Fudgy brownie-like chewy chocolate cookies with a soft center that crumbles in your mouth. These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies recipe feature a secret flavor in the dough that you’ll love for the holiday season. A classic Christmas cookie recipe that’s tradition to make every year!
Christmas baking is a tradition in our family. Every year, we bake up a storm of delicious confections like cookies, candy, and pastries. These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies make it to the cookie platter every year just like these other holiday cookie recipes.
I’ve had the biggest chocolate craving for the past week and I knew I wanted to make something with extra fudgy like these chocolate pixie cookies. These cookies are the perfect combination of chewy chocolate with a hint of maple. These cookies have been around for a long time. At one point, they were called chocolate pixie cookies and today they go by the name chocolate crinkle cookies.
HOW TO MAKE CRINKLE COOKIES
- Mix together dry ingredients.
- Melt chocolate.
- Whisk in eggs.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients.
- Chill in refrigerator; about 2 hours.
- Roll ½ tablespoon cookie dough balls.
- Roll crinkle cookies in powdered sugar.
- Bake in 350°F oven for 11-13 minutes.
These cookies were such a hit for Thanksgiving week that I ended up making 2 batches of about 100 cookies! The first batch didn’t last long and they were quickly packed up for friends to enjoy over the weekend. What I love about these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies is that they taste like brownies.
CRINKLE COOKIES INGREDIENTS
■ CHOCOLATE: Using a combination of unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder gives these cookies a rich fudge like taste and texture.
■ SUGAR: Both powdered sugar and granulated sugar give this cookie just the right amount of sweetness.
■ BUTTER: Using a good quality butter is important, especially during the holiday baking season. I like to stock up on top shelf butter while it’s on sale during this time of year.
■ COFFEE: Instant coffee enhances the chocolate flavor and brings it front and center. Find this ingredient in a jar near traditional coffee.
■ FLAVORING: Vanilla extract and maple extract give these cookies the BEST flavoring. Not only does the maple extract smell amazing while baking in the oven, but it works well in combination with chocolate.
■ FLOUR: The dough will mix up very sticky. It’s important to chill it in the refrigerator until it hardens. Still, if it’s still to sticky to work with, dry dusting your cookie scoop, hands or cutting board with powdered sugar or a little flour.
They are full of chocolate with a whole baking bar and cocoa powder added to the batter. Finally, I’ve added instant coffee powder and maple extract to give it a taste you’ll really love.
The cookie its self is not over sugary tasting. The unsweetened chocolate bar adds a level of chocolate flavor that reminds me of a boxed chocolate brownie mix, only homemade and so much better!
The dough is easy enough to work with and it all comes together in less than 10 minutes. It’s then chilled in the refrigerator so that the chocolate has a chance to cool and the dough is not as sticky to roll into small balls.
If you’re looking to take a classic Christmas cookie recipe to a holiday party this season, then try these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. Everyone raves how delicious homemade chocolate cookies like these are!
The outside of the cookie has a thin crispy shell like a brownie before biting into a soft center that will melt in your mouth.
If you plan on making cookies for the Christmas holiday season, try these! They are decadent, rich and incredibly addictive. Other desserts to make for the season include these Mint Brownies, Turtle Thumbprint Cookies, Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies and of course, classic Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies.
The perfect holiday drink to serve this season is this Sweet Tea and Cranberry Jingle Juice Holiday Punch. Next week, I’ll be sharing Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cupcakes so stay tuned for more holiday recipes on the way!
POPULAR CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES
- Strawberry thumbprint cookies
- Peanut butter cookie blossoms
- Gingerbread thumbprint cookies
- Spritz cookies
- Italian Christmas cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Classic Russian Tea Cake (snowball cookies)
- Christmas pretzel hugs
- Classic sugar cookie cutouts
- Raspberry Bow Tie Cookies
- Peanut butter cup cookies
- Hershey’s kiss snowballs
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ cups packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tsp instant coffee powder, optional to taste
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract (other options: coconut, mint, or peppermint extract)
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
Topping
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over low-medium heat. Turn off heat. Stir in coarsely chopped unsweetened chocolate. Allow mixture to melt, stirring occasionally while preparing the cookie dough.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract, maple extract, and instant coffee powder just until mixed.
