Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

With a Twist…

These are straight off my favorite cookies list.

Although the kids love them, they’re not a kid’s cookie.

The texture is soft and cloud-like, and the flavor is deep and chocolatey but not overly sweet—they get their sweetness from the powdered sugar on top. I just love seeing them transform while they’re baking. The addition of espresso powder adds a sophisticated note without being obvious, leaving tasters wondering just what that secret ingredient is.

These are lovely anytime you want a satisfying treat. Serve them as an after dinner dessert with fresh fruit, or with a nice fruit sorbet.

Ingredients:

6 oz good (fair trade) bittersweet chocolate (60 to 72%)

2¾ cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons espresso powder

¾ teaspoons salt

½ cup butter, softened

1½ cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract

confectioner’s sugar, as needed

Method:

• Melt the chocolate. I like to do this in the microwave—break up the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute and then stir. If the chocolate isn’t completely melted, continue to microwave it in10 second increments, stirring after each time until the chocolate is smooth. Set it aside. 

• Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt in a small bowl and set it aside.

• Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy, about 3 minutes.  Then, add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

• Beat in the melted chocolate. 

• Add the milk and vanilla and beat the batter until smooth. 

• Add the flour, mixing until just combined. 

• Chill for 2 – 3 hours.

• Preheat the oven to 350º. 

• Remove half the dough from the fridge. Measure off a piece of the dough with a 1½” cookie scoop and roll it into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

• Roll each ball in confectioner’s sugar, making sure to cover them heavily with the sugar. Lay them out on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper, leaving 2 ½ inches between them.  

• Bake for exactly 12 minutes. (If you over-bake them, they’ll come out hard, rather than tender and cloud-like.)

• Let them rest on the pan for a couple of minutes to firm up, then move them to a cooling rack to finish cooling all the way.

Did you make it? Was it fabulous?