I don’t know anything about the origins of these cookies. Some people seem to have childhood memories of Crinkle Cookies. I did not encounter them until I was Mother of the Groom. The casual wedding reception was lovely but I admit that I was much distracted by these incredible cookies and hoped to “study” them afterwards for the purposes of replication.
Leftovers were packed up quickly and I did not end up with the box that had the crinkle cookies. I spent ages trying to replicate them. So many recipes that never matched the flavour and texture - even one that had me drizzling rum on top! Well finally, here’s the cookie that takes me back to the wedding celebration at Ravine Vineyard in 2011. I’ve made a few changes to the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. If you have access to their website they have an informative article about these lovelies. Their final sugaring technique makes all the difference in how these turn out.
These can be mixed by hand and should yield 36-48 cookies. Store in a tin in a cold place. These freeze very well.
Update 2023: pre-xmas the Egg Farmers of Ontario were promoting a Black Forest Crinkle Cookie. Happy with my own recipe, I did not try theirs but I did add 1/2 cup of chopped dried cherries to one batch. Result? Terrific!
Getting Ready:
buy unsweetened baking chocolate if you have none on hand and prep by chopping it (you’ll be melting it with butter)
be sure you have instant espresso powder
sift the cocoa powder to ensure there are no lumps
measure and mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl
bring eggs to room temperature
line rimmed baking sheets with parchment
you’ll need two cereal bowls for the final rolling - one for granulated sugar and one for icing sugar
preheat oven to 325 F with the rack in the middle
1 c (5 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 c (1.5 oz) unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Into the smaller of two mixing bowls sift the cocoa and mix all these dry ingredients.
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 TB unsalted butter
Combine the chocolate and butter in a bowl and microwave it at 50 percent power for 30 seconds at a time. After every 30 seconds give it a stir. Do this until it is all melted. Set this aside. Since it will be added to an egg mixture it’s best if it cools down a wee bit.
1.5 c (10.5 oz) packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
4 tsp instant espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk brown sugar, eggs, espresso powder and vanilla together in a large bowl.
Add the slightly cooled chocolate/butter mixture - tempering a bit if necessary to ensure the eggs don’t cook. Stir with a whisk until combined.
Into the above wet mixture, fold in the dry ingredient mixture from step 1 until no streaks are visible. This works best with a firm spatula and takes a bit of elbow grease. Next, the goal is to have the mixture thicken a bit so that it can be scooped/handled. ATK suggests it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. That has never worked for me. I chill it in the fridge for 5-15 minutes. (Check it every 5 minutes.) Once firm enough I do one cookie sheet at a time, placing the mixture back in the fridge in between. Each time, scrape down the bowl with a stiff spatula. While the mixture is cooling prep the sugars - see below.
1/2 c (3 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
1/2 c (2 oz) confectioners' sugar
Put each of the sugars into separate shallow bowls.
NOTE the larger cookies from a 20 ml scoop and the smaller from a 15 ml scoop.
I’ve made these in two sizes - one using a 20 ml scoop (that’s a bit more than a tablespoon) and most often (at Xmas) with a 1 TB / 15 ml scoop.
ATK suggests that you can drop the portion right into the granulated sugar - true… but then you will be constantly picking up / putting down the scoop, and roiling the cookie in each sugar and then scooping the next - not very efficient.
I prefer to start by dropping/positioning the portions onto the prepared bake sheets. Once all the portioning is done (I do a dozen per bakesheet), then I roll each one in the granulated sugar first and then each one in the icing sugar ensuring they are generously coated.
Don’t put them too close. The cookies will spread while baking. Sometimes they come out flatter than other times. They also flatten as they cool.
Bake one sheet of cookies at a time in the middle of the oven preheated to 325 F. I do 6 minutes and then rotate the pan and then another 5-6 minutes - 11-12 minutes in total. The cookies will puff and crack and may even look a bit raw between the cracks - but they will be done. Let cool and store in a closed tin. Kept in a cool place they last for quite a while. These also freeze well.
Notes and Tips...
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