Chocolate crinkle cookies are a classic favorite. Make them special by adding a touch of spice or stuffing them with caramel for an extra gooey surprise.
With Thanksgiving behind us, my social feeds switch from pumpkin everything to holiday baking — and chocolate crinkles show up everywhere. I first fell in love with these cookies years ago when my mom asked my friend Kate and me to help cater her office holiday party. It was a cocktail-style event: I handled savory hors d’oeuvres, while Kate—an excellent baker—brought those perfect chocolate crinkles.
Since then I’ve baked the recipe many times and played around with variations. I now make what I call Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Three Ways: the classic fudgy crinkle, a spiced hot chocolate version, and caramel-stuffed crinkles.
Three different types of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
The first is the classic chocolate crinkle: fudgy, chocolaty cookies rolled in powdered sugar that crackle as they bake. They’re simple and perfectly nostalgic.
The second version is Spiced Hot Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. I add a little cinnamon and just a whisper of cayenne for warmth and depth. The cayenne is subtle—more of a background note than heat—so it enhances the chocolate rather than overpowering it. These are my husband’s favorite and what he requested for his office birthday treat.
The third version is Caramel-Stuffed Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. If you like a molten caramel center inside a fudgy cookie, this one’s for you. It takes a bit more time to shape and enclose the caramel, but the gooey payoff is worth the extra effort.
The dough is more batter-like than a typical cookie dough and is surprisingly quick and easy to mix. You’ll combine the wet ingredients, fold in the dry, chill the batter, and then scoop and shape. Shaping and rolling in powdered sugar can get messy—chocolate-coated hands and a dusting of powdered sugar in the kitchen are part of the fun—but the result is worth it.
Key tips: don’t overbake. Pull the cookies when the surface has cracked but the cracks still look slightly wet—this ensures a tender, fudgy interior. Remove them from the baking sheet right away so they don’t continue to cook on the hot pan.
- Classic fudgy crinkles with that familiar powdered-sugar crackle
- Spiced Hot Chocolate crinkles with cinnamon and a hint of cayenne
- Caramel-stuffed crinkles with an ooey-gooey caramel center
Notes on variations and nutrition
The recipe yields about 48 small cookies. The nutrition information provided below applies to the regular crinkle cookie (about 90 calories per cookie). The caramel-stuffed version adds roughly 32 calories per cookie for the caramel and will be larger, so calories per cookie will increase accordingly.
The classic and spiced versions can be made dairy-free if you choose dairy-free baking chocolate. The caramel-stuffed version typically contains dairy unless you use dairy-free caramels.
Ingredients (overview)
- Sugar
- Canola oil
- Vanilla
- Melted unsweetened baking chocolate (use dairy-free if needed)
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour (with an optional portion of whole wheat)
- Cocoa powder
- Baking powder and salt
- Powdered sugar for rolling
- Optional: cinnamon and cayenne for the spiced version
- Optional: unwrapped caramels for the caramel-stuffed version
Method (summary)
- Mix sugar, oil, vanilla, and melted chocolate together. Add eggs one at a time, then stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and any optional spices. Chill the mixture at least three hours so it firms up.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone mat. (Note: cookies spread more on silicone mats than on parchment.)
- For the classic and spiced versions, scoop about 1–2 teaspoons of batter, roll into balls, and coat completely in powdered sugar.
- For the caramel-stuffed version, use about 1 tablespoon of batter for each cookie. Flatten the batter in your palm, place an unwrapped caramel in the center, enclose it fully, roll into a ball, and coat with powdered sugar.
- Place cookies about 2 inches apart and bake 10–12 minutes, until surfaces are cracked but still look slightly wet in the cracks. Remove from the baking sheet immediately and cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition (per cookie, regular crinkle)
Serving size: 1 cookie — Calories: 90. Carbohydrates ~13 g, Protein ~2 g, Fat ~4 g, Saturated fat ~1 g, Cholesterol ~16 mg, Sodium ~43 mg, Fiber ~1 g, Sugar ~8 g. For caramel-stuffed cookies, add about 32 kcal per cookie and expect larger cookie sizes.
