The beautiful and deep purple color attracted me to this cookie, but more than that, it’s the unique taste that captures my heart

You are going to love me big time when you try this cookie! It’s insanely soft, smooth with a very nice purple yam flavor. To top all that, every single bite of this cookie melts in your mouth. Oh dear, I cannot express how happy I was to how this cookie turned out. 

If you are not familiar with “Ube”, it’s the same thing as purple yam. It belongs to a yam family and it has deep purple color. The most physical attractive quality of this yam is its unique color which makes it stand out all the time, its eye-catching and never failed to make people intrigue about it. The use of “Ube” this is very common in Philippines where I grew up. We used it in desserts like Ube Ice Cream, Ube Jam, Bread and many more.  Now a days in baking, it’s use is popular in making  Ube Cake, Ube Swiss Roll Cake or  Ube Cupcakes.

I was at first hesitant to make this Ube Crinkles, because in my mind, what is crinkles without the decadent chocolate? I have a simple  Chocolate Crinkles recipe in my blog and they were super good!  If you’ve tried it or if you’ve tried chocolate crinkles in general, then you know what I mean and why I am so addicted to it.  

I’ve decided to give this crinkles variation a go, and I couldn’t be more thankful that I did. I made Ube Jam and I thought I’d use some of it to make this cookie. So basically, I ended up having a Jam that I can use for my bread or even have it on its own, and I have a Ube Crinkles, 2 birds in one stone. Super treat, super happy. 

This cookie is very fragile and soft. So you have to be patient to wait for it to at least cool 5-10 minutes before attacking it. After 5 minutes it will still be slightly warm, so you can actually feel how soft and smooth it is when you bite it. Make sure to coat the cookie as much powdered sugar as possible, as it really gave the cookie extra sweetness which actually sealed the deal for me. The batter itself is not too sweet, so this makes up for it.  The sugar-coating on top will crack, but the cookie will not but it’s definitely done already. 

The cookie will also spread so it’s important to leave spaces in between when arranging them in baking sheet. One of the thing I like about this cookie is that you can make the cookie batter ahead of time and you can store at 2-3 days in the fridge (covered with cling wrap). I personally like baking few pieces at a time so that I get to eat them fresh from the oven. Although cookies can be kept frozen, there’s nothing like a freshly made, freshly baked cookies. It makes a difference in the texture and in the way that it spread as it bakes. Let me show you how I made it. Let’s get started! 

Tips to a successful Ube Crinkles:

• Ube Jam consistency:  One big factor that could affect the spread of this cookie is the consistency of the Ube Jam. The Jam should be on the thick side (not runny) and should be completely cold (refrigerated and not freshly made). I like to use my homemade jam that has been refrigerated minimum overnight as it tends to have a better consistency and is much stable. A soft and runny Jam will result to a soft batter, and soft batter will result to flat thin cookie.
• Amount of Flour – The amount of flour could slightly vary depending on the consistency of the Ube Jam. For a slightly soft Ube Jam, use 1 cup of flour otherwise for thick Ube Jam, use 3/4 cup all purpose flour. Feel the cookie batter, it should be soft and slightly sticky, not too dense and dry.
• Chilling: Chilling is a MUST. No matter how excited you are to bake this cookie, I suggest you take time to chill the batter. The final batter will still be soft and baking it in this stage will result to flat and thin cookie. If the batter turn out to be too soft, add more flour to get it to right texture. The amount of additional flour depends on how runny or soft the batter is, add 1 tbsp at a time and check. I always suggest to bake 1 piece first (after chilling) to test how it will spread, I find that mine works best if cookie dough is left overnight in the fridge. Make the cookie batter ahead of time and leave it overnight, then bake it the following day.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 – 1 cup all-purpose flour (If the Ube Jam is really thick, use only 3/4 cup otherwise if slightly thin, use 1 cup)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter – room temperature
• 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 egg – room temperature
• 1/2 cup Ube Jam. I used my Homemade Ube Jam, you can also use store-bought. Jam should be completely cooled overnight in the fridge recommended.
• 1/2 tsp Ube flavoring (I used the McCormick Ube Flavor) – optional
• 1 cup powdered sugar – sifted to remove lumps

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Mix wet ingredients: Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg. The batter will curdle that is normal. Continue mixing until well combined.
3. Mix Ube Jam: Add in Ube Jam and ube flavoring (if using) and continue mixing until combined.
4. Add Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredients, and continue mixing until combined. The cookie batter will be soft and sticky. If your cookie dough is too soft, add 1-2 tbsp flour.
5. Chill the dough: Cover the bowl with cling wrap, making sure the cling wrap touches the top of the batter to avoid forming a ’skin’ on top. Chill for 4 hours minimum, or preferably overnight in refrigerator. After chilling, the cookie batter will be harder and it will be easy to roll it into balls. The sticky surface will allow the sugar to stick during the coating process. Important thing to note that the consistency of the Ube Jam you used could greatly affect the texture of the cookie. If your Jam is runny or too soft, the cookie will have a tendency to spread and be flat.
6. Form dough into balls and roll in icing sugar, I used a small ice cream scooper. If the cookie dough is too hard to roll, give it few minutes in room temperature to thaw but do not let it get too soft or you will have a flat cookie.
7. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper, or silicone mat. Arrange the cookie balls leaving at least 3-inch apart to give space for cookie when it spread as it bakes. 
8. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes. Leave in the tray to cool. No need to transfer in cooling rack, the remaining heat should finish baking the cookie.

Makes 13 cookies

Note: If you are using my Homemade Ube Jam Recipe to make this cookie, 1 batch of the Jam can make 52 pieces. The Jam itself last up to 1 month in the refrigerator, so you do not have to use the entire batch to make all the 52 pieces of cookies. I normally bake them in 4 batches spread over a month, or just whenever I feel like having it.

Storage

Cookie dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, fully covered.

How to freeze baked and unbaked cookie

I created a separate post that discusses How to Freeze Cookie Dough. Check it out as it covers the basic information that you  need to know, and they are very handy. The post covers briefly the following:

• Why freeze cookie dough?
• What kind of cookies are best for freezing?
• What are the cookies to avoid freezing
• How long can you freeze a cookie dough?
• Freezing baked cookies
• How to freeze cookie dough?
• Baking Frozen Cookie dough
• Freezing decorated cookies

Other Filipino Delicacy

• Ube Jam (Purple Yam Jam)
•  [VIDEO] Small Batch Mini Chiffon Cakes (Filipino Mamon)
• Sapin Sapin (Filipino Layered Rice Cake)
• Egg FREE All Around Bread Dough: Ube (Purple Yam) Star Bread
• Ube Chiffon Cake
• Small Batch Ube (Purple Yam) Cupcakes

My Other Cookie Videos:

Checkout my video collection of cookies and other treats. All the recipes can be found in my website. Enjoy!

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