Chocolate Crinkle Cookies have a rich and fudgy center with a crisp powdered sugar outer layer. Crinkle Cookies are just as important as Sugar Cookies on your holiday cookie tray.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
You know I love easy desserts with simple ingredients. These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are no exception.
Why these are the Best Crinkle Cookies:
- Simple Ingredients: Made with just a handful of kitchen staples you probably already have on hand.
- Fast: these cookies can be whipped up quickly and you can chill them ahead.
- Fudgy & Crisp: The centers are soft and gooey with crisp edges.
- Keep Well: most cookies are best eaten fresh but these seem to get better with time.
These cookies are perfect for gifting and they are so good, you’ll want to make a double batch!
What is a Chocolate Crinkle Cookie?
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are like a cross between gooey Fudgy Brownies and crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are rolled in powdered sugar before baking so they form “crinkles” as they expand in the oven.
The best part? Just like a good homemade Baklava, these cookies get better as they get a little stale. The outer layer just gets crunchier, while the center stays so gooey. Let’s just say you’ll find yourself hanging around your cookie jar for several days.
How to Make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are a blast to make. If you have kids around, they can help make these cookies. They will love rolling the chocolatey dough into bite-sized balls and coating them with a generous amount of powdered sugar, similar to Russian Tea Cakes.
- Whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla extract, and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add flour mixture to the cocoa mixture. Mix well.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3 hours and up to overnight.
To Finish and Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Shape cookie dough into balls (a cookie scoop makes it easy to portion) and roll into powdered sugar.
- Place cookies on a baking sheet, leaving space between each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Cookies will come out soft but will harden as they cool down.
- Once cookies are slightly cooled, move them to a wire rack to fully cool down.
Common Questions
There are two reasons why your Chocolate Crinkle Cookies came out flat. Either the dough wasn’t chilled or you didn’t use enough flour. Make sure to properly measure flour by scooping it into your measuring cup and leveling off the top.
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. Fast forward to today and these cookies are gracing just about every holiday tray each year.
You’ll know when Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are done when they start to develop those signature cracks on top. Typically, this takes anywhere from 10-12 minutes depending on their size.
The dough for crinkle cookies should be very moist. Be sure to measure flour correctly, and it helps to roll the moist dough with wet hands.
Storing Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- 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 for 30 minutes in the fridge before rolling them in powdered sugar. Bake according to instructions.
Make-Ahead Tip: You can make the dough a day or two in advance. Keep it refrigerated and only bake right before serving.
Cookies Recipes You’ll Love
- Peanut Butter Cookies – These nutty cookies always hit the spot
- Snowball Cookies – Melt-in-your-mouth delicious
- Meringue Cookies – easy and so festive dusted in powdered sugar
- Madeleine Cookies – Just as good as Starbucks Madeleine cookies
- Macaroon Cookies – The mother of all coconut cookies
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (unsweetened)
- 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 confectioners sugar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla extract and eggs. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour together, 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.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Scoop dough with a mini ice cream 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.
- 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 as they cool down.
- Allow cookies to slightly cool. Then, move them to a wire rack to fully cool down.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
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 made a double batch and put half normal cocoa powder and then a really good quality one. And you have to chill then for 5hrs at least. They are so freaking sticky. To avoid making a huge mess like I did, put the cookie dough in the fridge in the same container you made it is. Once it’s all combined, it’s too sticky to transfer to another container!
But holy heck are they delicious. Like 2 to 3 days later, they keep getting better. Some sort of cookie magic. Yum! New fav holiday cookie recipe!!! These are devine!
Hi Kat! Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad you loved the cookies.
Cookies turned out okay, but I found the recipe really frustrating to follow. A mini ice cream scoop is not a useful measurement, as it’s not a consistent amount and not everyone has one. Because I had to guess at how big each cookie should be and didn’t know if they were the intended size, I was uncertain of the baking time. This would’ve been fine if the recipe told you what to look for to know when they’re done, but it doesn’t. I had to look at another recipe to learn the doneness indicator.
