Chocolate crinkle cookies are the perfect holiday cookies! With their crisp exterior and soft, fudgy center, these cookies are impossible to resist!
Chocolate crinkle cookies are covered in powdered sugar before baking. As the cookies bake and expand in the oven, the surface starts to dry out and crack, showing off parts of the chocolate. Yum!
Ingredients In Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Let’s talk about the ingredients needed to make chocolate crinkle cookies. You’ll need three bowls:
Bowl #1: Melted chocolate and butter
- Chocolate: You’ll need semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. I used chocolate with 43% cocoa solids but you can use what you like.
- Butter: We will be melting the chocolate with some butter, either in the microwave or in a double boiler. Once completely melted, we’ll set it aside to cool down so we don’t scramble the eggs (in bowl #3)!
Bowl #2: Dry Ingredients
You’ll need to whisk together in a bowl:
- All-purpose flour, for structure
- Cocoa powder for more chocolate flavor
- Baking powder for rise
- Salt, for flavor
Bowl #3 (the main mixing bowl): Whipped eggs and sugar
- Eggs: It’s best to use room temperature eggs. We will be whipping the eggs with the sugar until lightened in color and slightly thickened.
- Sugar: You’ll need white granulated sugar and dark brown sugar, which adds a complex flavor to the cookies.
- Vanilla extract: You can add it to the whipped egg mixture, for flavor.
All that’s left to do now is add the melted (and cooled) chocolate to the whipped eggs and then fold in the flour.
The dough, which is very sticky, is generally chilled before being rolled into balls and covered in powdered (icing) sugar. But let’s face it, most of us don’t really want to chill the dough, do we? We want to eat the cookies as soon as possible! Which is why I was particularly intrigued by Sarah Mullins’ (from Cook’s Illustrated) tips.
No Chill Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
When you chill the dough, it takes longer for it to rise in the oven. The surface of the cookie has already set when the cookie expands, causing wide cracks to form.
If you’d rather have multiple, fine cracks instead of a few large ones, it’s best to let the dough rest at room temperature for 10 minutes (without any chilling). The melted chocolate and butter will cool down a little, making the dough more manageable. When placed in the oven, the cookies will start to rise while the surface of the cookie is still soft.
I have to admit, I don’t care much about the size of the cracks! But any excuse to skip the chilling step is good enough for me!
Next step: portioning the dough and rolling it in sugar!
Coating Chocolate Crinkle Cookies With Sugar
- Coat with white granulated sugar first: Powdered sugar can melt into the cookie and change color. Rolling the cookie balls in granulated sugar first forms a protective layer between the powdered sugar and the dough. Using granulated sugar will also yield cookies with more cracks.
- Coat the cookies generously with powdered sugar: Roll the cookies in powdered sugar until you no longer see the chocolate. But try not to overdo it either (as I did in the picture below). If there is a lot of sugar, some of it will fall when you move the cookies around, covering up the gaps formed during baking.
Okay, let’s make some delicious cookies!
Making Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Step-by-Step
Melt the chocolate and butter
- Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave in 10-20 seconds increments, stirring in-between. It’s important to stir frequently and stop as soon as the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool down. Using a double boiler: If you prefer, you can melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (without touching the water). Stir every now and then until fully melted.
Mix the dry ingredients
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat the eggs and sugar
- Beat the eggs and sugars (white and brown) in a mixing bowl until lightened in color and slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Add the vanilla extract and chocolate mixture
- Add the vanilla extract and chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Make sure the chocolate has cooled down before adding it to the eggs.
Add the flour mixture
- Add about half of the flour mixture and fold it in using a spatula. The dough will initially look very dry. Just keep folding and the flour will eventually get incorporated. It’s best to use a spatula from this point onwards to avoid overmixing the dough.
- Fold in the remaining flour. Stir just until combined. Don’t overmix so you don’t end up with tough cookies.
- Cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F), conventional setting. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. If your oven takes very long to preheat, you can just preheat it before making the cookie dough.
Portion the dough
- Prepare two shallow plates. Pour the granulated sugar in one and the powdered sugar in the other.
- Using an ice cream scoop (or two spoons), take out about 35 g (1.2 oz.) of dough and drop it into the granulated sugar. Gently invert the dough to cover the other side with sugar then roll into a ball. The dough looks a little like chocolate mousse at this point. It is very sticky but should be easy to handle once it’s covered in sugar.
