If you are looking for a cookie that you can add to your holiday baking, make sure to have Chocolate Crinkles in your list, definitely an all-time favorite cookie (holiday or not). Crinkles is one of my life’s simple pleasure, call me shallow but this cookie really makes me feel better, every single bite of it. This is so easy to make, with simple ingredients and easy to follow steps. A great for cookie “emergency chocolate craving” or for addition to your Edible Gifts or Holiday Cookie Platter.

What is Chocolate Crinkles?

Chocolate Crinkles are decadent chocolate cookie made from melted chocolate and rolled in icing sugar for the snowy sugary look. It goes into the oven as a regular looking rolled chocolate balls, and emerged as a beautiful mouthwatering cracked topped cookie. This is a decadent chocolate cookie that will sure make any chocolate lover crazy. It has a really nice soft and moist texture, with inviting cracked topped and powdered sugar coating. Heaven in every bite!

Ingredients for Chocolate Crinkles

• Butter – If using salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe
• Dark Chocolate – Can be substituted with semi-sweet but dark chocolate so far is the best option as it somehow tone down the sweetness of the sugar coating
• Granulated White Sugar – This will give a nice dry cracked top and will also slowdown the melting of the powdered sugar
• Egg – Always use room temperature egg so that it beat nicely, otherwise you might not get a pale light fluffy consistency
• Pure Vanilla Extract – For additional flavoring. Can be substituted with coffee powder, make sure to use the powdered coffee, plain or with flavor is ok. Add about 1 teaspoon.
• All-Purpose Flour – Measure the flour properly, use the back of a spoon or spatula to level the flour.
• Salt – This balances the sweetness of the cookie
• Baking Powder – This will give a nice lift to the cookie
• Baking Soda – This will help in the spreading of the cookie

How to Make Chocolate Crinkles

• Melt the Chopped Chocolate and Butter : You can do this in microwave in 30 seconds interval. You can also melt it on top of simmering hot water. For me, this is the better way to melt it to avoid over heating it.
• Cream Egg and Sugar: This will take about 5 – 8 minutes depending on the speed of your mixer. Aim for a pale color with light and runny consistency
• Add Egg and Sugar to Melted Chocolate: I find it easier to add the creamed sugar and egg because it has a lighter consistency. If you do it the other way around, add the chocolate in 2 batches then mix until combined.
• Add the Dry Ingredients: I usually add the dry ingredients in two addition so as not too deflate the batter, and also to make mixing easier. Do this step manually to avoid over mixing.
• Roll in Sugar: First roll each ball in granulated sugar then in icing sugar
• Bake at 325F for 12 minutes
• Let cool completely before storing in an air tight container

Tips For a Beautiful Perfect Looking Crinkles

Let us put our nerd glasses on and tackle few things that we need to remember to get a beautifully looking and delicious Crinkles. Are you ready?

• Baking Soda + Baking Powder: A combination of this two leavening agent will help in lifting and spreading process of the cookie. The baking soda helps in the spreading because it rises the pH level of the dough and weakens the structure of the gluten thus resulting lifting and spreading of the cookie. But, baking soda alone is not enough to give the lift, this is why you need to add baking powder as well. The baking powder will give the lift, so that the cookie do not end up spread and flat.
• Room Temperature Cookie Dough: This is a fact, cold cookie dough spreads less than room temperature cookie dough. This is why you often see a lot of Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe recommending to chill the dough to avoid too much spreading. For the case of crinkles, there is no need to chill the cookie dough (yehey!) which means you get to bake it as soon as you are done making the batter. Cold cookie dough spreads less because it takes time for the butter to melt (which helps in spreading) and by the time it melts, the dough is already set. But if you really like a thick cookie (thicker than what is in the photo), you can chill the batter for 15 minutes.
• Granulated Sugar & Icing Sugar: A lot of recipe for Crinkles calls for only rolling it in icing sugar. I used to so this too until I read a post about why you should roll it in granulated sugar first before rolling it in icing sugar. Rolling it first in granulated sugar dries up the exterior of the cookie during baking while keeping the inside soft and moist. Plus, this somehow slowdown the melting of the powdered sugar in top so you don’t end up with a wet Chocolate Crinkles cookie.
• Bake One Sheet at a Time: A little patience will surely pay off here. Crinkles are delicate cookie, so be treat it as gentle as possible. Do not rush the baking. Although it may make sense to use the double layer of your oven to bake more cookie, this will not be ideal for crinkles. The hottest part of the oven comes from the top layer. If you bake two tray at the same time, the tray at the second level will not get as much heat needed to cook the cookie because it is being blocked by the pan in the top layer. With very short baking time, the cookies in the bottom layer might not bake properly.
• Bake at Lower Temperature: Baking at lower temperature of 325F helps keep the cookie soft and moist, while controlling the way the cookie spread. When you bake it at high temperature, the outside tends to dry faster while the center is still un-cook. So do it slow and easy, it’s worth the wait.