I think I’ll try a different recipe next time, as these were somehow not quite what I want from a crinkle cookie.
Hi Ciara! Sorry to hear that. In step 5 in the instructions, I linked the exact cookie scoop I used (click on the red font). Also, see my notes above under common questions for “How do you know when Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are done.”
So simple and good. They are like mini brownies. I didn’t use a scoop and just eyeballed it, the dough was very easy to work with.
I’m so happy you loved the recipe!
It came out perfect just as in the picture and taste so yummy! Our kids love it😍.Thank you Natasha for this yummy recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Jeena!
Hi! I’ve been making these cookies for about 3 years & they are a Christmas staple now. But this year went completely wrong! My powdered sugar started burning only after 5 minutes in 350°f oven. The oven temp was not malfunctioning because I had just made a whole batch of sugar cookies just before. I ruined 2 pans of crinkles because of this and have no idea why. I had some dough left over and baked that with no issues (no powdered sugar) Any ideas to why the powdered sugar burnt so quickly??
Hi Monica! I’m sorry, that is a pain. The thing that comes to mind is the oven temperature being too high causing it to burn. Do you use an internal oven thermometer? If not, I highly recommend it.
These are perfect cookies if you follow all the steps carefully. Ours were wonderful. We made sure our oven was hot and ready before rolling out the cookies to minimize the time out of the fridge to oven. We subbed bobs redmill 1:1 gluten free flour and it worked seamlessly. We also played around with crushing some candy cane to top them off. Chef kiss.
That’s wonderful, Jeff! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for sharing your experiment.
I tried these for Christmas cookie gifts. I couldn’t help myself, I made a small portion “normal” with cookie scoop… then rolled some with cling wrap and used Mickey Mouse cookie cutter. Turned out so cute and yummy to boot🤗
Hi Ashley! They sound adorable. I’m so glad you loved this recipe.
I thought I should warn folks who think these are going to taste like the Chocolate Crinkles that our moms always made from the tried-and-true Betty Crocker recipe. They won’t. I didn’t feel like running to the store for unsweetened chocolate so I found this recipe on the internet. Cocoa powder simply isn’t the same. The problem some of these commenters had with the amount of oil you give is easy to figure out when you realize the Betty Crocker recipe is utilizing the oil from the chocolate. Her recipe calls for half the amount of oil.
And, yes, the appearance is definitely different. They’re bound to flatten out with all that oil. And the powdered sugar sinks in very noticebly.
But my biggest problem is the taste. They’re not even close to what my family is expecting on the cookie tray tomorrow night.
Chocolate is chocolate. Cocoa powder is a whole other thing.
Hi Bonnie, I re-made these today for our Christmas cookie platter and following a reader suggestion, I updated this recipe to 1/4 cup extra light olive oil. Using less oil did result in a dough that was easier to work with. As far as the chocolate goes, these are like an airy brownie in texture and flavor – they are very chocolatey. We haven’t had any concerns about the flavor on these. Make sure to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder and not sweetened cocoa.
These cookies are my daughter’s childhood favorite. We use to buy them from The Cookie Tree in Marysville, California. We moved 2000 miles away 22 years ago. She talks about them every year at Christmas time. I had never made them. They came out so perfectly delicious. In addition they were easy to make. I can’t wait to surprise her with them on Christmas Eve. Thank you so much.
Deb.
Hi Deb! That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for trying my recipe.
I was looking at this recipe to recreate Cookie Tree cookies as well! I grew up in Yuba City and have fond memories of their cookies.
Tasty but mine turned out more like brownie brittle than puffy crinkle cookies. They flattened out to be very thin cookies and all the powdered sugar was absorbed. I used a knife for leveling the flour so had the proper amount and I chilled the dough for 24 hours. Baked second tray for only 8 minutes and they still came out super flat with all the powdered sugar absorbed.
