Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are one of those classic recipes that I remember from my childhood. They’re rich and chocolatey, soft, and are so pretty with the crackled powdered sugar tops. Your family will love these as much as mine does!
Why are my crinkle cookies flat? Flat cookies are often the result of too little flour or butter that’s too soft. In the case of crinkle cookies, if you don’t let the dough firm up in the fridge before scooping and rolling, they’ll spread too much in the oven and lose their domed crackled topping.
Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
I remember making these cookies as a kid during our Christmas cookie baking sessions – I always loved how chocolatey they were! I’ve perfected the recipe so that they’re perfectly soft. Plus they’re so pretty – and I’ve tested them a few different ways so you know they’ll work perfectly.
- All-purpose flour – be sure to measure it correctly.
- Cocoa powder – Use unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder – makes them nice and soft – normally cookies use baking soda, but we want a soft cake-like cookie for these.
- Vegetable oil – makes these mix up easy.
- Brown sugar- I love the softness that brown sugar brings to the cookies.
- Powdered sugar – For coating; the confectioners’ sugar gives tehm that crinkley look.
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
How to make Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Combine dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, then set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients: Using a hand mixer, mix oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together. Slowly mix in the previous dry ingredients until you have a dough.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients. Chill your dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Coat the cookies in powdered sugar: Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop cookie dough balls and roll them in the powdered sugar until they are coated. Then, evenly space them on the cookie sheet.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking for an even bake. Serve and enjoy!
- Don’t over bake these – they’ll get dry if they cook too long.
- Normally I chill cookie dough after scooping but these are too soft to roll right away. Chill the dough at least 30 minutes before scooping.
- I recommend using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop for these. They’ll spread a little bit and 2-tablespoon size cookies might get too big.
- You can freeze these cookies for up to a month.
There are generally two reasons why cookies go flat, one is that the butter you used was too soft or downright melted even. The other is that not enough flour was used.
They will last about 5 days when stored properly.
Yes, you can! They will stay good in the freezer for up to a month.
Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe
FAQ
Why do my chocolate cookies go flat?
Why did my crinkle cookies not crinkle?
Why are my crinkle cookies spreading?
How do you make cookies fluffy instead of flat?
Why did my chocolate crinkle cookies come out flat?
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.
Why do cookies crinkle?
As they bake, the cookies rise and spread, cracking and crinkling the sugar coating, allowing the chocolate to peak through, thus the cute name. The contrast of snow-white sugar with fudgy crinkles and crevices looks like a piece of art. No two cookies are the same. Keep Well.
Why do chocolate crinkle cookies turn yellow?
Many recipes only roll Chocolate Crinkle Cookies in powdered sugar, but the moisture from the cookies causes the sugar to melt a bit, so it loses its bright white, opaque appearance and instead becomes slightly transparent giving the coating a yellowish appearance.
Why are my cookies flat?
Related, reusing baking sheets for multiple batches of cookies can be another cause of flat cookies. Residual grease left on the sheet from the previous batch can lead to too much spread. (Also, if your pans are still hot from the previous batch, the fat in the dough will start melting even before the cookies hit the oven.)