Learn how to make the best chocolate crinkle cookies with this easy recipe. Scoops of this chocolate brownie cookie dough are rolled in granulated and icing sugar before baking so that the surface cracks perfectly as they bake in the oven, creating decadent chocolate cookies with a cracked finish.
These crinkle cookies are super chocolaty and not too sweet, even with all that powdered sugar. The texture is amazing, fudge-y but light, and the chopped walnuts add a little bit of a soft crunch to them (just like for brownies).
These cookies are easy to make and you can make the dough a few days ahead of time before rolling and baking them.
Jump to:
What You Need to Make Chocolate Crackle Cookies
- butter—I bake with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, please adjust the amount of salt to avoid the cookies being too salty
- sugars—you will need both granulated sugar and icing sugar (also called powdered sugar)
- eggs—I bake with large eggs. Avoid using smaller or larger eggs as this may affect the texture and spread of the cookies
- salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, please add half the amount or the cookies may be too salty
- flour—I used bleached all-purpose flour though unbleached will work fine
- cocoa powder—I always bake with Dutch-processed cocoa powder. For this recipe, I used Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa powder, which has a reddish tint
- chocolate—use a dark chocolate that is not too sweet and with a high percent of cocoa solids (around 70 %). Do not use chocolate chips as they don't melt well and they may make the cookies too sweet
- leavening—the leavening is crucial in this recipe and you will need baking powder. The cracking effect of these cookies comes from the surface drying as they bake before the leavening starts to act.
- nuts—I love brownies with walnuts and so added chopped walnuts to the chocolate cookie dough. Do not skip the nuts because the cookies may spread more without them.
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Sugars—you can roll the scoops of cookie dough in granulated sugar, then icing sugar, or you can skip the granulated sugar and simply roll in powdered sugar. The crinkle cookies rolled in both granulated and icing sugar have a more consistent look and they are more stable upon storage. The surface of crackle cookies rolled in straight icing sugar may absorb or dissolve the icing sugar in places, creating an uneven and less attractive finish
- Nuts—I love to add walnuts to brownies and so these crinkle cookies are made with chopped toasted walnuts. You can replace them with chopped almonds or pistachios. Note that if you want to omit the nuts, the cookies may spread more.
- Cocoa powder—please use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a higher pH than "natural" cocoa. If you use natural cocoa powder, this will affect the leavening, causing the baking powder to react prematurely, which may affect the spread and rise of the cookies when they bake.
How to Make Perfect Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Step 1—Start by melting the dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water (image 1) until smooth and glossy (image 2). While the chocolate melts you can chop the walnuts fairly finely (image 3) and sift the dry ingredients together (image 4) so that they are well mixed. Set all these ingredients aside for later.
Step 2—In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar (image 5) and mix until light and fluffy before adding the eggs and vanilla (image 6), then add the cooled melted chocolate (image 7).
Note: the cookie dough may seem curdled after the eggs go in (especially if you kitchen is cool (or too hot!) but once you add the melted chocolate the cookie dough will become smooth and glossy (image 8).
Step 3—Mix the cookie dough well after incorporating the melted chocolate to ensure all the ingredients are evenly mixed (image 8). Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl too! Then alternate adding the dry ingredients (image 9) and the milk (image 10), beginning and ending with dry ingredients, then add the chopped walnuts (image 11).
Step 4—Mix the dough until evenly mixed but it will be quite soft and sticky (image 12). Transfer the chocolate cookie dough to a bowl or container to chill for at least 1 hour (or overnight) (image 13).
Step 5—Scoop all the chilled cookie dough using a ¾ ounce disher (image 14). Roll the scoops between the palms of your hand until smooth (image 15) Then coat each scoop in granulated sugar (image 16) before coating with a thick layer of icing sugar (image 17).
Step 6— Place approximately 8 sugar-coated chocolate crinkle cookies on a half-sheet pan, spacing them out (image 18) and bake until cracked and set on the outside (image 19).
Tips for Perfect Crinkle Cookies
To achieve the perfect crackle finish where the icing sugar is cracked, you need to make sure to really coat the scoops of cookie dough thickly with powdered sugar. But even then, the icing sugar coating gets absorbed on the surface of the cookie, leading to an uneven and not very attractive looking effect.
