A classic holiday treat! These Chocolate Crinkles are soft, chewy, and perfect for sharing.

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These classic Chocolate Crinkles are just as amazing as you remember! Make them for family, friends, co-workers, cookie trays, and everyone will love them

Old-fashioned Chocolate Crinkles are rolled in powdered sugar before baking to give them that distinctive crackle coat appearance.

A plateful of chocolate crinkle cookies.

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Why are Chocolate Crinkles Called Chocolate Crinkles?

Because these cookies are rolled in powdered sugar before baking they have a crinkled appearance. The crinkle effect happens are the cookies expand and settle in the oven. The powdered sugar “breaks” apart as the dough expands to become the cookie giving it the distinctive crackle coat.

What if I don’t have powdered sugar for chocolate crinkles?

You can ALWAYS roll these cookies in regular sugar instead of powdered sugar. They will look different for sure BUT they’ll still taste great. And I’ve found that if you use granulated powdered sugar the cookies are a little more crispy!

So if you want a CRISPY chocolate crinkle use granulated sugar instead of powdered. OR get wild and try both! Granulated and then powdered for a crispy cookie with the classic crinkle effect.

The dirstinctive crackle coat of powdered sugar gives these cookies their name!

DO I have to roll chocolate crinkles in powdered sugar?

You do need to roll them in some kind of sugar or the crackle coat will be wasted on them. They will still break and spread apart but the look won’t be so well defined.

What do you need to make chocolate crinkles cookies?

A stand mixer OR hand mixer (nice to have but you can use a bowl and spoon!)
Baking sheets
Parchment Paper
Powdered sugar OR granulated sugar
Typical cookie ingredients: flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, eggs, vanilla and so on
espresso powder is OPTIONAL but it always gives any chocolate flavor a certain depth to it, and it can help deepen the cocoa powder color as well
Cooling racks
Time for the dough to chill, it’s a sticky dough and it needs to set up before being rolled

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Crinkles

5 from 9 votes

A classic holiday treat! These Chocolate Crinkles are soft, chewy, and perfect for sharing.

Course: Dessert Recipes

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Refrigeration: 6

Total Time: 6 25

Servings: Dozen cookies

Calories: 1012kcal

Author: Laura

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Equipment

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
*optional* 1-2 teaspoons espresso powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract can sub vanilla paste
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside
beat the cocoa powder, sugar, espresso powder if using, and oil together, this will look like a gritty mess
beat in the eggs one at a time
stir in the vanilla
mix the flour into the wet ingredients, mix well
gather the dough in a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, it's going to be a really soft dough so once wrapped place it in a bowl to keep it from spreading, and refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours
to bake, preheat the oven to 350˚
line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper
roll the dough into small balls and then roll in the powdered sugar, you can use a cookie scoop for this
place on the prepared cookie sheet 1-2 inches apart
bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set
remove from the oven, cool 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove to a cooling rack
repeat with the remaining dough