Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Holiday Cookies: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


I made these cookies for the first time just this past weekend for a holiday party. The look all crunchy,  but don't you worry...these cookies resemble mini brownies. They have a slightly crispy outer shell and a perfectly soft inside (much like my personality hahahaha...not).


Okay, bad joke aside though, these cookies are pretty good. Plus, they look like snowy mountains, which as we all know is perfectly winter holiday appropriate. So if you live in a nice, warm, sunny city--I hate you (jk I love you all), but what that means is make these cookies stat. Heck, make them if you live in a cold city with tons of snow, or if you're like me and live in the mountains with NO snow. Just make them. I haven't worked on healthifying the recipe too much quite yet, but I will tell you there is no butter, and very little oil in this here recipe. Now if I could work on that sugar part...stevia maybe? If anyone tries it, let me know.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: (Recipe adapted from www.allrecipes.com)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips + 2 tablespoons milk (I used almond milk) warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds and mixed until melted and smooth
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs  
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract  
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (to roll the dough in)

  • With a hand mixer, mix the sugars, vanilla extract and eggs until thicker and lighter in color.
  • Add the melted chocolate and oil and mix
  • With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the cocoa powder.
  • Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt and add that to the mixture. Mix with the spoon or spatula until combined.
  • Cover the bowl and dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until hard enough to scoop without it being sticky.

When dough is ready:

  • Preheat oven to 350 F or 175 C
  • Grease a cookie sheet with some vegetable oil.
  • Scoop and roll dough into 1- 1 ½ inch balls. Roll ball in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes (Mine were done after 9 minutes, it’s okay if they’re a little soft, they will harden up when they cool)
  • After they cool for about 3-4 minutes, press a hershey’s kiss into the center. Because the cookie is still hot, they will start to melt a little bit from the bottom… place cookies onto the cooling rack and place them in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes until Hershey kisses harden again. Take cookies out and bring them back to room temp.  
Enjoy!