If you find your powdery white finish on the outside isn't looking great, next time, you can roll the balls of cookie dough in granulated sugar first before coating them in icing sugar (powdered sugar). The granulated sugar will help absorb the moisture on the surface of the cookies, drying them out and helping the cookies crack in the oven when they are baked.
Make sure to coat the cookies generously in a lot of powdered sugar so that they are well covered in a thick layer of icing sugar.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie FAQs
If you find your cookies don't crack properly, try rolling the balls of cookie dough in granulated sugar before completely coating them in icing sugar. Granulated sugar is hygroscopic and will draw moisture out of the surface of the cookie dough, essentially creating a dry layer under the powdered sugar coating that is more prone to cracking.
Like with most recipes, if these cookies spread too much in the oven, it could mean that your cookie dough was too warm. Make sure you chill the dough well, especially which this recipe which yields a very soft dough. The cold dough will take longer to spread in the oven, so hopefully it will dry out and crack before it has a chance to spread much.
Another option could be that you incorporated too much air in the cookie dough in the first steps of the creaming method. With cake batters, you really want to incorporate a lot of air when mixing the butter, sugar, and eggs, to make a lighter, more fluffy cake. With cookies, you don't want to do this. Mix the ingredients well so that they are fully incorporate but don't mix for so long that you've incorporated a ton of air.
This recipe calls for a semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, roughly 70% cocoa content is perfect here. You don't want to use milk chocolate which has more fat and more sugar. That will most likely cause the cookies to spread. Remember to use the best dark chocolate for baking because it is providing both flavour, structure, and texture to the recipe.
I like to bake with Cacao Barry Ocoa 70% dark chocolate, which is a professional quality dark chocolate that you can buy in IGA grocery stores in Quebec and online from Vanilla Food Company. It comes in 1 kilo resealable bags as pistoles (which resemble giant flattened chocolate chips) which make most baking projects super easy because you don’t even have to chop it to melt it! Ocoa is not overly sweet which means you aren’t adding too much extra sugar when you bake with it. Ocoa has a deeper, bittersweet chocolate flavour that works well in baked goods.
Other Crinkle Cookie Recipes
If you like crinkle cookies, be sure to check out these lemon ricotta cookies and these chewy molasses cookies (not technically a crinkle cookie but they crack perfectly as they cool). These chocolate sugar cookies also have a lovely cracked finish to them and don't involve the thick powdered sugar coating.
If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate crinkle cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Ingredients
- 220 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) roughly chopped
- 160 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 45 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
- 10 mL baking powder
- 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 200 grams light brown sugar
- 2 large egg(s) room temperature
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
- 80 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) room temperature
- 80 grams chopped walnuts
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 125 grams icing sugar you might need more depending on how thick you coat the cookies before baking
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a double-boiler. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside for later.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the brown sugar until the mixture has lightened slightly.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla, and beat the mixture again. Now add the melted chocolate, mixing well.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour, alternating with the milk. When all the ingredients are well blended, add the walnuts.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the cookie dough for a couple of hours, if not overnight.
- Form the dough into 1 inch balls, and refrigerate the dough again so that it is nice and firm.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the balls of cookie dough in granulated sugar, then complely coat in powdered sugar. Press the scoops in the icing sugar to generously coat them. Place them on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart (8 cookies per half sheet pan).
- Bake the cookies for 11–13 minutes, or until the cookies have crackled on top (and not just on the sides).
- Let cool a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the cookies to a rack.
Notes
- Dark chocolate—I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate. Please use a chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa that is not too sweet
- Nuts—I love to add walnuts to brownies and so these crinkle cookies are made with chopped toasted walnuts. You can replace them with chopped almonds or pistachios. Note that if you want to omit the nuts, the cookies may spread more.
- Cocoa powder—please use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a higher pH than "natural" cocoa. If you use natural cocoa powder, this will affect the leavening, causing the baking powder to react prematurely, which may affect the spread and rise of the cookies when they bake.
- Make sure to roll the balls of cookie dough in granulated sugar first before coating them in icing sugar (powdered sugar). The granulated sugar will help absorb the moisture on the surface of the cookies, drying them out and helping the cookies crack in the oven when they are baked.
Nutrition
rara-mi says
i've just finished making these and they are amazing