Chocolate Crinkles

The crackly top gives Chocolate Crinkles a festive appearance that is easy to achieve. Simply roll the balls of dough in powdered sugar before baking. As these delightful cookies cool their tops set adding a bit of crispiness across a softer chewy center.

Christmas Cookie Traditions

After putting my Ginger Cookie Sticks into the oven I sat down to figure out which cookie recipe I would try next. I looked through the family cookbook that I made several years ago and remembered Aunt Hen’s Christmas cookie baking marathons. The family cookbook contains a list of cookie recipes she planned to bake the Christmas she was 83 years old. There were nineteen different recipes carefully handwritten on her tablet of lined white writing paper.

I think Aunt Hen always enjoyed baking. On many December evenings when I was a girl, I would walk to her house to help her bake cookies. Often she would work on a recipe from her list and I would make another recipe that appealed to my simpler palate. Aunt Hen liked chewy cookies made with coconut, fruit and nuts. I liked pretty chocolate, Gingerbread or Sugar Cookies, often decorated or cut into pretty shapes.

Aunt Hen always offered support. If she didn’t have the ingredients on hand to make the recipe I chose she would put them on her shopping list and I could make the cookies the next week. Often we completed 3 or 4 batches of cookies in an evening and stored them away in Aunt Hen’s collection of pretty holiday tins. When our baking was finished we would fill large plates with a collection of our cookies and give them to friends and neighbors.

Delicious Chocolate Crinkles

One cookie I remember baking with Aunt Hen was Chocolate Crinkles. As I looked through my files for the recipe, I found many variations. Some used cocoa powder instead of chocolate. Some used butter or vegetable shortening instead of oil. I found this particular recipe, copied by a friend many years ago.

Once I settled on the recipe the dough was easy to pull together. The directions are straightforward and the ingredients are easy to come by. The dough is sticky so chilling for several hours is an important step in this recipe. When the dough is ready roll it into 1-inch balls. I use a small cookie scoop to measure out the dough then roll it between my palms before dropping it into a bowl of powdered sugar to coat before baking.

Chocolate Crinkles puff while baking, then settle. The result is an appealing crackle, where the powdered sugar coating splits to allow the dark inner crumb to show through. The texture of the cookie on first bite is a bit crispy on the outside while remaining chewy on the inside. Overall it is a delightful composition of simple but festive contrasts.

Chocolate Crinkles

Course: Christmas Cookies, Cookies and CandyDifficulty: Easy

Servings

48

cookies

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

Rich and chewy, Chocolate Crinkles are pretty and easy to make, as perfect for a Christmas platter as for weekday snacking.

Ingredients

• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate (or 4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips)

• 2 cups sugar

• 1/2 cup oil

• 4 eggs

• 2 teaspoons (or 1 Tablespoon) vanilla

• 2 cups flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (if desired)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

• powdered sugar

Directions

• Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a metal bowl over a pan of hot water. When the pieces are melted and the chocolate is smooth, blend in the oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon (if desired). Add to the chocolate mixture until fully blended. Add the nuts if you like.
• Chill dough for several hours or overnight. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each dough ball in powdered sugar until thoroughly coated. Place balls 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Notes

• I didn’t have any squares of unsweetened chocolate so I used 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips instead. While I was changing things up I decided to increase the amount of vanilla to 1 tablespoon and add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon too. Then I omitted the nuts to make the cookies more appealing to a simpler palate.