Chocolate Crinkle Cookies have a rich, fudgy center with a crisp powdered-sugar coating. They taste like hot chocolate in cookie form and disappear faster than I can plate them. These cookies are perfect any time of the year, but look especially festive served on a holiday cookie platter.
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Helpful Reader Review
“I tried these cookies 5 years ago, and they’re still one of my favorites! Thank you, Natasha, for such masterpiece recipes! I love your blog! 😍😘” – Dina ★★★★★
Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
You know I love easy desserts with simple ingredients. This Chocolate Crinkle Cookies recipe is no exception, since there aren’t any fancy ingredients or techniques here. Mix, refrigerate, and scoop–done!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are like a cross between fudgy Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies that are rolled in powdered sugar to form “crinkles” as they expand in the oven. Crinkle cookies are perfect for gifting, since they get better the next day, and they are so good, you’ll want to make a double batch!
Did You Know?
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies first premiered in Betty Crocker’s famous cookie cookbook, “Cooky Carnival”. Crocker recounts being served the cookies by home chef Helen Fredell and begging her for the recipe.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Ingredients
Check your pantry and fridge for all you need to make my delicious chocolate crinkle cookies. Be sure to measure correctly so the cookies expand and rise correctly.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – fluff the powder with a fork, then spoon it into the measuring cup to be sure you have the right amount of cocoa.
- Wet Ingredients – sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and Vanilla Extract
- Dry ingredients – Flour, baking powder, and salt
- Confectioner’s sugar – for rolling the dough and creating crinkles. For a more festive look, try swapping with holiday sprinkles (Halloween-themed sprinkles look great, too!) or colored sugar.
How to Make Crinkle Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are a blast to make because rolling the chocolatey dough and coating it in powdered sugar is good, messy fun, similar to making Russian Tea Cakes.
- Whisk the sugar, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla extract, and eggs together in a bowl.
- Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a separate mixing bowl. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3 hours or up to overnight. This is essential for making a rollable and rising dough.
- Roll – Preheat the oven to 350°F. Shape cookie dough into balls (a cookie scoop makes it easy to portion) and roll in powdered sugar (wet hands make it easier to handle).
- Bake – Space the cookies on a lined baking sheet, and then bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool on the sheet. Once cookies are slightly cooled, move them to a wire rack to fully cool down.
Pro Tip:
Chocolate crinkle cookies come out of the oven soft, but the outside hardens as they cool. In fact, they continue to get crispy as they sit, but the inside stays fudgey.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are just as important as Sugar Cookies and Gingerbread Cookies on your holiday cookie tray, so place them next to my Christmas Snowball Cookies and Homemade Baklava for a decadent, well-rounded dessert table!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil, (or canola, or light olive oil)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- Whisk – In a mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla extract, and eggs. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.
- Mix – In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the cocoa mixture and stir to combine.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to overnight.*
- Roll – Preheat the oven to 350°F. Scoop dough with a cookie scoop for even portioning into 20 cookies, then roll cookie dough into even-sized balls (it's easier to roll with wet hands) and generously roll each into powdered sugar.
- Bake – Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, being sure to leave space between each of the cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Cookies will come out soft but will harden on the outside as they cool down. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to fully cool.
Notes
- Room Temperature: Keep your Chocolate Crinkle Cookies stored in an airtight container on the counter. They should stay fresh for up to a week.
- Freezing: Freeze your dough balls for up to 2 months in an airtight container. When you are ready to bake, remove them from the freezer and allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling them in powdered sugar, or bake from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes to the bake time.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Cookies Recipes You’ll Love
Cookie recipes, like my chocolate crinkle cookies, are so fun to make and share, so once you try this recipe, check out these other sweet treats:
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Meringue Cookies
- Madeleine Cookies
- Macaroon Cookies
- Toffee Recipe
- Cranberry Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Palmiers Cookies
- Rugelach
- Biscotti
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
I just made these for the first time, they turned out great! The dough is sticky so I used nitrile gloves to roll the dough. I need to make more now because they are disappearing quickly.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies ki recipe bahut hi simple aur tempting lag rahi hai! Perfect holiday treat ke liye isse zarur try karenge. Thanks for sharing! 🍪😊
I hope you try and love it! (I translated the original message using Google Translate – The recipe for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies looks very simple and tempting! Must try these for the perfect holiday treat. Thanks for sharing!)
