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Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are one of those classic recipes that I remember from my childhood. They’re rich and chocolatey, fudgy, soft, and are so pretty with the crackled powdered sugar tops. These are a must on any holiday cookie tray!
I remember making easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies as a kid during our Christmas cookie baking sessions – I always loved how much chocolate flavor they had! They’re almost like the center of brownies – which I love so much. I’ve perfected the recipe so that they’re perfectly soft. Plus they’re so pretty – and I’ve tested them several times so they’re guaranteed to become your favorite Christmas cookies.
Ingredients Needed
- All-purpose flour – be sure to measure it correctly.
- Cocoa powder – Use unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder – makes them nice and soft – normally cookies use baking soda, but we want a soft cake-like cookie for these.
- Vegetable oil – makes these mix up easy.
- Brown sugar- I love the softness that brown sugar brings to the cookies.
- Powdered sugar – For coating; the confectioners’ sugar gives tehm that crinkley look.
How to make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Combine dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, then set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients: Using a hand mixer on medium speed, mix oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Slowly mix in the previous dry ingredients until you have a dough.
- Mix wet ingredients and flour mixture. Chill your dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop cookie dough into 1-inch balls and roll them in the powdered sugar until they are coated. Place cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Bake the cookies until the powered sugar coating is cracked and no longer glossy on top.
Expert Tips
- Don’t over bake these – they’ll get dry if they cook too long.
- Normally I chill cookie dough after scooping but these are too soft to roll right away. Chill the dough at least 30 minutes before scooping.
- I recommend using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop for these. They’ll spread a little bit and 2-tablespoon size cookies might get too big.
- You can freeze these cookies for up to a month.
Storing Crinkle Cookies
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. You can also freeze them – place layers of cookies between paper towels in freezer bags and they’ll store for at least a month.
FAQs
There are generally two reasons why cookies go flat, one is that the butter you used was too soft or downright melted even. The other is that not enough flour was used.
Chances are they need a few more minutes in the oven. they’re done once they lose their glossy sheen and look dull and cracked on top.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all purpose flour
- ¾ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (118ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (57g) powdered sugar for coating
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer, mix oil, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix in dry ingredients. The dough is very wet.
- Chill the bowl of cookie dough at least 30-45 minutes, or until you're able to scoop and roll the dough without it falling apart.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Place powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop 1 or 2 tablespoon balls of dough. Roll the cookies in the powdered sugar then evenly space them cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Bake for about 7-10 minutes depending on size, rotating pans halfway through baking.
Recipe Notes
- Normally I scoop cookie dough before chilling but for this recipe it’s important to chill it first, otherwise the dough is too wet to roll in powdered sugar.
- I recommend making 1 tablespoon size cookies – these will spread just a bit and they’re rich, so 2 tablespoon cookies might be a bit large.
I watched the video on how to make these chocolate crinkle cookies and no mixer was used like the recipe said and the dough was not runny like mine was, she stirred the batter and it came together so you can roll it. Just fyi of what I observed. This video was helpful to me. Ty
When I make this Choc Crinkle Cookies, it seems like my powder sugar falls off of the cookie after baking. What am I doing wrong?
I put my dough in to chill for overnight and baked in morning. I use a generous amount of powder sugar , but still falls off.
Help me,
Sue
This recipe doesn’t call for it because I hadn’t heard of it – but I just read a similar one that said to roll in granulated sugar first then powdered sugar. Then it sticks better – will do that to re-test these next time I make them.
Making them right now but made the m8stake of not letting the cookie dough chill for an hour or so ugh super super sticky 😅😂👍🤌
Making these today, and after chilling for about 40 minutes, the dough balls are still super sticky. They are sticking to the parchment paper making the difficult to pick up and roll in the powdered sugar. Is this normal?
I really enjoyed making this quick recipe. First time making a crinkle cookie. May I ask do you chill the rolled dough for 30min in the freezer or fridge? I found that my cookies didn’t crack as much after taking them out of the freezer, then letting them sit for 10mins. Also found that the confection sugar didn’t look powder anymore when they cooled down. Not sure what I did wrong.
I chill in the refrigerator – and as for the powdered sugar, I find that it needs to be a hefty amount of it on the rolled cookie. Make sure not to roll it before chilling as it’ll start to dissolve, and coat them really well before baking.
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