Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are in my top five favorite cookies ever. There is something about the crisp outside, chewy inside and confectioner sugar coating that works for me. I also appreciate that they are not overly sweet. A local Seattle bakery, Alki Bakery, has my favorite crinkle cookie in town but their location on the beach below us closed this past fall. In order to get their cookies nowadays, I have to venture outside of my West Seattle bubble to their location on 1st Avenue in the industrial part of Seattle. This is problematic because I prefer staying in my bubble to living in the real world. I guess that settles it; I need to learn to make a fabulous crinkle cookie at home. Welcome to my maiden voyage.

I searched online for a recipe that seemed manageable to achieve and found the one below on a lovely website, lolfoodie.com. What put this recipe over the top compared to others I found was the beautiful photo of the end result. The cookies appear to be very similar to the Alki Bakery cookies I love so much and quite frankly, I am a sucker for a good recipe photo. It always makes me believe that I too, might achive the same final aesthetic. Check out the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup white all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking power. In a separate large bowl, preferably with an electric mixer, combine the vegetable oil and granulated sugar. Beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Add in flour mixture, and mix until combined.

Cover mixture with plastic wrap (either in bowl, or dump it onto the counter and form a disc). Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place powdered sugar into small bowl.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls, then roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place on prepared cookie sheet, spaced 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I used organic Canola Oil, organic brown eggs, fair trade organic cocoa and natural vanilla extract in this recipe. I am not sure how it affected the cookies but I certainly feel good about using quality ingredients. My thoughts on the final result? The outside was the perfect crispness for me, the flavor was nice but I prefer the center to be a bit more chewy. They were chewy enough to be good but I believe the cookies would have been perfect or nearly so if I had baked them for 1 to 2 minutes less. This is the only change I would make to the recipe so I consider my maiden voyage fairly successful. I would be remiss if I didn't thank my little cookie dough roller. Thank you, sweet Olivia.