These cookies are absolutely amazing! Have to make another batch as they will not make it to Christmas! This will be added to my Christmas baking list from now on, thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi there, I made these again this year they are delicious. I put the dough in the refrigerator overnight as usual. Why are they so gooie and difficult to roll I have a mess on my hands. I use a small scoop and difficult with that also. Anybody else have a problem rolling without sticking on your hands.
I had an issue with that as well the first time I made them, so I tried wearing gloves and putting a bit of oil on them. It was way easier after that.
Amasing cookies. They are crunchy on the outside and deliciously gooey on the inside.
Always love making these cookies with our grandchildren this is an excellent recipe always turns out great i do substitute the eggs for applesauce or sometimes the egg replacer.
That’s great to know! thank you for sharing!
Your recipe instructions do not include butter…..so i will assume it’s beaten with the sugar/cocoa powder prior to adding the eggs
Hi Mary! See step 1 in the recipe card for instructions on this (we use oil).
The cookies turned out as they should. However, I suggest lightly spraying cooking spray before baking. I did not, and my cookies were falling apart as I removed them from the cookie sheet due to sticking to the pan.
Hi Robin! Sorry to hear that. Did you use a non-stick pan? Uncoated or darker pans tend to stick more compared to lighter and nonstick pans.
Cookies looked and tasted great! I’ve made these before using a cake mix, which were also good, but decided to try with the cocoa for a healthier alternative (cake mix has hazardous additives). This will be my go to from now on. Thanks for sharing!
Do you think I could butter instead of oil
I imagine that would be fine. Hope you love the cookies!
I read somewhere else that butter works, but when the water portion of the butter evaporates the cookies tend to be a little flatter and the powdered sugar melts into the cookie instead of staying a nice white crackle. Just an fyi!
I followed this recipe exactly with the addition of peppermint extract because it’s the holidays. This was my first try at crinkle cookies and they came out so good! They look just like Natasha’s, which I can’t believe. They’re delicious and unbelievably light and airy and soft on the inside. I’m so excited I got it right!! Thank you Natasha
That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for the lovely feedback. So happy you tried the recipe.
First time baking chocolate crinkle cookies. Love the way they came out. Thank you for sharing all these amazing recipes!❤️
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Cynthia!
These are the best chocolate crinkle cookies I’ve ever made and I am an experienced baker! The oil really gives a brownie texture inside!
Hi Tia! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the feedback.
Hello,
Made these, they are delicious. Was wondering if I can use this recipe for vanilla cookies? Would I need to add the same amount of extra flour instead of the cocoa powder? THank you 😊
Hi Angela, I imagine with a few adjustments that will be possible, but without trying it myself and baking being such a science, I can’t say that increasing flour alone will make for a delicious cookie. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
So we love your recipe and make it every year.. this year we want to double the batch and make one normal and one with peppermint extract. Do you think I should omit the vanilla in the peppermint batch or just add it in addition?
Hi Danielle! That sounds delish! I think you could just add peppermint extract to this recipe. It doesn’t take a lot since it tends to be a stronger extract so I would start with a little and add more as needed.
I tried these cookies last Christmas and when baked them they spread out into one big cookie. Don’t know what happened.
Hi Joanne, I wonder if anything was substituted in the process or if any ingredients were substituted? They should not spread out like that. I wish I could be more helpful, but its hard to say without being there.
Joanne could possibly be accidentally using baking soda instead of baking powder. I’ve done that before with other cookies, and without powder cookies tend to be flat.
I have extra large eggs, would that matter for the recipe?
Hi Beth! Yes, it can make a bit of a difference in the consistency, the cookies could be more runny. A large egg weighs about 50-60g with the shell. You may want to weigh the eggs for the recipe.
my 7 yr old granddaughter just loves to help me bake these delicious cookies she scoops them out with the mini ice cream scoop and we roll them into balls and she smothers them in a bowl of confectioner sugar….they are so easy to make and everybody loves them
Thank you so much for the recipe
My BFF’s 98 year old mother loved these.. I would make a double batch and freeze the balls. Pull out 6 or so and bake them up for her. She loved to have them as a chocolate treat with her coffee. Sadly she passed away a month ago… I just discovered I had a dozen in the freezer. Will have my friend and her hubby over for dinner.. chocolate crinkles for dessert!
These are absolutely delicious and sooo addictive. Thank you so much for a beautiful recipe. My intention was to gift them but they were so delicious we ate them lol. So I’ll attempt another batch to hopefully gift. Love