!
Yes, have been making these for ages-they ARE great.
But love your buckeyes even more!! -Everyone does.
Need to give you white bark balls recipe.
Do you have that one?
Hi Rena, I have never heart of white bark balls!
Should I send you the recipe?
Sure!
I have made them two times at least. I know the recipe is much different. Will have to find it to see how much but know I could keep the dough cold and make a batch anytime I wanted. It made a lot.
Are you saying keep the dough on the fridge for some days? That would be great if it doesn’t go off and if the dough doesn’t go hard and unmanageable ?
These are so very good! I have been making them for years using the recipe found in a Betty Crocker cookbook that my mom had. I won a blue ribbon with them in the county fair in the 70’s! Wow, does that bring back memories…
A wonderful classic cookie! Always so pretty and so delicious!
My babysitter gave us a recipe for chocolate snappers when I was 2, so we’ve been making them for 32 years! They’re similar to crinkle cookies but with a crisp texture, rolled in granulated sugar, and have a hint of cinnamon. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
I LOVE crinkle cookies, but they never make it onto our holiday cookie platter, either! I’ll have to change that this year :)
They look truly delicious
Delish! Next time I will sift the dry ingredients first. (Have some dry cocoa powder balls in the cookie)
I discovered these a couple years ago (don’t know how I’ve missed them for so long?) and their
definitely a favorite for my husband and I.
(grandkids too) So pretty sitting on a plate…..but so addicting that they don’t last long!
I have made the Cook’s Illustrated recipe you referenced here. I used 3t of espresso in addition to the original ingredients. This recipe is far better than my old recipe…softer and more chocolaty. I only baked them for 10 minutes. They also freeze well.
Are these cookies okay to freeze?
Yes, definitely!
Yum! These cookies look amazing, Michelle!
I’ve grown up on these amazing cookies! Glad you love them as much as I do.
These cookies are beautiful, and so festive looking! The sugar crinkles look like glittery holiday decorations. This recipe looks good and easy to make!
Yummy!
These are my all-time favorite cookie!! And I must say one of the best cookie doughs ever!! Half of the dough baked and half raw! Yum!
Do you know if the dough for these should be frozen after it’s formed into balls?
Hi Sierra, No, they should not be frozen. However, if you’d like to freeze for future use, that might be okay. I haven’t baked them from frozen so I can’t say for sure.
This is the worse recipe, my dough came out runny
The dough is SUPPOSED to be that way. That’s why it said to drop the dough balls directly into the rolling sugar. Once you coat it in the granulated you can better mold it into a ball before dropping in the powdered. My dough was wet as well, and these came out perfectly!
People need to READ the recipe before getting all bent out of shape.
Michelle,
The cookies look delicious. My Mom loves these cookies too.
Annamaria
I have made these for years! They are my son’s favorites and I have to make a batch just for him, otherwise he doesn’t get any! One of my best cookies ever!
HELP! While the tasted great, mine were too soft (even after the 10 minutes) to roll into balls. Any suggestions? I would love to make them again and add them to my holiday baking list.
This happened to me as well! There was very little chance of rolling them!
In the past when I’ve used a similar recipe, I chilled the dough in the fridge for up to 2 hours before forming into balls, and then kept the dough in the fridge between batches! I hope this helps!
yes, thanks for confirming that. I will definitely make them again. Even without the rolling, they tasted really good!
I just made the batter, waited the 10 minutes and mine are way too soft to roll into balls, too. I’m going to try putting the batter in the fridge for a while. I’m hoping that works. Fingers crossed!
Made them again yesterday after refrigerating the dough-OMG!!! So good-and now one of my favorites. I didn’t time how long I had them in for, but any baker can really judge that anyway. I could actually put them in my hand with no problem and they tasted amazing!!!
These are some of my favorite, classic cookies. I always make a triple batch and refrigerate the dough (heck, when it’s cold enough outside I just leave the covered bowl on the car in the garage) They are on my list for this weekend.
Add a dash of instant espresso powder to enrich the chocolate flavor.
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.
These are so beautiful. They look so fluffy and Chocolatey. I don’t think I would stop eating them.
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!
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’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.
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.
so yummy
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!
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.
These look delicious, definately going to give them a go….
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. :)
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!
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!
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?
Thank you, everyone, for your advice! You’re a really helpful bunch of people! I really cherish this community of bakers! :-)
Made these for my family for christmas, a real hit :)
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.
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…
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 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 America’s Test Kitchen recipes I have their cookbook and its word for word no wonder its A GOOD COOKIE
AMAZING!
The second sheet is in the oven as I’m writing this.
Everything I expected and more.
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! :)
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.
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.
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 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.
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!
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
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!
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 : )
Can the dough for this be made in advance and chilled over night?
Hi Paulette, Yes, that would be just fine!
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!
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.
Very wet to work with but a snap once you get used to it.They are yummy sooo good and look like the photo
This is my favorite crinkle cookies recipe- and I have tried a lot of them! This one is the best! Thanks!
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 !!
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 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.
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 :(
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.