Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

25 December 2020

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These chocolate crinkle cookies are the perfect festive treat and are great for making with children. And, if you are looking for a delicious gift idea then these delicious cookies are the answer.

If you’ve never had crinkle cookies before, they are fudgy, brownie-like and rolled in icing sugar before baking. As the cookies bake in the oven and spread, they create this crinkle effect on the top that not only looks impressive but tastes amazing too.

If you like this recipe, check out my classic chocolate chip cookies or my chocolate orange cookies for more inspiration.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

For this yummy chocolate crinkle cookie recipe all you need are these ingredients:

Neutral-tasting oil (coconut, vegetable or sunflower oil) – any neutral tasting oil is good, I use sunflower. Alternatively for more flavour, you can replace the oil with the same amount of melted butter.

Cocoa powder – I prefer to use a high-quality dark cocoa powder over regular cocoa powder. It adds a rich chocolate flavour and builds structure.

Cocoa recommendations: Dr. Oetker fine dark cocoa powder or not as dark – Sevenhills wholefoods organic cacao powder

Caster or granulated sugar – gives structure and sweetness.

Vanilla extract or paste – adds flavour and enhances the other ingredient flavours.

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

Medium eggs – build structure.

Plain or all-purpose flour – for adding structure and lightness.

Baking powder – is a chemical leavening, helping the cookies rise in the oven during baking.

Icing sugar – for decoration and sweetness, prior to baking.

TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of fine salt to your biscuit doughs. In a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouths’ ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells, thus triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also triggers our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

Flour: These chocolate crinkle cookies are easily converted to being gluten-free. Just replace the flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour.

This chocolate crinkle cookies recipe is very versatile and you can have fun trying different flavour twists!

Here are a few suggestions:

Coffee and chocolate cookies: Add 1 tsp of instant espresso powder with the oil.

Amaretto and chocolate cookies: Add 1/2-1 tsp almond extract with the oil.

Orange and chocolate cookies: Add the zest of an orange or a little oil extract.

If you experiment, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

NUTRITION

Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.

I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.

I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

These chocolate crinkle cookies are best served on the day of baking, warm and crispy from the oven. Any leftovers can be stored in a tin at room temperature, as it allows them to breath just enough that they stay crispy. An airtight container that’s not completely sealed will also keep your cookies away from humidity and moisture, but they will soften as time goes by.

Freezing the cookie dough – freeze the dough balls on a baking tray or plate, lined with baking paper. Once the cookies have frozen solid, approx. 30 minutes, transfer them to a freezer-safe, airtight container. They will last up to 3 months in the freezer. Bake them from frozen, adding an additional 1 minute to the instructions above.

Freezing the baked cookies – To freeze the baked cookies, cool the cookies completely and then freeze on a baking tray or plate that fits inside your freezer. When the cookies have frozen solid, approx. 30 minutes. Store the cookies in a freezer-safe, airtight container for up to 1 month. When ready to serve, allow the cookies to reach room temperature.

RECIPE TIPS

Resting and chilling the dough – if you want to get the best results, placing the dough in the fridge prior to baking, allows the dry ingredients to absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients. This creates more flavour in the dough and because the fats are also chilled it prevents the cookies from spreading out too quickly during baking.

How long should I chill the dough? Patience isn’t really my strong suit, so I totally understand if you can’t wait! If like me this is the case, I usually bake off a few cookies immediately and then place the rest to chill in the fridge. If you’re not in a hurry, try to leave the dough to rest overnight or at least try to chill your dough for 30 minutes. It’ll be worth it!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Preparation:15

Baking:7

Resting:2

Total:2 22

Servings: 18

These chocolate crinkle cookies are the perfect festive treat and are great for making with children. And, if you are looking for a delicious gift idea then these delicious cookies are the answer.

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INGREDIENTS LIST

60 ml neutral-tasting oil (coconut, vegetable or sunflower oil)
50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
180 g caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
2 medium eggs
180 g plain flour (all-purpose) (BL55)
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
60 g icing sugar (US powdered sugar)

Preparation

Cookie dough: To a large bowl or a food mixer add the oil, cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in-between each addition until smooth and shiny.
Add the sieved flour, baking powder and salt and stir until combined.
Resting the dough: Chill the dough for 2 hours or longer, even overnight if possible. (see notes)
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan / 375°F / Gas 5.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set it aside.
Shaping: Place the icing sugar in a bowl. Divide the cookie dough into 16 balls and gently roll in the bowl of icing sugar to coat them heavily.
Coating: To ensure you get the nice finish on these cookies, coat them heavily in the icing sugar. As with resting the dough (see notes) we want to avoid the cookies having a faded appearance.
Place the coated cookie balls on the prepared baking tray. (You may not be able to bake all the cookies at once as they need space around them as they bake to spread. I use a silicone mat (30×40 cm) on my baking tray and this allows me to bake a maximum of 20 cookies at one time.) I tend to bake them in 2 batches.
Baking: Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are set. (See notes)
Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet to continue setting, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Notes & Tips

Resting: If you want to get the best results, chilling the dough will help develop the flavour, texture and most importantly it will stop the icing sugar from being absorbed into the cookies as they cook and fading their appearance.

If you really can’t wait with the resting, you can bake them straight away but for the reasons above they just won’t be the same.

Baking: Just like baking brownies you need to have good control over the baking time. Try to take them out of the oven just before they look fully baked, the residual heat left will set the centres and you will get the soft, brownie-like texture you’re looking for. If they overcook, they will be very dry.

For me, the cookies took around 8 minutes in my oven. For the best result, I recommend trying with one cookie and adjusting the time for the rest based on the result.