Chocolate Crinkles Easy Recipe - The Unlikely Baker® (2024)

FAQs

Why my crinkles did not crack? ›

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!

Why are my crinkle cookies not crinkling? If the dough is too wet, then it will dissolve the sugar and the crinkle will get lost. In order for a defined crinkle to form, the surface of the dough needs to be dry. If your cookies are not crinkling then there is too much free water in the dough.

Add warm (not hot) tap water to a bowl then add eggs (still in their shells) for at least 20 minutes. Don't pack the flour. It is important that you measure the flour correctly because too much flour will result in denser, drier cookies.

Lower temperatures are generally better when it comes to chocolate crinkle cookies to give the dough time to spread. You may also want to check your flour measurements–if you've added too much flour, the dough consistency can be extra thick and won't spread as well.

The Secret to a Good Sugar Top

The tip that sent me into the kitchen was to give the chilled dough a double coating of sugar. First roll the cookies in granulated sugar and then roll them in powdered (confectioners') sugar.

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.

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

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.

Keep Them Sealed

The key to keeping cookies fresh and soft is to seal them in an airtight container, like a resealable freezer bag. And here's a nifty little trick: add a piece of bread to the bag.

Why my crinkles are flat? ›

Why are my crinkle cookies flat? Flat cookies are often the result of too little flour or butter that's too soft. In the case of crinkle cookies, if you don't let the dough firm up in the fridge before scooping and rolling, they'll spread too much in the oven and lose their domed crackled topping.

Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour. Baking soda helps cookies spread outward and upward while cooking.

Overmixing can result in tough cookies.

Your cookies won't properly spread if your oven temperature is too high; the edges of your cookies will cook faster than the middle before they have a chance to spread properly. To avoid this issue altogether, always double-check the temperature setting on your oven before beginning any cookie-making sessions.

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.

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, it might not have enough fat. This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough. This can be in the form of butter, shortening, or even olive oil.

Cracking occurs from several chemical reactions during the baking process. If some of your cookies aren't cracking, it could be because those dough balls were less round than others, the dough became too warm, your oven isn't heating evenly, or (most likely) the cinnamon sugar coating wasn't applied as thoroughly.

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.