What Chocolate to Use in Making Crinkles

I personally recommend using a plain bar chocolate instead of chocolate chips. Although chocolate chips work, I find that chopped bar chocolate gave a better spread in the cookie. This is because chocolate chips are made to stand the heat, and so it does not spread as much. With chocolate crinkles, we want to achieve a beautiful cracked top, and a balance of cookie expansion and lift. Not too flat, and not too thick. Just about right to see the cracked top trademark of this cookie.

How to Freeze Unbaked Crinkles Cookie Dough

Super Easy! Make the cookie dough, divide and roll each piece into balls and store it in a ziplock bag and freeze up to 3 months! When ready to bake, take it out from the freezer and leave in room temperature at least 30 minutes to 1 hour or until it is no longer cold. Roll each piece in sugar and bake as per recipe instruction. Thawing the frozen cookie is a MUST, otherwise the cookie will not spread. Please be aware that once the cookie dough has been frozen, it will have a different texture once bake as compared to baking it after you made the cookie dough. The cookie will be thicker and will spread less once it came from the freezer even if you thaw it.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted Butter
• 4 ounces Dark Chocolate – coarsely chopped (Chopped Bar chocolate or chocolate chips)
• 4 tablespoon granulated White Sugar
• 1 large Egg – room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

Make it a Big Batch for Sharing: This is a small batch recipe for Chocolate Crinkles, to make a larger batch, just double the recipe.

Sugar Coating:

• 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/3 cup Confectioners (powdered or icing) Sugar, sifted for a finer texture.

Do you want to try something unique? Why not give this Purple Yam Crinkles a go. Watch the Video now and see how I made it.

Featured Video: [VIDEO] Purple Yam Crinkles Using Homemade Purple Yam Jam

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chopped chocolates with oil or butter, either in microwave or by putting the bowl with chopped chocolates on top of simmering water. Stir until all chocolate are fully melted. Do NOT leave unattended, keep stirring to retain smooth consistency. Set aside to cool.
3. Cream the Egg and Sugar: In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes. When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) Then add in the vanilla extract.
4. Melted Chocolate + Creamed Egg and Sugar: Add the cooled chocolate mixture and slowly mix until incorporated. Stop when the chocolate is fully incorporated. Do not over mix to avoid deflating the egg mixture.
5. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
6. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate and egg mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Stop when the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix to avoid tough cookie.
7. Divide and Shape: Unlike most recipes, this recipe do not require chilling the dough as it is already quite thick as it is because it uses butter. Go straight to coating the cookie balls with sugar. Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into balls, 15 grams each. I used kitchen scale for even size, you can just eye-ball it if you do not have kitchen scale. Roll each ball in palm of your hand to make it moist, use your palm to slightly flatten into a disk.
8. Roll in Granulated Sugar: Roll each ball in granulated sugar, making sure the entire ball is coated with sugar before you roll it in confectioners sugar. Rolling it in granulated sugar gives a nice dry and cracked top while keeping the inside soft and moist.
9. Coat with Confectioners Sugar. Roll each piece in the confectioners sugar, making sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1-2 inches apart.
10. Bake the Cookie:
    • 15 grams size cookie (approximately 1 tbsp or 1-inch): Bake for about 12 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the center is still soft and the outer shell starts to crack  (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.)
11. Let Cool: Remove from oven and leave on the pan to cool until no longer soft to transfer in a cooling rack. These cookies are very fragile so be very careful when transferring it.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked, but can be kept in airtight container for few days.

To Chill or Not to Chill

A prefect Crinkles is all about the cracked top, the right thickness and the right spread. These characteristics is caused by several reasons, but mostly in the final consistency of the final cookie dough. A dry dense cookie dough will for sure give a thick cookie that would not even spread. On the other hand, a thin cookie batter will produce a flat thin cookie. Although the cookie dough looks soft, there is really no need to chill it in the refrigerator. A lot of recipe for Crinkles requires chilling for a thicker cookie, for this recipe you do not need to chill it. I always get a nice thickness and spread even without chilling, but this could be attributed to environment condition (humidity in your kitchen), type of chocolate used or state of the flour. Old flour tends to be drier which makes a tougher dry cookie when baked. To be sure that no chilling works for you too, test 1 piece before baking the entire batch. I did this couple of times to see how it will react if I chill it before baking or if I do not chill it. I found that chilling produces a cookie that is too thick for my liking, while baking it straight without chilling produces a nice thickness and spread. If your cookie turned out to be too flat, simply chill the cookie batter for at least 15 minutes.

Recipe Notes

1. If you leave the cookie dough overnight in the fridge, leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes – 1 hour before baking it. This will soften the cookie dough a little bit and will bake faster. If you prefer to do this, you may need to increase the baking time by 1 – 2 minutes. Baking it straight from fridge will result to under bake cookie.
   • Alternatively, cover the cookie batter and leave in on the counter and bake the following day.
2. Please note, if you leave the cookie dough overnight in the fridge or if it has been previously frozen, it is not going to spread as much when you bake it. It helps to flatten the cookie by pressing it between the palm of your hands.

Makes 12 – 14 pieces

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My Other Cookie Videos:

Checkout my video collection of cookies and other treats that are great for holiday gift giving or for everyday baking. All the recipes can be found in my website. Enjoy!

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