Time to get out all of the baking sheets, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and the big bottle of vanilla extract! You know – it’s Christmas Cookie time!
My Mom always had this idea that we should eat a healthy diet, so for the majority of year, we really didn’t get a lot of sweets. I know it sounds crazy, but we had to get by on stuff made with whole wheat flour, raw sugar and carob powder.
Then came Christmastime and all bets were off – Mom baked mountains of all our favorites and for a few blissful weeks we could be as unhealthy as everyone else we knew. My recipe box is still full of recipes for the old Christmas standbys, all in my Mom’s handwriting, or typed out with her handwritten additions in the margins.
And now, my own personal notes about the recipes are scribbled alongside hers, as through the years I have built on the foundation of her efforts. Even though I don’t really need to look at those sheets so much anymore, because most of the recipes are on one of my blogs, or readily available online, I still get them out every year, running my hands over them to smooth out the folds as I read them over and get started on planning my baking.
Chocolate Crinkles were always a favorite. I think it must be the burst of powdered sugar that gets all over everything when you bite into one, along with the rich flavors of chocolate and toasted walnuts. You use Dutch processed cocoa in these – deep, full flavor! That means you need to use baking powder because Dutch processed cocoa has had the acid removed. Most grocery stores carry Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa now, along with numerous other brands,so it is not difficult to find. 
- 1 & ½ cups light brown sugar
- 1 & ½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 & ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup Dutch process cocoa
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 & ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 cup toasted, finely chopped walnuts
- 10X sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350º, and line large, heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the sugars, oil, egg and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer.
- Beat until well combined - a couple minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
- Beat dry ingredients into the sugar mixture just until combined.
- Beat in the walnuts.
- Press plastic wrap over the surface of the dough and refrigerate for several hours [or up to a week if you like]
- Place about 1 cup 10X sugar in a flat bottomed bowl.
- Portion onto the sheet pan with a medium cookie scoop [about 1 & ½ tablespoons each]
- One by one, roll into balls, and then roll the balls in the 10X sugar, placing back on the baking sheet, a couple inches apart.
- Bake for 8 minutes - they may not seem done, but they are. If you bake them any longer, you will lose the chewy texture.
- Cool briefly on the baking sheets and then carefully remove them to a cooling rack.
- Store at room temperature for up to a week, longer in the freezer.
I hope you have on a white shirt when you bite into one of these, because that powdered sugar is going to get all down the front of you!
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7 thoughts on “Chewy Chocolate Crinkles”