Christmas Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Christmas chocolate crinkle cookies are the prettiest addition to your holiday cookie plate! These chocolate cookies are rolled in Christmas sprinkles for a festive twist on a classic. Aren’t they stunning?
One of my favorite holiday activities is baking Christmas cookies. Every year, my family makes dozens upon dozens of cookies. My mom, my aunts, my sisters and me. And of course all of our kids. We all gather at my mom’s house, recipes in hand with pounds and pounds of flour, sugar and butter and get to work. It’s not unusual to see 4 or 5 stand mixers lining her kitchen island amongst the mess of baking ingredients. There’s the inevitable oven back up - when all the dough is chilled and ready on baking sheets at the same time and we angle for who gets to put their cookies in the oven next.
It’s overall just a great day filled with memories I’ll cherish forever. This year, we made soooo many cookies and I’m still not done. We always have our classics, but this year I wanted to change it up a bit and bring some new ideas to the table. Enter these Christmas chocolate crinkle cookies. I changed up a recipe from Food Network Magazine that I’ve been using for years to make the prettiest cocoa thumbprints that look like beautiful Christmas ornaments. This recipe is solid for great chocolate cookies, every single time. It involves simple ingredients. The dough comes together easily. They are just slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I always underbake my cookies juuuuust slightly so that they are perfectly soft.
Instead of rolling these in granulated sugar, powdered sugar and pressing into thumbprints, I chose to roll them in the CUTEST Christmas sprinkles. Aren’t they pretty? I found them at HomeGoods and let’s just say, it’s really hard to replicate seasonal items found at HomeGoods. I may never find them again, but I’m going to enjoy looking at them this year. When rolling the balls, it’s important to gently press the sprinkles into the dough so that they stick. Don’t be afraid to really coat them in sprinkles. Remember, the cookies will bake and spread slightly and so the more sprinkles, the better coverage your cookie will have once spread.
What You’ll Need for Christmas Chocolate Crinkle Cookies:
All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar, for sweetness
Cocoa powder. Nothing fancy. You can use Dutch process, but I typically use regular ol’ Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder and it’s perfect.
Baking powder, to give your cookies some rise
Kosher salt - a full teaspoon because I love the way a hint of salt just takes cookies to the next level of delicious
Unsalted butter. The butter is melted, so you don’t even have to remember to bring the butter to room temp! Seriously, bookmark this recipe forever.
2 eggs
Sprinkles - whatever kind you like
How to Make Christmas Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Mix your dry ingredients. You can do this in a mixing bowl with a whisk, or just put it right into your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Gently stir the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt together until just combined.
Meanwhile, melt the butter. I just place it in a microwave-safe cereal bowl and heat in 30 second increments. It’s usually done after 2 turns.
Pour the butter into the mixing bowl on top of the dry ingredients. Mix on low until just combined.
Add the eggs. I like to crack the eggs in a separate bowl to ensure no eggshells make their way into the cookie dough. Then drop the eggs into the dough and stir until just combined.
Chill the dough. Yep, it needs to chill for 30-60 minutes so that the cookies can easily be rolled into balls and to prevent too much spreading while baking. Cover the dough and chill.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. You can bake Christmas chocolate crinkle cookies directly on the baking sheet, but why have the hassle of clean up? Parchment is a cookie baker’s best friend.
In a small bowl, add about 1/2 C sprinkles. Keep the jar on hand in case you need more.
Scoop out the dough using an extra small cookie scooper, about 1 tsp in size. I like small cookies. Just enough for a taste, so that you can eat lots of them and all different kinds. Roll the dough into a ball and coat in sprinkles, gently pressing the sprinkles into the dough so that they stick.
Christmas chocolate crinkle cookies will spread just a bit, so leave some space between the dough balls on your cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes. Check to see if cookies are set. If not, bake for 2 more minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool slightly (5-7 minutes) and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
And just look at how cute they are! These Christmas chocolate crinkle cookies are so fun and so easy. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.
Christmas Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
These Eggnog Latte Cookies are one of my all-time favorites! A deep coffee flavor with a hint of eggnog, these Christmas cookies are a must for your holiday baking list! They are just like a Starbucks Eggnog Latte, but in a cookie!