Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These cookies are the stuff of dreams, that’s if you dream about mouthfuls of meltingly soft chocolate cookie clouds enrobed in a fine layer of powdered sugar. These cookies will leave every other crinkle cookie back at the starting gate. They are distinguished by their soft, fudgy interiors that are almost like brownies in every bite.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

There is a secret to the fudgy interiors that these cookies boast and I’m going to share that secret with you today: Dutch cocoa. The best cocoa to use when making these cookies is Dutch processed cocoa. According to food blogger, chef and cookbook author, David Lebovitz, “Dutch-process cocoa powder is made from cocoa (cacao) beans that have been washed with a potassium solution, to neutralize their acidity. Natural cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that are simply roasted, then pulverized into a fine powder.

Aside from neutralizing the acidity, Dutching cocoa powder makes it darker and can help mellow the flavor of the beans.” Most supermarket brands of cocoa powder in America, such as Hershey’s, are natural cocoa powders. “Non alkalized, or natural cocoa tends to be lighter in color but less mellow in flavor.” (Fry’s Cocoa is an example of Dutch processed cocoa.)

“Because natural cocoa powder hasn’t had its acidity tempered, it’s generally paired with baking soda (which is alkali) in recipes. Dutch-process cocoa is frequently used in recipes with baking powder, as it doesn’t react to baking soda as natural cocoa does.” Many thanks to David Lebovitz for his excellent explanation of the difference between Dutch processed and natural cocoa. 

I did not realize that using Dutch cocoa was such an integral part of this recipe until one fine day when  I found myself midway through a crinkle cookie bake-off and I discovered that the container of Dutch process cocoa that I was about to use was virtually empty. What now?!! I grabbed another container of cocoa and when I tasted the results of my substitution, I sadly concluded that nothing about these cookies was the same. So try and seek out your local brand of Dutch process cocoa when making these cookies. It’s worth the extra effort.

I’d like to extend a great big thank-you to Marsha B. for this delicious recipe. These cookies are favorites at every family event and are often requested by my children and grandchildren alike.

Assemble all your ingredients. Dutch process cocoa makes a difference in this recipe.

These cookies can be mixed by hand in a mixing bowl. Measure your flour correctly!

1. Use a spoon to fluff up the flour within the container.
2. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup.
3. Use a knife or other straight edged utensil to level the flour across the measuring cup.

The dough will be very sticky and loose at this stage. The cookie dough must rest in the refrigerator overnight. It will be almost impossible to roll out these cookies without this step.

After allowing the dough to chill overnight, using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out all of the cookie dough. (I wanted all of my cookies to be as uniform in size as possible. This also minimized the amount of sticky cookie dough on my hands.) You can also roll the cookie dough between the palms of your hands into 1 inch balls. (I’ve made it that way until quite recently… Like today.)

Roll each one of the preshaped balls of cookie dough in a container with 1 cup of powdered sugar and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Set the cookies about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake each sheet of cookies in a preheated 350 F. oven, on the middle rack for 9 minutes. 

Aren’t they beautiful! They taste even better than they look if that’s possible. These cookies freeze wonderfully in an airtight container.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Cookies, Cakes and Desserts

By Marsha B. – Serves: 50

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 36 minutes – Total Time: One hour (give or take a minute)

These are meltingly soft chocolate cookie clouds enrobed in a fine layer of powdered sugar.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup cocoa, Dutch processed if possible
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup icing (powdered) sugar for coating the cookies before baking

Instructions

1

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl and whisk together.

2

Add the oil and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until well combined.

3

Add eggs, and vanilla and then mix.

4

Add the cocoa powder to the oil mixture and mix until combined.

5

Add flour mixture and continue mixing until all the flour is just combined. Scrape the bowl down. Transfer the dough to a covered container and chill overnight.

6

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and scoop out all of the cookie dough using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop or roll out the cookie dough between your palms into 1 inch balls.

7

Place 1 cup of icing sugar into a bowl or on a plate.

8

Roll the cookie dough balls into the icing sugar to cover completely.

9

Set cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

10

Preheat the oven to 350 F. and bake each baking pan of cookies on the middle rack of your oven for 9-10 minutes. (9 minutes works great for me.)

11

Cool completely on a cooling rack.