Chocolate Crinkles

One of the best parts about any holiday—be it Christmas, Thanksgiving, a birthday, Diwali, Columbus Day, whatever—is that you get an excuse to eat some of your favorite foods. For me, that means chocolate. Now, I'm generally not a big chocolate eater during the year, but when December rolls around it's totally game on. The chilly weather and holiday spirit just make me crave it for some reason. That craving means I'm whipping up old favorites like chocolate peppermint bark cookies, truffles, and homemade hot chocolate.

It also means it's time to make those adorable looking cookie fiend favorites, chocolate crinkles.

These chocolate crinkles are a holiday staple in winter, but are great any time of the year. Soft, devil's food-like cakey cookies are rolled around in confectioner's sugar. When they bake the dough rises and the chocolate dough peeks out in little crinkled fissures beneath the white sugar.

Crinkles are easy-peasy to throw together and make for a flashy addition to any cookie platter. A warning though: these cookies are so good and chocolaty they may not make the cocoa cravings go away. In fact, they might just make them worse. ;)

Chocolate Crinkles Recipe

If you want, you can jazzify these cookies in a number of ways. Add some cinnamon to confectioner's sugar. Roll the cookies around in colored sprinkles or sugars. For something a little more exotic, pulse the confectioner's sugar in a food processor with 2 teaspoons of Earl Grey, chai tea, or matcha powder.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional) 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar 

Method

1 In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (though you can do this with a wooden spoon, too) beat together the cocoa powder, white sugar, and vegetable oil until it comes together into a shiny, gritty, black dough of sorts.

2 Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds each. Add the vanilla and beat in thoroughly.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder if using. Mix into the chocolate mixture on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough for four hours or overnight.

4 Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the confectioner's sugar in a wide bowl. Using a rounded teaspoon get clumps of the chilled dough and roll them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) sized balls using your hands. Roll the balls in the confectioner's sugar and place on the cookie sheets (you should be able to get 12-16 on each sheet). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: Makes approximately 50 cookies.