Let’s make chocolate crinkle cookies. These traditional Christmas cookies are a cut above the rest because they’re as rich and fudgy as homemade brownies. They’re thick and soft-baked in the centers with a little extra chocolate for good measure!
Today I’m showing off sparkly new photos and success tips for my classic double chocolate crinkle cookies! Originally published a few years ago, these classic Christmas cookies have become a staple in many of your kitchens. Readers have said they’re the “best cookies I’ve ever tasted” and “make a double batch right away.” These cookies disappear.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies:
- Double the chocolate—chocolate chips included!
- Taste like brownies
- Soft centers, crisp crackly edges
- Extra thick
- Warm from the oven, they melt in your mouth
As classic as Christmas sugar cookies, as sugar-dusted as snowball cookies, and as irresistible as peanut butter blossoms and pinwheel cookies, these chocolate crinkles will outshine every other cookie on your Christmas cookie platter. And that’s a guarantee.
Behind the Recipe
These chocolate cookies aren’t anything new or groundbreaking, but that’s why they’re perfect. You might actually recognize the base dough because it’s my go-to chocolate cookie! It’s the chocolate cookie recipe I’ve been using for years in recipes like double chocolate chip cookies, inside out chocolate chip cookies, chocolate frosted cookies, peppermint mocha cookies, and Andes mint chocolate cookies. I even turned it into chocolate raspberry crinkles and let’s not forget about the epicness that is salted caramel dark chocolate cookies.
Some of you were having trouble with these cookies over-spreading as a result of the sugar coating on top, so I leave out the milk in this dough.
How are these different from Chocolate Crinkle Cookies in Sally’s Cookie Addiction? Glad you asked! The recipes are a little different. The cookbook version uses melted butter in the dough, so the cookies are a little chewier. Both super moist cookies with excellent chocolate flavor. The cookies in the book are a little thicker in the centers and crumblier on the edges. Today’s cookies—again—taste like moist brownies!
How to Make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Mix dry ingredients together. You need all-purpose flour, natural unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Beat wet ingredients together. You need butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Room temperature butter and egg will mix more evenly into each other, creating a uniform texture among all the cookies. Additionally, both whip into a greater volume when at room temperature, producing a softer-crumbed cookie.
- Combine all ingredients. And don’t forget to add the chocolate chips! I like to use mini size so there’s more in every bite.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator. The cookie dough is sticky and unmanageable, so chilling is necessary. Sometimes I chill it overnight, but 3 hours is perfect. Chilled cookie dough is not only easy to handle and roll into balls, it also bakes thicker cookies.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. After chilling, roll the cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie.
- Coat in confectioners’ sugar. Roll the cookie dough balls into granulated sugar, then a hefty dunk in confectioners’ sugar. Why granulated sugar first? That’s a new trick I discovered! See below. 🙂
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. If the cookies aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven for a couple more minutes.
They’ll be extra thick, extra crackly, and extra fudgy inside.
Recommendation from a reader: substitute the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. I honestly can’t preheat my oven fast enough to try these that way!
How to Prevent the Powdered Sugar from Melting
Before today, I only rolled these chocolate crinkle cookies in confectioners’ sugar. This works great for lemon crinkle cookies, however these particular crinkle cookies are extra moist so the confectioners’ sugar always ends up melting a bit and/or turns yellow-ish as a result from melting. Not a problem, but if you want stark white confectioners’ sugar on top, coat the cookie dough balls in a little granulated sugar first. Just a light layer, then go heavy on that confectioners’ sugar topping. I learned this tip from the wonderful chefs at America’s Test Kitchen and it’s the same process we use to coat Nutella crinkle cookies.
It’s also helpful to bake these cookies on dry days. Any humidity in the air will soak into the confectioners’ sugar, slightly melting it. Sometimes you can’t avoid humidity, but if you’re wondering why the sugar melts, it could be the weather. Again, go heavy on that confectioners’ sugar layer.
As the cookies bake, the confectioners’ sugar coating crinkles and cracks as the cookies take their shape. Hence, the cute crinkle name. I love these.
