I won’t lie, I didn’t know these cookies existed until a little over a year ago. Christmas break with kids driving me crazy, I remembered my mom mentioned she liked ‘crinkle cookies’. I’d never heard of them but decided it’d be a fun, thoughtful activity to do with the kids. I searched online, found some recipes and we got to cooking.

Little did I know, I’d end up eating 5,439 of these beauties over the holidays. They are SO GOOD. They have the chocolate-y, fudgy-ness of a brownie rolled into one sugar dusted, crackled cookie. About 42 batches later, I’ve perfected the recipe and shared below for you to bake, enjoy & share [or don’t, I won’t judge!].

Keep in mind this dough needs to chill for around 4 hours – so plan accordingly!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 room temperature eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chunks

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine cocoa powder, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time and then stir in the vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; slowly add to the cocoa mixture. It should resemble brownie batter.
3. Here comes the hardest part, cover dough and chill for at least 4 hours. If you’re pressed on time, you can speed this up by placing the dough in the freezer for about an hour but I find it melts faster during rolling this way – and that the cookies spread more during cooking.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degree. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
5. Roll dough into one inch balls and coat each ball well in confectioners sugar before placing onto a silpat or parchment covered cookie sheet. Rub confectioners sugar on your hands frequently to prevent the dough from sticking during rolling.
6. Bake one cookie sheet at a time in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Any longer and you’ll lose that ooey-gooey center.
7. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

You can easily mix up the flavors by adding peppermint extract, bourbon or maybe some nuts!

What’s your favorite Christmas cookie?