Holiday Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

One of my all-time FAVORITE recipes! Chewy double-chocolate cookies baked to warm, fudgy perfection with crackled tops that provide just the right amount of crunch. Then, roll and dust with powdered sugar for the ultimate wintery dessert. Don't be surprised if your entire first batch is snapped up right out of the oven!

Jump to:

• What Are Chocolate Crinkle Cookies?
• Reasons to Make this Recipe Today
• Ingredients
• Tips for Success
• Detailed Preparation Instructions
• Holiday Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Baking cookies is a staple in many holiday traditions around the world. They are fun and simple to make (especially with family and friends!), and offer a coziness that helps combat the chill of the colder autumnal and wintery months. Sugar cookies are especially popular around Christmas, and now you can add this recipe to your holiday repertoire!

This recipe tastes so much better and fresher than the boxed mix since it uses Dutch-processed cocoa powder and dark brown sugar that creates a depth of chocolaty goodness!

What Are Chocolate Crinkle Cookies?

A holiday classic, crinkle cookies are chewy and chocolaty with a brownie-like texture, crackled tops, and are rolled in and dusted with powdered sugar.

Reasons to Make this Recipe Today

• Fudgy -- chewy cookie lovers, rejoice! These lovelies almost venture into brownie territory with their fudgy centers, yet you never forget you're eating a scrumptious cookie. Win, win!
  
• Addictive -- this is one of those recipes where you should automatically scale up, as the first batch will disappear within minutes. Ask me how I know...
  
• Holiday classic -- due to their near-universal appeal (who doesn't like chocolate and powdered sugar together!?), bake these for your next Christmas party, holiday office potluck, or similar occasion.
  
• Aesthetically-pleasing -- these cookies have a lot of visual appeal due to the dark, chocolatey cookie contrasting with the bright powdered sugar that accentuates every crackle you worked so hard to craft!

Ingredients

Butter -- I exclusively use Kerrigold butter for its superior taste and extra fat content, both of which lend themselves to creating rich, decadent cookies.

Granulated sugar -- lends sweetness to the recipe while also allowing for the cookies to spread better as they bake.

Dark brown sugar -- I find that adding dark brown sugar adds another complementary note to cocoa, while prohibiting the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.

Whole egg and an extra egg yolk -- the combination of a whole egg with an additional yolk ensures these cookies build structure while maintaining their gooey, fudgy interiors.

Vanilla extract -- provides natural sweetness to the recipe while balancing the intense chocolate flavor.

Bread flour -- while this might seem unconventional in a cookie recipe, King Arthur Baking advises that if you are on a similar quest to achieve the chewiest cookie possible, use flour with a high protein content. The higher the protein content, the more gluten that forms. The more gluten that forms, the more moisture gets trapped during the baking process. The result? Pillowy cookies with warm, fudgy centers.

Baking powder, double-acting -- since I wanted these cookies to have some rise, I used baking powder specifically due to its leavening abilities when combined with cocoa powder.

Cocoa powder -- I always try and use Dutch-processed cocoa powder whenever possible since it has a more intense chocolate flavor. Whichever cocoa powder you decide to use, just make sure it's high-quality.

Sea salt -- every cookie needs some added salt, and chocolate and salt pair perfectly together to naturally enhance each other's flavors.

Semi-sweet chocolate chips -- adds extra texture and gooeyness.

Powdered sugar (along with granulated sugar, if needed) -- rolling the dough balls in powdered sugar (and granulated sugar, see "Tips for Success") creates a beautiful visual contrast of light and dark, with the powdered sugar accentuating all of those beautiful crackles and crinkles on top of each cookie.

Tips for Success

• If you find that your cookies absorbed a lot of the powdered sugar during baking, sift some more powdered sugar overtop and they will look good as new. Additionally, roll any remaining balls of cookie dough in about ¼-cup white granulated sugar before rolling in powdered sugar. Don't worry about the cookies becoming too sweet with this extra step-- you will find that this step allows for the powdered sugar to remain mostly intact after baking.
  
  
• Do not overmix the ingredients. Overworking the dough will create dense, unappetizing cookies.
  
  
• While not inherently necessary, I strongly advise to chill the dough for a few hours (I usually lose patience at the 15-hour mark, but try to go for the full 24 hours 😀 ). The longer you let the dough chill in the fridge, the more time the flour has time to absorb the liquid in the dough, creating the perfect, chewy cookie.
  
  
• Whether you are using a cookie scoop, a tablespoon, or a digital kitchen scale, you want to roll each cookie into similarly-sized dough balls so that they all bake evenly.
  
  
• I recipe tested baking these cookies at 10, 11, and 12-minute increments, and found that 11 minutes produced the best results: not too ooey-gooey, but not too "cakey," either. Of course, every oven is different, so experiment with a few cookies first to see how long your oven takes to achieve the texture you are after.
  
  
• Allow the cookies to remain on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes after they first come out of the oven before (gently!) transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Detailed Preparation Instructions

1. In either the bowl of a stand mixer or using a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, ~5 minutes.
2. Add in the vanilla extract and the whole egg and mix to incorporate. Add the additional egg yolk and mix until fully incorporated into the dough. Do NOT overmix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, Dutch-processed cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients in thirds, pausing each time to allow the dry ingredients to fully absorb in the dough.