Hi Kary, I recommend reading this portion in the recipe “Why are my Chocolate Crinkle Cookies flat?” for some tips.
I love this recipe. Would change cocoa to dark chocolate cocoa; also sugar, half sugar Needs to be brown sugar. Bang the tray on the counter right after coming out oven.;) they worth the works.
Thanks for sharing that with us!
The oil amount is incorrect in this recipe. I made this twice, once as written and once with 1/4 C oil (based on reviews). The 1/4 C oil worked much better. This is NOT an issue with incorrectly measuring the flour; it is an error in the recipe. When using 1/2 C oil, I even tried to roll dough in sugar before the powdered sugar and that didn’t help. Powdered sugar got absorbed and cookies were greasy. Using 1/4 C oil resulted in picture-perfect and very tasty cookies.
HI Jen, I think you are right. The recipe still works with 1/2 cup but I retested them today with 1/4 cup and they were even easier to work with and still super soft and fudgy.
There is a recipe exactly like this but doubled except for the oil. It has 1/2 cup like yours. I think it should be 1/4 cup to make half of the full recipe. It was very oily and very sloppy to work dough.
Hi,
These cookies look so good! Could I by chance make them with melted butter? I do not have a mild oil on hand. Would it become less moist?
Hi Holly! I have not tested these cookies with butter to advise.
I lost my recipe and thought this was pretty close. I realized too late that this has more oil and a longer baking time. First sheet of cookies came out dry and brittle after 10 minutes. Second sheet of cookies were softer and chewier, which are my preference, but they still spread considerably and the confectioners sugar completely absorbed into the cookies. I recommend reducing the oil to 1/4 cup and baking time to 8 minutes.
Hi Maria! I have not had that experience with this recipe. It sounds like you could have used too much flour if they were dry. Make sure to properly measure flour by scooping it into your measuring cup and leveling off the top. I will attach my tutorial on how to measure ingredients HERE. The cookie dough is moist so it will absorb some of the powdered sugar. Be generous when rolling the dough balls into the powered sugar. It may also help to roll them once through granulated sugar and then powdered sugar.
These were very good but I had the same problem others did with the sugar melting in. I used more sugar and was careful to keep them very cold and they turned out well and everyone loved them. I made a second batch with half the amount of oil and they were WAY better. They rose better and the sugar didn’t melt in. Both ways produced a delicious cookie but with 1/2 cup of oil required me to get them into the oven fast and double roll in powdered sugar.
Hi Janine! Thank you for the wonderful feedback and for sharing your experience. You could also try to roll them through granulated sugar first and then powdered sugar.
Great Recipe! Mine are flat and the powdered sugar dissolved on most. . .pointers for next time? They are still delicious! and I chilled overnight if helpful.
Hi Jamie! The 2 most common reasons for flat cookies are either not using enough flour or not chilling the dough long enough. This is how I measure my flour HERE. The dough is wet so be very generous when rolling them in powdered sugar because some of the sugar will dissolve. It may help to roll them in granulated sugar first and then powdered sugar.
Chilled my dough overnight, weighed my flour and used new baking powder, and they STILL turned out flat as pancakes. Where did I go wrong?
Hi Eli. Either the dough wasn’t chilled or you didn’t use enough flour. Those are the two most common reasons.
I just got done making the batter, and it’s in the refrigerator now. I did add one cup of flour a little at a time to a cup measure before leveling off. The batter is not runny but sort of a thickish blob. It’s definitely not thick enough to hold a shape at this point. Wondering? does the batter thicken up more as it sits in the refrigerator?
Hi! This dough can be tricky. But if its too soft, it could be that there is not enough flour. As you can see in the images above, it is very soft and sticky but holds its shape and will thicken slightly when chilled. Watch my tutorial on how to measure flour HERE.
These are delicious and so pretty! I refrigerated them overnight and they were super easy to roll into balls for baking. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Kat!