- Pour chocolate-butter mixture into egg mixture. Stir to combine.
- Slowly pour dry ingredients into chocolate and egg mixture, stirring after each addition.
- Stir in 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour just until mixed.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap. Chill dough in refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place ½ cup powdered sugar and 1 tbsp granulated sugar into a small dish.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll into balls. I used a cookie scoop that used about 1/2 tablespoon dough (small ball). TIP: If dough is sticky between scoops, dip it in a bowl of powdered sugar between scoops. Or try refrigerating it longer.
- Roll dough into sugar mixture then place cookies 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet.
- Bake in oven 11-13 minutes. The cookies will be soft and chewy.
- Allow cookies to cool then place in an air-tight container.
Nutrition
updated 12/2020
16 Comments
Eva Rogers
12/02/2017 at 4:40 pmEveryone love the cookies, will make them again.
Amanda
12/21/2017 at 7:09 amI love Chocolate Crinkle Cookies! They’re always so well enjoyed on holiday cookie trays. I always love how pretty the tops look. Happy Holidays!
Jessica Robinson
12/22/2017 at 9:28 amThese cookies look so gooey and chocolatey. Cannot wait to try your recipe!
Emily Leary
12/22/2017 at 5:10 pmI love how unique each one is, like little delicious snowflakes.
Veena Azmanov
12/22/2017 at 6:02 pmI love chocolate crinkle cookies this time of the year.!! They do make awesome Christmas Gift ideas too. Your pictures are so pretty. YUM!
Betty
12/23/2017 at 9:35 amThese things are really divine, BUT trying to deal with the dough, before refrigerating, took 2 adults – was that stiff! Then I found the dough very sticky to work with when forming the balls. Having followed all the directions exactly, do you have any ideas on fixes for these 2 probs? I’ve looked at other similar recipes, but these were too good to leave and yielded way more than I expected! thanks.
Jessica Knott
12/23/2017 at 2:05 pmHi Betty, I did scoop the dough with the scooper, then dusted it with powdered sugar. I also dusted my hands with them, too. Any added powdered sugar used to prevent stickiness is not a bad thing. Once you get into the grove of dusting, scooping and rolling balls, it shouldn’t be too bad. You can also let the dough sit for 10 minutes before working with it, but again, prep the area with powdered sugar on hands, cookie scoop and cutting board/knife if using.
Helene
12/23/2017 at 10:31 amI find it interesting that you add maple extract too with the chocolate. So much flavors in your crinkle cookies, they would be a favorite here. Especially my nephew and niece would go crazy for them. 🙂
Christine
12/23/2017 at 10:37 amThese look so delicious! Perfect for the holidays. I could eat a million of these right about now!
Leslie Haasch
12/23/2017 at 12:58 pmI love crinkle cookies – these are perfect for Christmas!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
12/24/2017 at 11:00 amOkay, these are like the quintessential Christmas cookies. I’ll take the whole batch please 😉
prasanna hede
12/25/2017 at 11:55 amThese cookies are perfect for Holidays when everyone is around can enjoy them!
Elena
12/26/2017 at 12:52 pmThese cookies look perfect! They would make great homemade gifts too!
Lois. O
12/28/2017 at 9:30 pmI love chocolate cookies, so this is definitely a must try.
Paula
12/15/2019 at 10:31 amCan these be frozen
Jessica Knott
12/27/2019 at 1:25 pmYes. However, I prefer to freeze the dough then bake as needed but if you have extras that are baked, go ahead and wrap them in plastic wrap and a tightly sealed bag and freeze them.