Description
These Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are soft, fudgy, and covered in a beautiful crackled layer of powdered sugar. With a rich cocoa flavor and a delightfully chewy texture, these cookies make a perfect treat for any occasion. The dough is simple to prepare and requires chilling for best results, resulting in a delicious batch of about 72 bite-sized cookies that are as fun to make as they are to eat.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (for coating)
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Combine the cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and room-temperature butter in a mixing bowl. Beat together on medium speed until smooth and fully blended. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined.
- Add dry ingredients: Mix in the vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, and then gradually incorporate the all-purpose flour until the dough is well combined and smooth.
- Chill the dough: Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. This step is essential to reduce stickiness and help the cookies maintain their shape during baking.
- Preheat oven and prepare pans: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line several baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking and ease cleanup.
- Form and coat cookies: Using a cookie scoop or spoon, portion out 1-inch balls of dough. Roll each ball thoroughly in the confectioner’s sugar until fully coated. This coating creates the signature cracked appearance as the cookies bake.
- Arrange and bake: Place the sugar-coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes until the cookies have formed crackled tops but remain soft inside.
- Cool the cookies: Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool on the sheet for one minute to firm up slightly. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- You can yield approximately 72 cookies when rolling the dough into 1-inch balls. Adjust the size if you want larger cookies, but increase the baking time accordingly.
- The dough is sticky; using a cookie scoop to drop the dough directly into the confectioner’s sugar bowl helps minimize mess and makes coating easier.
- These cookies are around 1-2 inches in diameter when baked—perfectly bite-sized treats for parties or gift-giving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 90
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 60mg
- Fat: 3.5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 1.5g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
