These homemade chocolate crinkle cookies are rich, dark, fudgy, and impossible to resist! The recipe is perfect for any Christmas or holiday cookie tray.
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Cookies that taste like brownies
If you’ve never tried chocolate crinkle cookies, you are in for a treat.
These classic holiday cookies taste like fudge brownies in the shape of a cookie, with a delightfully soft texture and rich chocolate flavor.
Roll the unbaked cookie dough balls in powdered sugar, then bake in the oven and watch as a beautiful crinkled pattern magically appears.
This is the best chocolate crinkle cookie recipe you will find. Hot from the oven, they are equally fancy and delicious!
Also make these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate crinkle cookie flavors
Peppermint: Add a fourth teaspoon of pure peppermint extract along with the vanilla extract. Top the finished cookies with crushed peppermint candies or candy canes.
Cinnamon Sugar: Instead of coating the crinkle cookies in powdered sugar, roll them in half a cup of sugar mixed with two tablespoons of ground cinnamon.
Red Velvet: For red velvet crinkle cookies, add half a teaspoon red food coloring with the liquid ingredients. Use only a fourth teaspoon for pink velvet. Or for a healthy alternative to food coloring, add freeze dried strawberry powder or swap out the milk with an equal amount of beet juice.
Mocha: Add half a teaspoon of instant coffee granules with the dry ingredients. Or substitute four tablespoons of brewed espresso for the milk.
Vanilla Bean: Omit the vanilla extract in the recipe below. Instead, add the seeds from one vanilla bean or a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
Double Chocolate Chip: Stir half a cup of mini chocolate chips (dark, semi sweet, white, or milk chocolate) in with the dry ingredients.
Chocolate Orange: Add the zest of one orange and a tablespoon of orange juice. Use a small egg or decrease the milk of choice to three tablespoons.
Caramel: After rolling the crinkle cookie dough into balls, press a caramel or a piece of chopped date into the center of each cookie.
Rainbow: Add a fourth teaspoon of pure almond extract to the liquid ingredients. After baking, roll each cookie in rainbow sprinkles.
Here is a lemon version: Lemon Pixie Cookies
Easy chocolate crinkle cookie ingredients
The recipe calls for flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, salted butter or a plant based alternative, milk of choice, optional egg, pure vanilla extract, and powdered sugar for coating.
Look for regular unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch cocoa. If possible, go for a high quality cocoa powder for the best tasting cookies.
Spelt flour, oat flour, and all purpose white flour are all great options. There is also a flourless keto crinkle cookie option included in the recipe box below.
I do not recommend substituting whole wheat flour, almond flour, or coconut flour.
The cookies can be sweetened with either traditional granulated sugar or unrefined coconut sugar for a healthy option.
The recipe has not been tested with pure maple syrup or honey swapped for sugar.
To make dairy free and vegan chocolate crinkle cookies, use a salted vegan butter and the option for extra milk of choice instead of eggs. Any plant based milk should work.
Unlike many other crinkle cookie recipes, this one requires no cake mix, and the results are so much better. Homemade is always better.
Holiday cookie recipe video
Above, watch the step by step crinkle cookie recipe video
Chocolate crinkles, also often called chocolate pixie cookies, are one of my all time favorite Christmas cookies.
The recipe below is adapted from my grandmother’s traditional recipe. I hope your family loves them as much as we do!
How to make chocolate crinkle cookies
Gather all of your cookie ingredients, as well as a baking sheet.
In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir very well, making sure to break up any large clumps.
Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl or stand mixer. Use the beaters or a spoon to mix and form a cookie dough.
For baked cookies with the softest fluffy, chewy, and fudgy texture, it is recommended to cover the bowl tightly and freeze until chilled or refrigerate overnight. If you are in a hurry, you can technically skip this step.
Once cold, roll the dough into balls with a cookie scoop or clean hands.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and add the powdered sugar to a bowl.
Cover the crinkle cookie dough balls generously in the powdered sugar, then place the balls on the cookie baking tray.
Bake on the oven’s center rack for twelve minutes.
The cookies should look underdone when you remove them from the oven. This is what you want, because they will firm up considerably as they cool.
Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least ten minutes before handling.
Storing chocolate crinkle cookies
Once firm, move the crinkle cookies to a cooling rack or serving tray.
Or eat them straight from the baking sheet!
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to five days on the counter. Alternatively, freeze cookies in a covered container for about two or three months.
For soft chocolate crinkle cookies, store in a plastic container. For chewy cookies with more of a crispy texture, store leftovers in a glass container.
Baking tips and tricks for best results
When making the chocolate cookies for the first time, be sure to follow the ingredients and instructions without any substitutions or cutting back on any ingredients.
This way, you will know how the recipe is supposed to turn out. Then you can have fun experimenting to see how swapping out a different flour or sugar, or making other modifications, may change the results.
To achieve the classic crinkle look, it is important to roll the cookie dough balls in powdered sugar before baking, not after.
Do not open the oven even a crack while the cookies are baking. And allow cookies to cool on the tray before handling, because they firm up as they cool.
These festive holiday chocolate crinkle cookies need no refrigeration and are perfect for Christmas cookie exchanges or packaging up as gifts to friends and family.