How to Freeze Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
You can freeze chocolate crinkle cookies before or after baking. To freeze the baked cookies, let them cool completely first. Freeze in single layers between sheets of parchment paper for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
How to freeze chocolate crinkle cookie dough: Chill the cookie dough as directed in the recipe below. After that, roll into balls, and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Then place the solid and cold cookie dough balls into a large zipped-top bag. Freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months. When it’s time to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer and thaw on the counter for at least 30 minutes. Roll into granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar as instructed in the recipe. Bake as directed.
See more in my How to Freeze Cookie Dough post.
Try these right out of the oven—they’re pure fudge. They will melt in your mouth! Have you tried these before? Let me know!
Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 35 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These traditional Christmas cookies are a cut above the rest because they’re as rich and fudgy as brownies. Chilling the cookie dough is important because it helps the flavors to develop, prevents spreading, and makes the otherwise sticky cookie dough easy to handle.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons (51g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (180g) mini or regular size semi-sweet chocolate chips
Rolling
- 3 Tablespoons (35g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium high speed until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat on high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour into the wet ingredients. Beat on low until combined and then beat in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be thick and very sticky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. This makes the chilled cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Scoop and roll dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each. A medium cookie scoop is helpful here. Roll each ball very lightly in granulated sugar, then generously in the confectioners’ sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls (that are not coated in confectioners’ sugar) freeze well up to 3 months. See this post on how to freeze cookie dough for more information and a video tutorial.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Can I add peppermint extract? Yes, absolutely! If you want a chocolate peppermint crinkle cookie, I recommend adding 3/4 or 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract when you add the vanilla.
- Larger Batch: The recipe is easy to double in 1 mixing bowl without overwhelming your mixer. Simply double all of the ingredients. Dough chill time remains the same.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
You can buy powdered sugar alternatives in most no calorie sweeteners, xylitol,erythitol,stevia,etc…they also work in the cookie if you follow the substitution swap in the cookie recipe. But in saying that, the results will never be the same as the original recipe which is outstanding!
It was fun to make this holiday classic. Really had to layer on the powdered sugar to make it look close to the picture here, we live near the coast and I’m sure the humidity didn’t help. But it totally worked – and these cookies are addictive! Using higher quality cocoa powder made them even more delicious.
Hi Sally!
This past holiday season, I made a variety of cookies for my daughter to bring to work for all the nurses that work for her at the hospital. Of all the treats she brought to work, she received amazing feedback on these Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies…people LOVED them! So, I was thinking about making a version for Valentine’s Day, but wanted to color them appropriately. I was thinking about incorporating ruby chocolate in place of the chocolate chips. I can buy the ruby chocolate bars and melt them down, however, the cocoa in your recipe will turn the cookies brown. Any ideas or suggestions on what I could do to get that flavor without the cocoa powder? Thanks.
Hi Jay, so happy these were a hit! What a sweet idea. It would take some recipe testing to remove or replace the cocoa powder from this recipe. Instead, you can mimic the look of a crinkle cookie by rolling these Red Velvet Kiss Cookies in powdered sugar instead of granulated (you can leave off the kiss). Would love to hear how they go!
Excellent recipe and directions. The cookies were delicious and a big hit!
I have tried various other recipes and been disappointed.
I will use this recipe again.
Thanks!
I made these cookies and followed the recipe closely; I used the large chocolate chips and they worked fine. They were excellent….haven’t dried out yet, 3 days in. Friends who are cookie lovers tried them and said they were great! I did shake the pan on the counter as suggested. I would not bake them any longer than 11 minutes and I think 10 minutes is okay since they sit a bit on the cookie sheet. I added my own twist by placing a peppermint white chocolate kiss on top of each after they had been out of the oven for about 3 minutes. I like the combination of peppermint and chocolate!
Just an FYI, this recipe worked perfectly with a GF flour blend…used a rice flour-based one from Walmart’s brand. Followed the recipe exactly (chilled overnight) except subbed the GF flour 1-for-1.
I made these at Christmas and they were great!
One of the sons liked them so much he requested a birthday cake cookie. So that is what I made.
It came out well after putting loose cookies into the cast iron frying pan, then baking. The only change that I would make is to pack them in tighter and press them together before baking.
Hi, is there a way I could use unsweetened chocolate chips instead of the powder? I got them on accident and I am trying to use them up
Hi Hannah, you really need cocoa powder in the base of the dough. I’m sure you could use the chips as the add-in to replace the semi-sweet chocolate chips, though.
