Classic chocolate crinkle cookies are festive holiday cookies with soft-baked, fudgy middles and crisp, crackly ridges coated in powdered sugar. I add chocolate chips for double the chocolate in every bite!
If you love these chocolate cookies, try my double chocolate chip cookies and easy chocolate cake mix cookies, next. You might also like these classic chocolate cutout sugar cookies. For a peppermint twist, try these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.
Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Chocolate crinkle cookies are one of my favorite classic Christmas cookies, right up there with sugar cookies and my family’s favorite pinwheel cookies. If you’ve never made them before, crinkle cookies are rolled in sugar, similar to snowball cookies, and the cookies spread as they bake to create their signature crackly, snow-covered appearance. Everyone raves about how fudgy they are, and how pretty the powdered sugar crust is!
Well, the secret’s out. It really comes down to a few key ingredients and an extra step before baking. I roll the cookie dough in granulated sugar before powdered sugar, for extra crispy, perfectly sugar-coated crinkle cookies. Meanwhile, the inside of the cookies is thick and soft-baked. They’re just as fudgy and decadent as a batch of homemade brownies. There’s melty chocolate in every bite thanks to mini chocolate chips.
Ingredient Notes
These are the key ingredients you’ll need to make a batch of what are, very possibly, the best chocolate crinkle cookies you’ll ever taste. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable ingredients list with the full amounts and details.
- Cocoa Powder – Since this recipe uses baking soda as the leavening, you’ll want to use natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. You can learn more about the different kinds of cocoa powder (and when to use each type).
- Espresso Powder – Espresso powder brings out the richness of chocolate cake and does the same in these chocolate crinkle cookies. You won’t taste the coffee, but it enhances the flavor.
- Chocolate Chips – I like to use mini chocolate chips, but regular size will also work. You can use semisweet, dark, milk, or another flavor, like white chocolate or peanut butter chips.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar and powdered sugar for coating the cookies before baking.
How to Make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Unlike drop cookie recipes, chilling the dough is an important step when making these chocolate crinkle cookies. Chilling helps the dough firm up and avoids over-spreading in the oven, for cookies that crack rather than melt. Follow the step-by-step photos below, and scroll down to the recipe card for the printable instructions.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Start by creaming butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Once that’s light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Lastly, add the vanilla, mixing until everything is well incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients. First, whisk the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture to form a sticky dough. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand.
- Chill the dough. Cover the chocolate cookie dough with plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for 2 hours so that it firms up.
- Roll and coat the cookie dough. When you’re ready to bake, portion the cookie dough into balls (1½ to 2 tablespoons in size). Roll each ball first in granulated sugar, and then generously in powdered sugar. Place the coated dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake your crinkle cookies at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes. They should be just set and firm, and not overly dry. Leave the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, and then move them to a wire rack.
Make the Cookie Dough Ahead
The unbaked cookie dough can be scooped into balls and frozen (be sure to do this before coating them in the sugar). Freeze the dough airtight for up to 3 months. Whenever you’re ready, remove the dough balls from the freezer, roll them in both sugars and bake according to the recipe, adding 1-2 extra minutes to the baking time.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Measure the flour correctly. When measuring the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Or, use a kitchen scale. This avoids overmeasuring.
- Do not overbake these cookies. For moist and rich cookies, you want them to just be set when they come out of the oven. Overbaking can make them dry and crumbly.
- Use a double coating of sugar. This is a handy tip I learned from Cooks Illustrated. Rolling the cookies in granulated sugar before the powdered sugar ensures a beautiful powdered sugar crust. The granulated sugar acts as a moisture barrier, keeping the powdered sugar from melting. It’s an extra step that takes little time but the crinkle cookies turn out perfect.
- Mini chocolate chips are best. Mini chips just start to melt into the dough, creating a richer chocolate flavor. Plus, they’re small enough to keep the shape of the ball nice and smooth. As mentioned, you can use regular-size chocolate chips, but your cookies may not be as round and the chips will likely not melt as well into the dough.
- Different flavors. You could make these cookies in a variety of flavors. Chopped Andes mints, peanut butter chips, or chopped peppermint candies could be added in place of the chocolate chips. Or for a black forest flavor, kirsch or cherry flavoring can be used in place of the vanilla extract and dried cherries can be chopped and added to the batter.
How to Store
- On the countertop. Store these chocolate crinkle cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Freeze. You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months and thaw them at room temperature for serving. Consider giving the cookies a fresh dusting of powdered sugar after thawing.
More Chocolate Cookie Recipes
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chilling Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 32 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These chocolate crinkle cookies are soft-baked and fudgy in the middle, with crisp, crackly ridges coated in powdered sugar. They’re studded with chocolate chips for double the chocolate!
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) Salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (190g) Granulated sugar
- 2 large Eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) Pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup (150g) All-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ⅔ cup (52g) Natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup (112g) Mini chocolate chips
For Rolling
- ½ cup (90g) Granulated sugar
- 1 cup (130g) Powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together until lightened in color and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating them into the butter mixture until fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add this mixture to the wet ingredients as you mix on medium-low speed. The dough will be very thick and sticky. Once all of the dry ingredients are just mixed in, add in the chocolate chips and mix just until evenly distributed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until dough is firm.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Place the granulated sugar and powdered sugar in separate shallow bowls or pie plates.
- Using a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop 1½ to 2 tablespoons of dough and quickly roll into a ball. Place in the granulated sugar to coat lightly, then roll in the powdered sugar and coat generously.
- Place the sugared dough balls on cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just set and firm. Do not overbake. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Storing and freezing: Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Uncooked dough can be scooped into balls and frozen before coating in the sugar for up to 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer. Just remove from the freezer, roll in the sugars and bake according to recipe, adding an additional 1-2 minutes of bake time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 193
- Sugar: 24.2 g
- Sodium: 165.7 mg
- Fat: 7.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.3 g
- Fiber: 1.7 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 30.8 mg
Best chocolate crinkle I’ve ever made! Used it for our Christmas plates this year and everyone loved them!
That is so wonderful Brooklyn! Thank you so much!