Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I’m on spring break right now and having so much fun!  I’m wondering why it can’t be break all year long??  This has been a week full of working out, eating good food, soaking up the sun, seeing friends, hanging out with my puppy, and baking.  It has been the perfect way to relax after winter quarter and get ready for spring quarter.  And luckily the weather has been pretty nice this week, making everything even more enjoyable.

I have been on a real cookie kick lately.  I think cookies are a fairly simple, fun, and delicious treat to make.  I have several cookie recipes to share with you, but for now I bring you chocolate crinkle cookies. These were really fun to make because you can experiment with them and try all different kinds of coatings.  I made several different kinds, but feel free to experiment for yourself and make up your own combinations!

I didn’t put enough powdered sugar on the first batch, so they don’t look as nice but they still tasted great!

powdered sugar coating

granulated sugar coating

pecans with cinnamon sugar

walnut coating

top left: cinnamon sugar coating

bottom left: pecan chews, which I will save for another post

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

recipe adapted from 17 and Baking (http://17andbaking.com/2010/02/23/chocolate-crinkle-cookies/)

Makes 7 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. Coat each ball in confectioners’ sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets. Alternatively, try other ingredients like cinnamon-sugar or nuts.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool. (I don’t have wired racks at school, so I just transferred them to a plate and they turned out just fine)

My favorite had to be the powdered sugar coating, but all of them were delicious.  These reminded me a bit of brownie bites that you can buy at the store, but much, much better.  I brought a platter of cookies to a dessert party and my friends ate them up.  These were another huge hit, and I had so many  cookies around for awhile.  Can’t complain about that 🙂 !  Let me know if you make these with a different coating.

Enjoy,

Laura