They are also a delightful Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day dessert.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour (For low carb, try these Keto Chocolate Cookies)
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup salted butter or vegan butter, melted
- 1 egg or 4 tbsp milk of choice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
- powdered sugar or sugar free alternative
Instructions
- *If preferred, the dough can be made in advance, rolled into balls, and frozen for any time you need a quick dessert.To make chocolate crinkle cookies, combine dry ingredients except powdered sugar in a mixing bowl or stand mixer. Stir in wet ingredients to form a dough. Cover and freeze the dough until chilled, or refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 300 F. Roll the chilled dough into balls, then cover in powdered sugar. Place on a baking sheet and bake 12 minutes. The chocolate cookies should look underdone when you take them out of the oven. Allow to cool fully before handling. They firm up during this time. Store leftovers in a covered container for up to five days.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Holiday Cookie Ideas
I bet your hair would work well with the sock bun method. Google it. The best tutorial is on YouTube by a girl named Loepsie ( I think that is the spelling—she’s European). It’s free, takes no time, and doesn’t damage your hair. I used to use hot rollers often, and this method has changed my life!!
You beat me to is! I was just going to recommend the sock bun method!
I used to put my hair in a wet bun before I went to bed. I’d wake up with waves… but that was when I was in college and could only take a shower at night.
I’ll have to google this sock bun thing!
I have used the sock bun a few times, and it is so easy and works wonderfully! Plus, it really is perfectly comfortable to sleep with it in.
These cookies look incredible! I think they will be on my to-do list tonight!
Those cookies look so yummy! Can’t go wrong with chocolate!
Ohh wow Katie!! Super chocolatey recipe!! I have been having a good day all day, doing Work Experience.. Until I missed my bus.. And the next one wasn’t for another hour and a half ((I live in a village))!! I’m super-tired, my back is a aching painfully and the house is empty.
But I checked your site again ((3rd time today!!)) in search of those cookies you’d promised and now you have actually managed to cheer me up. 🙂 🙂 . Thank you!! They sound so.. Comforting!! I love the sound of ” Melting slowly in your mouth like a truffle “, and the name, I’m now picturing myself snuggled ((love that word!!)) into a comfy armchair in front of a fireplace, just with the mention of Hot Chocolate. Thank you. Honestly. You have saved my day 🙂 🙂 .
Awww hugs!!! 😕
mmmm I just recreated some vegan chocolate truffles I’ll be posting soon. SO good. But mine are much more sinful than this – I love that these are healthy and so low-cal!
I just found your site recently and it’s awesome! My son is highly dairy allergic, and vegan recipes are perfect for that! I also love that you make yours healthier. Please please please post the peppermint bark recipe next! 🙂 I’m so excited to see how you did it!
Oh ok, if you insist. I’ll hopefully get that one up on Thursday!!
Beautiful recipe, and very cute apron! Dates as the sugar is a great idea, but seriously, it is the same as eating regular sugar, here’s a quote from an article I found:
How Nutritious are Dates?
“An ounce of medjool dates contains 19 grams of sugar and 2 grams of fiber. An ounce of honey provides 23 grams of sugar and 0 grams of fiber. Neither one is a significant source of vitamins or minerals. (Click the links to see the complete nutrition facts.)
Aside from a gram or two of fiber, a bar sweetened with dates is really not that much different from a bar sweetened with honey. Ask yourself this: If the bar were sweetened with honey instead of dates, would it be more sugar than you’d be willing to eat?” http://nutritionovereasy.com/2011/03/sweetened-with-dates-how-healthy-is-it-really/
I think it’s important for people to understand that the ‘Halo effect’ in things deemed healthy due to the lack of added sugar is misleading. You can still enjoy these in moderation, but don’t overdo it. I am sorry if I seem like a downer here, just wanting to clarify for people with either diabetes, or who are simply trying to limit their intake of sugars this holiday season.
I agree and think this is an incredibly important point- esp for those who use the “no added sugar” label as a license to consume a lot more. Less refined sweeteners such as molasses, sucanat, rapadura, honey, and dates are better for you than white sugar because they contain beneficial vitamins and/or minerals (some more than others, it’s true). But they all still contain sugar! The main reason I use them instead of white sugar is because they are waaaay better for the environment. The refining process that produces white sugar takes a lot of energy and chemicals and leads to pollution and unnecessary fossil fuel usage. Artificial sweeteners and stevia actually do not contain sugar (but they can also take a lot of energy to produce, and I don’t like the taste, so I don’t use them!)
Oh no, you’re not being a downer at all! I actually agree with you… I even think white sugar in moderation (for people who don’t have health problems) is fine and no different than agave or honey. That’s why many of my recipes do contain white (or brown) sugar. But I try to offer an alternative now and then because I know a lot of my readers are staying away from refined sugars for whatever reason.
Thanks for the link and for taking the time to write out such a well-informed comment! And next time I will try to clarify in my post– I guess I meant that they’re healthier because they’re whole-grain and even with the dates they have less sweetener than your average chocolate cookie. But definitely, people with health issues (or who want to not consume too much sugar) need to eat accordingly. A treat is still a treat even when it’s healthier than normal.
Mmm these would make great cake pops I’d say! I’m thinking of making these as a gift for my friends and family for Christmas 🙂
Oh my these look delicious! I totally agree about the curls… love the way it looks but when it actually comes down to doing it I get lazy quite often and pull out the flat iron instead as it only takes about 5 mins! I want to try the “sock bun” thing that I keep seeing on pinterest, apparently when you wake up in the morning and take it out you have beautiful curls 🙂
As for the dreams, sometimes I remember them and sometimes I don’t. I’ve thought of keeping a dream diary, but sometimes my dreams are so weird that I don’t think I could write them down!
You look really pretty, and the cookies look totally yum!
I remember my dreams fairly well. Sometimes I’ll forget, and then several days later I will remember. It’s uncanny, because most of my dreams come true, so I get kind of freakish when I remember my dreams! 🙂
amazing Katie!! I love how addicted you are to chocolate – just like me 🙂