Chocolate crinkle cookies are a holiday fave, but they’re so delicious that you’ll bake them all year long.
Rolled in powdered sugar, these moist, cakey cookies crinkle open when they bake revealing a fudgy interior that melts in your mouth!
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- Crinkle cookies are easy to make but look beautiful.
- These cookies look and taste like mini brownies with a powdered sugar coating.
- Prep the dough in advance and chill for the perfect make ahead Christmas cookie.
Ingredients for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Cookie Dough – Using brown and granulated sugar ensures the cookies are chewy and adds extra moisture. Either light brown or dark brown sugar will work. Use unsweetened cocoa powder.
Chocolate Chips – Mini chocolate chips add an extra dose of chocolatey goodness and distribute more evenly than larger-sized chips.
Powdered Sugar – Don’t be shy when rolling them in the confectioners’ sugar or powdered sugar, ensure each cookie is well coated before baking for the maximum crinkle effect!
Extras – For an extra festive holiday cookie, add a teaspoon of peppermint extract with the vanilla in Step 3.
How to Make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Cream together butter and sugar and then add eggs (per the recipe below). Mix in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips.
- Cover and chill the dough.
- Shape dough into balls and then roll them in powdered sugar.
- Bake and allow to cool on a rack before enjoying.
Cookie Tips & Tricks
- When baking cookies (or any baked recipe, such as this yummy chocolate cake) is the baking powder, so be sure it’s fresh.
- Parchment paper will make cleanup a breeze and can be used up to 5 times before discarding.
- Be sure to chill the dough for several hours to prevent it from sticking to your hands, and cookies from spreading too much while baking.
- For the best rise during baking, while the dough is chilling in the refrigerator, make space for the baking sheet as well.
Storage & Freezing
Yes, you can! Freeze chocolate crinkle cookie dough in a zippered bag for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator until ready for use. Baked cookies should be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days and can also be frozen in a zippered bag.
More Classic Cookies
More Classic Cookies Recipes
Did you make these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar light or dark, tightly packed
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 2 cups powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until completely combined. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet until completely combined.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
- After chilling, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Roll dough into 1 ½ tablespoon-sized balls with your hands. Roll the cookie dough balls thoroughly in powdered sugar.
- Transfer to baking sheet and bake on 350°F for 12 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying.
Notes
- Be sure not to use expired baking powder.
- For easy cleanup, use parchment paper. It can be used up to 5 times before discarding.
- The dough must be chilled for several hours. This prevents it from sticking to your hands and will keep cookies from spreading too much.
- For the best rise, chill the baking sheet as well as the dough.
- The serving size is 1 cookie.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Frickin delicious.
The adults used to serve these at my piano recitals when I was a kid; now as an adult I went searching for classic Christmas cookies and your page had all the ones I remembered! Thank you so much for making this holiday special for me. :)
I have the batter in the fridge at the moment, can’t wait to start cooking these :) I put in chocolate chips and I also roughly chopped up some glazed cherries
The Chocolate crinkle cookies are soooo good! what a great recipe. Thank you for sharing! We had a cookie baking afternoon and these are by far the best! YUMMM
These cookies are fabulous! Thanks for the recipe, it’s perfect as it’s written, no changes needed. I now have a “stash” in the freezer that I can bake anytime I’m craving one. :)
So glad you loved them Janice!
I didn’t use the chocolate chips, but used dutch cocoa & espresso powder 1/2 tsp. So yummy.
Sounds delicious, so glad you loved them Kathy!
The cookies don’t really need to chill all that long. 30 minutes in the freezer stiffens them enough to work with.
Can I leave out the chocolate chips???
These should work just fine without the chocolate chips Morgan. Enjoy!
Can the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies be frozen? I would like to make them ahead of time… Thank you
Yes, they can be frozen.
I make these ahead of time a lot. Do everything, incl rolling in powdered sugar. Then freeze individually before labeling & putting in a freezer bag. I make different cookies & store them this way. Take out what you need & bake. Easy!
Thank you for sharing your tip!
Just made these, my husband LOVES chocolate desserts and these were a hit! I used salted butter, because I love salt and chocolate. Someone asked about using a scoop, I did use one to get the size I wanted, but to keep the batter from sticking I used the powder sugar on my hands, just as you would with flour and it worked out. Just my suggestions.
Can’t wait to try a new recipe!
I am so glad you guys loved them Stephanie! Powdered sugar is an excellent idea!
I make my cookies with dark chocolate. It makes it taste richer, and more chocolatey!
Yum!!
I tried making this recipe and it turned out perfect. My question is, can I use a cookie scooper to shape the dough? Does it really have to be shaped into balls? Can I substitute butter with oil? Thank you
I think a cookie scooper would work just fine, but may change the shape slightly. I have only tried the recipe as written, so am not sure about substituting butter with oil. Let us know if you try it.
Very tasty! The mini chocolate chips bring it up another notch!
Could you please give me the grams off the ingredients Instead of Cup?
I’m sorry, I’m unable to provide grams. I would suggest searching for a conversion online.
What if you dont have unsaltened buttwr can u use maragine???
I haven’t tried these with margarine. If you try it, please let me know how it works out.
Mine didn’t flatten and stayed in more of the ball shape. Any idea where i went wrong?
Extra flour would keep the cookies from flattening. When you measuring flour it should be gently spooned into the measuring cup and levelled with a knife.
If there was not enough fat/butter or too much baking soda, you could see the same problems. I hope that helps!
Choc crinkle cookie really have 1 Tablespoon baking powder?
Can any of your yummy looking cookie recipes be made “Gluten Free”?
I haven’t tried making this recipe Gluten Free. My friend Mary at Barefeet in the Kitchen has lots of great gluten free baking!
Hi Holly and Suzanne – I’m just reading this now (5/2018) but maybe my info will help other GF people. I am a GF Caterer. Basically “any” recipe can be made GF. All you need is a great All-Purpose GF flour blend. The one I have been using for almost 30 years is: 1 cup white rice flour; 1/2 cup tapioca flour; 1/2 cup corn starch. I make this in huge quantities and then just proceed with any recipe that calls for AP flour, adding the appropriate teaspoon of Xanthan Gum as required. I’ve made Holly’s recipe for crinkle cookies many times and it is absolutely delicious. I’ve made this for many of my clients…it’s always a huge hit. Hope this helps. Happy GF Baking!
Thank you for the great tip Mary Ann! And so glad to hear that these cookies are always a big hit!
Do we know from this post, how many, apprx, this makes?
Yes, this makes 3 dozen.
Easy to follow. Tastes great..
These are the cookies that I tell everyone I licked them all, so I don’t have to share. So glad you are nicer then me and shared them!