Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: Not Just for Christmas Anymore

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: Chewy, like brownies; light, like cake.

Cyndy brought me one of her favorite cookies last week: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. I know you’re thinking these are Christmas fare. True, they are. But their snow-capped tops and brownie-like texture also make them a perfect cold weather treat. This cookie has been around awhile. I remember making them in the early 60s.

The recipe was first published in Betty Crocker’s Cookie Carnival in the 1950s. The beloved cookie made it into Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book, a vintage cookbook that I treasure, and, as you can see, used often.

Ready for the powdered sugar.

Fun Part

When you put the cookies in the oven, they will look like mini-snowballs, no chocolate showing.

Call the Kids

Pull up a chair. Call the kids to peer into your oven window. Watch the transformation as the chocolate gradually breaks through. Almost as much fun as Tik Tok.

These are perfect! Mine definitely didn’t come out as well as Cyndy’s.

Baking Tips

For easier mixing, start with room temperature ingredients.
Use Hershey’s or Ghirardelli’s unsweetened cocoa powder, rather than Dutch process powder.
Do not pack flour when measuring. Spoon loosely into measuring cup.
Chill dough for 3-4 hours or overnight. Dough will be sticky.
Go heavy on the confectioner’s sugar.
Freeze the chocolate balls, if you wish, thaw for 30 minutes, and roll in powdered sugar. Bake according to directions.
Don’t bake over 10 minutes in order to keep insides soft and outsides crispy.
Cookies come out of the oven soft, but firm up as they cool,
If making a larger size cookie, bake a few minutes longer.
Roll in sanding sugar, if you’re not keen on powdered sugar—though cookies will not be snow-capped.