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. 
Can you freeze baked cookies? Thank you for responding. I don’t need them for another 5 days.
You can store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can freeze them but the powdered sugar coating will not be as visible and they won’t be as crunchy on the outside.
It’s best to freeze the dough and then bake them.
OMG,,,These are so easy to make and so little ingredients,,,wonder how they would be with pieces of walnuts,,,will for sure make again.
Just thought I had to leave a review here as I’ve made these so many times and people that try it, loved it. I live in the UK and most people here don’t know what “crinkles” is and they love it so much 😊😊. Thanks to your recipe; the only crinkles recipe I follow and will keep making it til every Brit here tried it 😅😅. Thanks very much, Natasha. Love your videos and your recipes.
Oh wow! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Haydee! I’m so glad these are a hit!
This is the perfect crinkle cookie recipe! I tried a couple different ones before finding this one, but they all turned out too rich. This recipe has the perfect flavor and texture.
Thank you so much, Maria. We’re so glad that you loved our recipe a lot!
These are delicious. I make them all the time and everyone loves them
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Linda!
The recipe is very easy to follow and I enjoyed making the cookies. They are delicious although a bit too sweet for me. Next time I’m making them, I will add slightly less sugar. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Diana! You’re welcome. So glad you enjoy the recipe!
hey natasha is it okay if I add Nesquik chocolate powder and i add less sugar instead of coco powder
Hi Anna, I haven’t tested that to advise on the outcome. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Would the dough be okay if i did not keep it in the fridge for as long as three hours?
Hi Paiton! The dough needs to be chilled and cold enough or the cookies will go flat.
Can you freeze the cookie
They look and taste great! Ty for recipe
Hi Anita! See my recipe notes above for freezing the dough. I’m glad you love the recipe.
There’s something off with the metric conversions. It calls for 112 g of oil, but that seems to be way too much. The dough was so oily that the powdered sugar got dissolved by the oil when the cookies were in the oven. It also results in a bit of an oily aftertaste.
The cookies are fine. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. If I were to bake them again, I’d add a bit more salt to up the flavour of the cocoa and cut the oil in half.
Oh my goodness you are right! The metric conversion was off. I’m so sorry about that. I fixed it. It was displaying 112 g of oil when it should have been about 55 grams of oil. A while back we corrected the oil measurement on this recipe and the correction didn’t carry over to the metric measurements. I sincerely apologize for that. I hope you give the cookies another try and thank you so much for letting me know so I can make the correction.
i love your recipe so much. its just that they have to sit in the fridge for 3 hours. thankyou
The dough needs to be chilled and cold enough or the cookies will go flat but it will be worth the wait.
Have just made these cookies for the first time. And I have to say I am super pleased with them. They are firm on the outside with a nicely moist brownie middle. Better to make them small than medium sized. And, happy to find a recipe for them with oil instead of butter. Thanks for a great recipe Natasha! ✨
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Beverly!
I’ve tried this recipe many times and my family and I have always enjoyed it! I plan on making it today and would like to try and add a few chocolate chips to the batter, would that affect the way they bake at all?
Hi Lainey, I bet it will be delicious with chocolate chips too. We’d love to know how it goes if you try it!
Some of my favorite cookies ever!! I got a lot of compliments when I made them!
Hi Moriah! That’s wonderful to hear. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
The cookies were excellent.
Easy to follow recipe.
I’m saving this recipe for another time.
Great to hear that you enjoyed the cookies!
Hi!
I’m anxious to make these. Should I sift the flour first?
Hi Marsha! Here is my tutorial on how I measure my flour. Sifting is not necessary, but you could if you’d like to.
Hi Natasha, the only bad thing about these cookies were that my husband ate most of them before the sun rose. I made 21 last night and this morning there were only 7 left. Need i say more. I have enjoyed all of your recipes so far, you are my go to when i want to prepare a different meal. Keep the spoons banging!!!
Hi Linda! That’s hilarious! I’m glad they were such a hit!
These cookies looked pretty but they did not have nearly enough chocolate flavor.
I’ve since seen other recipes that all called for adding chocolate chips, which probably would have saved these.
Hi Pam, I bet this could be delicious with chocolate chips! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Made these for Christmas and they turned out delicious!! Super chocolaty and puffy, sugar didn’t burn at all!! My only question would be is how long does the dough last in the fridge?? Thanks!
Hi TCM, This recipe is very simple and the dough can be made 1-2 days in advance and then baked before serving.
I used made two batches and used olive oil and premium dutch chocolate. I made a mistake on the first batch and added soda AND powder by accident. They were flat but delicious! The second batch was made without mistake and they were puffy and delicious but tasted more like a brownie than a cookie. Honestly I like the first batch better! I think the key is light oil and quality cocoa powder. It’s expensive but worth it! Chill overnight and no issues with rolling into balls with your hands. Very simple recipe especially when you read it correctly. lol
I’m so glad you tried it again and it worked out so well! Thank you so much for sharing that review with me, CA!
Made exactly as written; came out delicious!! Slightly crispy on the outside and brownie soft on the inside. YUM! And, they’re so pretty! 🙂 Thanks for the new cookie recipe. Definitely making them again and again!
I’m so glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for sharing.