Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Easy to make classic Christmas cookies, these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are delicious, rich, fudge-y cookies that almost taste like a brownie, with a crackled confectioner’s sugar coated exterior, and are studded with fun Christmas colored M&M’s.
Make these with classic snowball cookies, chocolate mint thumbprints, Toffee Pecan Christmas Cookies, and raspberry pistachio shortbread bars for the ultimate Christmas dessert tray.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Ingredients
I am obsessed with these cookies because not only are they super easy to make, and use ingredients you likely already have on hand, but they are also very delicious. You can’t beat that. Here is what you need to make them:
- All-Purpose Flour: Sifted and measured by spooning it into a measuring cup. Note: If you scoop, you will get more flour (up to 25% more) and will make these denser, thicker, and not as yummy.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: DO NOT use sweetened, or these will be way too sweet.
- Vegetable Oil: But you can use any mild-flavored oil.
- Sugar: Both brown and white.
- Eggs: Use large, and room temp!
- Treats: I love green and red M&M’s as they a re super festive, but truthfully you can’t really see them in the cookies, so chocolate chips work well too. Mint chips are fun!
Why We Love These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies:
When it comes to Christmas cookies I am always a huge fan of the classics like cut out sugar cookies, thumbprint cookies, and whoopie pies. But there is something about this chocolate confection that ranks it really high on the “BEST CHRISTMAS COOKIES OF ALL TIME” list:
- All the chocolate– chocolate batter studded with chocolate treats. I mean how can you say not to that?
- Taste like a rich fudge-y brownie- Best of both worlds, you get cookies and brownies in one bite!
- Soft and crispy!– You get the best of both worlds again with soft and chewy centers, but crisp crackly edges. Yum!
- Thick- No flat as a pancake cookies here, these are rich and chewy, thick cookies with some heft to them.
- Easy to make: The kids can join in, everyone can take part in making these simple, but delicious, cookies.
How To Make Chocolate Crinkle Christmas Cookies
To make crinkle cookies, you follow the basic steps of cookie making, combining dry ingredients, creaming together sugars and fat, and then combing it all, chilling, etc.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients. Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt all in a large bowl, whisked together. A great job for an eager helper!
- Cream together sugar and fat. This is a classic step in cookie making, and whether you are using butter, or oil, you want to mix the sugars and the fat together, letting it mix until creamy. So in a bowl with a hand mixer, or using a stand mixer, cream together the two different sugars and the vegetable oil. Once fluffy and well creamed together (about 2 minutes of mixing) you will ad din the eggs and vanilla.
- Combine. Then you combine the wet and the dry together, and mix it together. This is also where you add in the chocolate chips or M&M’s.
- Chill the dough. Everyone hates this step, but it is a necessary evil for perfect crinkle cookies. So you want to cover the dough, and get it into a fridge for at least a few hours so it can chill completely. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
- Prep your dough balls. Once completely chilled you can form the dough into 1-inch balls, and roll them in powdered sugar until completely coated. This is another great job for a little helper.
- Place. Place cookie balls on a parchment-covered baking sheet with a few inches between each one, as they will spread a little while baking.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F for 9-10 minutes.
- Remove. When done, remove cookies from the tray to a cooling rack, and let cool until you are ready to eat them.
- Enjoy! These cookies are particularly good if eaten warm from of the oven. But can keep for 5 days in an airtight container. Or freeze well for up to 3 months.
Tips for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Be sure to chill: As an impatient baker, I understand the desire to skip the chilling step, but in order to get the delightful texture and delicious chewy, brownie like consistency, you need to chill the dough. So don’t skip this part. If you need to rush it, pop the cookie dough in the freezer for an hour.
Double roll: I have never tried this, but I read on America’s Test Kitchen you can roll your cookies in granulated sugar, then confectioner’s sugar for a brighter white, and better crinkle.
Possible Crinkle Cookie Variations:
Looking to mix things up? These cookies are the perfect base for super fun Christmas cookies, and can be changed to add flavor and flair. For example:
- Place a Hershey’s kiss on top. The candy cane kisses are particularly fun in this cookie, simply make the cookie like normal, but when you pull them out of the oven, pop a kiss into the center. Freeze the kisses first to help them hold their shape in these warm cookies.
- Hide a caramel inside the cookie. I love a good caramel stuffed chocolate cookie and this dough is awesome for making them into caramel stuffed crinkle cookies. Just unwrap a caramel and wrap it in the dough, and bake as normal.
- Change the mix in: I used M&M’s, but you can use chocolate chips, or flavored chips for a fun variation.
- Add spices: One of my favorite variations is adding a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough to make it have a Mexican hot chocolate flavor.
- Roll in Sprinkles: After baking, you can roll these in colored sugar sprinkles for more crinkle and crackle, and fun.
How to Freeze Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
The holidays are always busy, and if you know you won’t have time to make these during the hectic days leading up to Christmas, whip them up before hand and freeze until you need them.
You can freeze chocolate crinkle cookies before or after baking.
Before Baking:
- Make dough as directed and chill.
- Then roll your dough into balls. But do not roll in the confectioner’s sugar yet.
- Place balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place in freezer.
- Let freeze for 1-2 hours, then place into a large zipped-top bag.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
- To bake: Remove from freezer, and place on pans for baking. Allow to thaw on pan for 30 minutes, then roll in confectioner’s sugar and bake according to regular directions.
After Baking:
- Let cookies cool completely.
- Place cookies in a single layer between sheets of parchment in a zip topped bag.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Other Great Holiday Treats
- Peppermint Bark “Oh Fudge!”
- 4 ingredient OREO fudge
- Peppermint Brownie Drumsticks
- Peppermint Glazed Sugar Cookies
- Hot Chocolate Truffles
Making Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Video
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs large
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup M&M's Christmas Colors
- 1 cup Confectioner's Sugar
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl combine your all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk together. Set aside.
- In a separate, large bowl, combine oil, white sugar, and brown sugar, and vanilla, use a hand mixer to cream it together.
- Add flour mixture to the large bowl with sugar mixture, combining it a little at a time, and mixing with a hand mixer, until combined. The dough will be very thick.
- Stir in the M&M's and use your hands to work them into the dough.
- Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to chill.
- Once completely chilled, dough should be thick and scoopable. Remove it from fridge, and at this time preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Use a cookie scoop or your hands to form 1 inch balls of dough.
- Put the confectioner's sugar into a shallow dish, and roll each of the dough balls around in the powdered sugar until it is completely covered.
- Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each one.
- Bake in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes.
- Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes after baking, then remove to a cooling rack.
- Let cool, and enjoy!
Notes
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Taylor says
We make these every holiday season! So rich and fudgy with the perfect sweetness from the powdered sugar!