These Chocolate Crinkles Are a Timeless Easy Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes crinkle cookies crinkle? ›

Crinkle cookies are iconic for their powder sugar-dusted crackly surfaces. For the right amount of lift and spread to crinkle the top, use a combination of baking soda and baking powder. And don't forget to factor in time for chilling the dough—it needs to be firm before being rolled in powdered sugar and baked.

The most common reason for cookies that don't crack is either that the oven was not hot enough or the baking powder was expired. Be sure to allow plenty of time for your oven to heat, and use a fresh container of baking powder!

If your crinkle cookies are flat, then it could also be that the leavening is off. Make sure to use only baking powder. Baking soda will cause these cookies to spread, while baking powder will help them puff upwards for a nice crackle.

Baking chocolate crinkle cookies is a process that requires precision. Over-baking will result in dry and hard biscuits, under-baking will result in biscuits that are too sticky. Use a timer and bake them for exactly the time the recipe says.

Butter contributes milk solids and water to a cookie, both of which soften it. Brown sugar contributes molasses – again, a softener. Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies.

Can you bake crinkles without parchment? Yes, you can bake Chocolate Crinkle Cookies without parchment paper. Grease the baking sheet with cooking spray, oil, or butter. Don't overdo it because it can cause the cookies to spread out too much.

The Key to Amazing Crinkles: Dough Spread & Expansion

Achieving this perfect appearance relies solely on the amount of spreading and expanding they do in the oven. These common end-result issues can be easily explained by spread: A flat layer of powdered sugar? The cookie didn't expand enough when baking.

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Crinkle cookies have been around since the early 1950s and were initially made with chocolate. Helen Fredell invented crinkle cookies in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Why did my cookies come out flat and crunchy? ›

Not Enough Flour

If your cookies are flat, brown, crispy, and possibly even a bit lacy around the edges, that means you need to add flour to your dough for the next batch.

Keep those cookies crisp by storing them in an airtight container. Some people toss a piece of bread in with the cookies to help absorb any excess moisture. You could also re-crisp them by baking on a wire rack in a 300 degree F oven for a few minutes.

Certain cookies — Sugar Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Classic Peanut Butter Cookies — need to be flattened a bit before they bake, lest they end up emerging from the oven looking like ping-pong balls rather than typical flat, round cookies.

There are a few common methods for softening cookies, including microwaving them, heating them in the oven, and placing them in an airtight container with a slice of bread.

You let these go in the oven for too long. Remember, when you remove your cookies from the oven, the baking process is not over. While they cool on the baking sheet, they're still going to continue to cook, and even once they're transferred to the cooling rack, they've still got some hardening up to do.

Most cookies have top crusts that remain relatively soft and flexible as the cookies set during baking. However, if the top surface dries out before the cookie is finished spreading and rising, it hardens, cracks, and pulls apart, producing an attractive crinkly, cracked exterior.

Unlike standard wrinkles, which occur when your skin's natural collagen and elastin production slows down, crinkles are caused by dehydration.

Issues with cracking usually derive from the sugar coating, not enough or expired baking powder or baking soda, or the oven temperature isn't hot enough. Solution: Granulated sugar is more effective at drying the surface than powdered sugar.