Chocolate lovers take note: these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies will satisfy your most desperate chocolate cravings. Not only are they delicious, they’re beautiful. When you set out a tray of treats during the holiday season, these bright and crackly little cookies will stand out from the crowd.
This dough often seems runny for a cookie dough. Once it has been chilled in the refrigerator, it sets up into a thicker more dough-like texture. The dough can be a bit sticky to work with, so I always roll the balls with wet hands to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to my skin too much. I simply use my fingers to roll it in the confectioner’s sugar (also known as powdered sugar), but you could use a pair of non-stick tongs to help you do the rolling if you wish. The white color turns out best after baking if you give the balls several rolls through the powdered sugar before baking. I try to let the first coat of sugar soak into the dough a bit before you start the outer coat.

When placing the cookies on the cookie sheet to bake, it can be easy to place them too close together. Still in the ball stage, it can be difficult to imagine how much they’ll spread out as they bake. I suggest spacing the balls about 1 1/2 – 2 inches apart. You may even want to space them more if you make dough balls larger than teaspoon size. Generally, I bake them a dozen at a time until the dough is used.
Parchment works best as a lining for cookie sheets with this recipe. The confectioner’s sugar doesn’t stick to it and the cookies should come off easily. If you make these cookies with an unlined but greased cookie sheet, the confectioner’s sugar on the bottom and sides will take on a clunky greased look and the cookies may spread a bit too much. In my experience parchment paper is the best possible choice for good results. If you don’t have any on hand, I recommend picking some up. Generally, it is inexpensive and lasts a very long time in a dry cupboard for storage. It’s crucial that you don’t confuse parchment paper with wax paper as wax paper should never be used in the oven as it’s likely to burn and also melt into (and ruin) your cookies. A silicon baking liner may be used in place of parchment, however.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are a very brownie-like cookie. Because of that, they can be a bit soft when they come out of the oven. They firm up and become a bit more structurally sound as they cool, but be careful moving them to the cooling rack with your spatula. Although, if you break one, the good news is they taste just as delicious!