Seriously these cookies are out of this world! 100/100, A+ incredible stuff. Thanks Sally for always giving us the best.
These were a HUGE hit this Christmas! Ooey, gooey and then crunchy, all in the right places. I used a “fine Bakers sugar” to roll in just prior to the powdered sugar, and it gave the dough that ‘light dusting” without the larger granules of plain granulated sugar. Thanks for that tip! It really made a difference. Several days later and no yellow-ish tint in sight!
This recipe makes a really lovely double chocolate cookie, but it does not work well for chocolate crinkle cookies. Even after rolling the dough in caster sugar first and then powdered sugar, it still turned yellowish and just didn’t look nice. The chocolate crinkle cookie recipe I reverted back to after these didn’t work out uses vegetable oil instead of butter and the powdered sugar stays nice and white after baking.
These are better than the classic version!
I don’t usually leave comments on recipes, but I just had to for these cookies! I doubled this recipe for Christmas and I was a little concerned because the batter was suuuuuper thick. I let the batter chill in the fridge for 24 hours. The cookies turned out amazing!! The crackle was perfect and they melt in your mouth when they’re warm out of the over. I’m ruining everyone’s diet this Christmas!
Sadly I found these went stale very quickly. I stored them in a ziplock freezer bag and after 3 days on the counter they were hockey pucks. Great out of the oven but didn’t work for me. My first failure with one of your recipes.
Hi, can u reduce the sugar? Will it affect the crinkles?
Would you recommend adding chopped walnuts or no?
Chocolate crinkles have been my favorite Christmas cookie since I was a little girl. They’re fudgy + chocolatey – so yum! But I’ve tried several recipes through the years, including my mother’s own, and they just keep coming up short. I tried these today and they are the dream! I have finally found what I’ve been looking for! I was suspicious that the chocolate chips were for compensating for a dry cookie but that’s totally not the case. You can bake them without and they would still be perfect.
Do you have a suggestion for making these peppermint chocolate crinkles? If I ground up peppermints in a food processor, how much of the sugar would I replace with the mints?
Hi Lydia, We love adding peppermint! I recommend adding 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (not mint extract) in addition to the vanila. You might also enjoy this recipe!
SNOW my gosh Sally!!! These are SO delicious. What the holly!!! You did an amazing job. I would make these for any party, any day! My fam L<3ves them!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
Do you have any high altitude modifications?
Hi Andy, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. We know some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Hi Andy,
I live at 6600 FT and I made these per the recipe weighing the ingredients and they turned out perfect with not modifications. There was the note about adding optional 2 TBSP of Milk I did NOT add the milk.
These are delicious! I had never made chocolate crinkle cookies before. I didn’t follow the instructions 100% so my cookies don’t look like the ones in the photo, but they taste awesome. I was worried they might not taste very chocolatey because they are made with cocoa instead of chocolate, but not so! I love them. Thank you!
These turned out delicious! The batter was a little hard after it was chilled, but they still baked beautifully. My family loved them!
OMG! These are the BOMB! Best chocolate crinkles ever. I followed the recipe to the “T” and they came out perfect. Thank goodness I didn’t double the batch 😉
I should have made a double batch! So good warm just out of the oven but also still really yummy the next day. This will be our go to recipe from now on!
How long do these last at room temp in an air tight container? Recipe came out perfect and to the T! Love it!
I’ve been making these at Christmas, along with a few other cookie flavors and these are always one of the favorites. Everyone loves them! I don’t get the bad reviews. I think they just didn’t make them right. My dough is never dry. Excellent cookies!
Outstanding! Family raved about these cookies! Truly the best Chocolate Crinkle Cookie I have ever eaten — and I made it! Made a double batch with no problems. Used Ghirardelli Cocoa and Semi-Sweet Chips. Rich, decadent chocolate flavor with a nice crust and chewy middle. Granulated sugar pre-roll was a great tip. Definitely saving this recipe. Thanks for developing and posting!
My family has been making crinkles for as long as I can remember. I decided to try a new recipe and this was the one I picked out. I’ll be using this recipe from now on, they were SO good!
Wow these are amazing! Saving this recipe! I know I’m going to make these again and again.
Tip: Do not skip the suggestion to make two batches to start.
We love these cookies!! So chocolatey and yummy!