Our Favorite Holiday Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Recipe
We all have our weaknesses
For us, that weakness is cookies. We love them. And, we are pretty sure they love us too. So what better time of year to share our favorite cookie recipe than during the holidays?! We are so excited for the opportunity to participate in the Blog Hop Cookie Swap, organized by Sarah from @roomfortuesday, with a great group of people!
Recently, on our Instagram story, Stephen posted the process of baking the perfect Christmas cookies and SO MANY people asked for the recipe. It's a pretty easy recipe with simple ingredients. And major bonus, you don't need to dig out your stand or hand mixer for this - it's all done the good old fashioned way. Today we are sharing the recipe for maybe the most delicious, soft, festive-looking cookies that just scream: “IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!”
We love these delicious cookies for their deep chocolate flavor, a texture that is soft but not gooey, and a perfect balance of sweetness. I know, right now you’re thinking: “Yeah right guys, I can see you rolled these in granulated AND confectioners sugar” But trust us here – these bad boys are that perfect balance of sweetness and chocolate bitterness for the holiday season. The best way to eat these is with a glass of milk, of course.
Here, we’ve started with The America’s Test Kitchen original recipe (go Boston!) and thrown in a couple of our own adaptations. Let’s get started!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Ingredients
Makes roughly 25-30 cookies
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 1/2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups packed (10 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
½ cup (2 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
Parchment Paper
"#30 Scoop – If you’re fancy. If you’re not (like us), a couple spoons will do
// Tip: You may want to make a double batch of these because some of your holiday crinkle cookies are bound not to make it out of the kitchen!
// Freezing: If you’re looking to make these ahead of time, or even gift them to a friend, freeze the dough balls without the sugar coatings. Then once they thaw, complete the granulated and powdered sugar rolling steps.
Here are the instructions
Adjust your oven rack to the center position and preheat your oven to 325 degrees. While that is preheating, line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper and take out 3 mixing bowls.
In a medium bowl one, whisk the dry ingredients together - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients - brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. You’ll want to use the largest bowl for this step as you’ll eventually add the flour mixture to this bowl.
Place your chopped, unsweetened chocolate and butter in a small bowl (microwavable) bowl and microwave on medium power until melted. Keep an eye on this part and stir occasionally. You could make this step faster by planing ahead and leaving the butter out the night before so it gets to room temperature - but who can remember that?
Whisk the chocolate mixture into your egg mixture until combined. Then fold in the flour mixture until no dry streaks can be found. *You’ll want to do all the mixing by hand here- using an electric mixer can make the final texture of the cookies too firm. Because, you know, science. Let the dough sit for 10 to 15 minutes. The dough is going to seem loose – it’s supposed to be. This waiting period allows it to firm up just the right amount.
Grab two shallow bowls - pie plates work great for this - and put your granulated sugar in one, and powdered sugar coating in the other. Divide dough into roughly 1-inch balls - this is about two tablespoons of dough. (Here’s where the cookie scoop comes in handy.) This dough is pretty sticky dough, so you might not want to shape the dough in your hands. Use the #30 scoop or two spoons to form the balls then drop into the granulated sugar, roll to coat. Transfer the cookie dough balls to the confectioners sugar and do the same. Place the dough balls on your cookie sheet, spacing the balls evenly to give them room. We put 8-10 crackle cookies per lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time until they look puffed and cracked and the edges have begun to set. Bake for around 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. After removing from the oven, the cookies may seem to have a fudgy center between the cracks, but fear-not. Allow the cookies to cool directly on the baking sheet before serving. Then, yum.
As we mentioned, we are big fans of America’s Test Kitchen and this recipe was adapted from their TV Show Cookbook. Also, their One Pot cookbook is our go to for weeknight meals!
A cookie exchange is the perfect excuse to make time to be with friends in the busy holiday season and show off your best Christmas cookie recipe. We like to add a little recipe card on top with an overview of the ingredients, and then we box them up in an airtight container with a nice bow or ornament on top! We're about to have a lot of home baked cookies in our house - we're going to need help eating them all! Let us know if you end up using our chocolate crinkle cookie recipe!
The best part - you can put any remaining cookie dough on a plate in a freezer bag for next time! A lot of people asked about this so we made sure it would work!