- Transfer to the other plate and cover generously in powdered sugar.
Bake the chocolate crinkle cookies
- Place the cookie balls on the baking sheet, spacing them about 5 cm (2 inches) apart.
- Bake on the middle shelf (one sheet at a time), for about 10-11 minutes, or just until the edges have set. The cookies will still be very soft. Don’t overbake them so they don’t become dry.
- Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If they aren’t soft straight out of the oven (overbaked), it’s best to transfer them immediately (with a spatula) to a wire rack.
These cookies are seriously good! They remind me of chocolate lava cakes when they are still warm. And I thought it couldn’t get better than that. But when they cool down, they have this incredible fudgy center. I have to admit, I think chocolate crinkle cookies are my new favorite cookies!
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Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
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minutesChocolate crinkle cookies are the perfect holiday cookies! With their crisp exterior and soft, fudgy center, these cookies are impossible to resist!
Ingredients
- For the cookie dough
160 g (5.6 oz.) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
115 g (4.1 oz.) unsalted butter
170 g (6 oz.) all-purpose flour
20 g (0.7 oz.) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (about 2.5 g/0.09 oz.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs (about 100 g/3.5 oz., without the shell), at room temperature
70 g (2.5 oz.) white granulated sugar
70 g (2.5 oz.) dark (or light) brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- For rolling the cookies
100 g (3.5 oz.) white granulated sugar
100 g (3.5 oz.) powdered (icing) sugar
Directions
- Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave in 10-20 seconds increments, stirring in-between. It’s important to stir frequently and stop as soon as the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool down. Using a double boiler: If you prefer, you can melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (without touching the water). Stir every now and then until fully melted.
- Mix the dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs and sugars (white and brown) in a mixing bowl until lightened in color and slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Add the vanilla extract and chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Make sure the chocolate has cooled down before adding it to the eggs.
- Add about half of the flour mixture and fold it in using a spatula. The dough will initially look very dry. Just keep folding and the flour will eventually get incorporated. It’s best to use a spatula from this point onwards to avoid overmixing the dough. Fold in the remaining flour. Stir just until combined. Don’t overmix so you don’t end up with tough cookies.
- Cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F), conventional setting. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. If your oven takes very long to preheat, you can just preheat it before making the cookie dough (step 1).
- Prepare two shallow plates. Pour the granulated sugar in one and the powdered sugar in the other.
- Using an ice cream scoop (or two spoons), take out about 35 g (1.2 oz.) of dough and drop it into the granulated sugar. Gently invert the dough to cover the other side with sugar then roll into a ball. The dough looks a little like chocolate mousse at this point. It is very sticky but should be easy to handle once it’s covered in sugar.
- Transfer to the other plate and cover generously in powdered sugar. Roll the cookies in powdered sugar until you no longer see the chocolate. But try not to overdo it either. If there is a lot of sugar, some of it will fall when you move the cookies around, covering up the gaps formed during baking. Place the cookie balls on the baking sheet, spacing them about 5 cm (2 inches) apart.
- Bake on the middle shelf (one sheet at a time), for about 10-11 minutes, or just until the edges have set. The cookies will still be very soft. Don’t overbake them so they don’t become dry.
- Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If they aren’t soft straight out of the oven (overbaked), it’s best to transfer them immediately (with a spatula) to a wire rack.
Notes
- Make-ahead tips: Baked cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. The cookie dough can be stored in the refrigerator, well covered, for 2-3 days. If you’d rather have multiple, fine cracks in the cookies instead of a few large ones, let the dough warm up at room temperature a little before baking it. Unbaked cookie balls can also be frozen for up to 3 months (before rolling in sugar).
- Chocolate: I used chocolate with at least 43% cocoa solids.
- Rolling the cookies: You will probably have some leftover sugar. I used about 75 g of white sugar for example. But if you use less sugar than the amount indicated in the recipe, you might find it hard to coat the cookies.
- Why roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar first? To prevent the powdered sugar from melting. Rolling the cookie balls in granulated sugar first forms a protective layer between the powdered sugar and the dough. Using granulated sugar will also yield cookies with more cracks.
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I just made these and they turned out pretty delicious, thanks!
Thank you! I’m so glad you liked them!