Crinkle cookies: Ultimate guide to everything you need to know about these delicious and beautiful cookies! From ingredients to baking times and tons of tips and tricks, I'll take out all of the guesswork! You can even try out some of my tried-and-true crinkle cookie recipes!
How To Make Perfect Crinkle Cookies
Not only are crinkle cookies completely addicting, but they are also very impressive looking! They are perfect for holidays and gift baskets, but that doesn't mean they need to be difficult to prepare.
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I love crinkle cookies! Try my red velvet crinkles, chocolate crinkles, vanilla crinkles, chocolate peppermint crinkles, sprinkle crinkles, and lemon crinkles!
🤔 What Are Crinkle Cookies
Crinkle cookies are a type of cookie with a cake-like texture that is coated in powdered sugar and cracks for a beautiful crackle appearance. They are typically chocolate, but you can make them in tons of different flavors!
🥘 Crinkle Cookie Ingredients
All recipes are different, so make sure you follow the specific recipe you are using. In fact, most crinkle cookies are made with just standard baking ingredients you most likely already have in your pantry!
- Flour: This acts as the base of any cookie recipe. Typically, you'll use all-purpose flour.
- Butter: Softened, room-temperature butter is creamed together with the sugar.
- Sugar: Depending on the recipe and flavor of your cookies, you may use only granulated sugar or a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar.
- Leavening Agents: You'll want to use both baking soda and baking powder for the best crackle effect.
- Eggs: The typical binding agent in cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: For some extra flavor (even if you are making chocolate cookies).
- Salt: A small amount of salt can help to cut the sweetness and enhance all of the flavors.
- Flavor variances: If making chocolate cookies, you would need cocoa powder. Other varieties would need different things, such as lemon juice for lemon crinkle cookies.
- Rolling: Before baking, your cookies will need to be rolled in both granulated sugar and confectioners sugar.
🔪 How To Make Crinkle Cookies
Crinkle cookies are actually surprisingly easy to make. Just make sure you follow all of these steps, and you'll have perfect results every single time!
Gathering the Ingredients
There are two important things you need to remember when you start getting ready to bake your crinkle cookies. First, make sure you accurately measure all of your ingredients. Secondly, you'll want everything to be at room temperature (not cold).
How To Measure Ingredients
Always measure flour by fluffing it up with a fork and then using a spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Finally, use a knife to scrape off the top in order to level it out.
A very common mistake is to scoop the flour out of its container using the measuring cup itself, which could pack in up to 25% more flour, causing your cookies to become dense!
Make sure that all dry ingredients are measured with dry measuring cups while liquid ingredients are measured with cups intended for liquids (nope, they aren't the same!) Finally, the most accurate way to ensure everything is properly measured is to just use a kitchen scale.
Why To Use Room Temperature Ingredients
Of course, grabbing eggs straight from the fridge and cracking them into your mixing bowl is incredibly convenient. However, it is not the best way to make cookies (or most baked goods, for that matter!)
Using room-temperature ingredients (such as milk, eggs, and butter) does a couple of things. First, it helps everything to mix together easily. Cold butter is very hard, and it would take some extra effort to get it to cream with the sugar.
Secondly, it promotes even baking! With random cold spots in your batter, those areas will bake more slowly, while the room temperature spots will bake faster.
Take a look at my guide to softening butter for some tips!
Preparing the Dough
Crinkle cookies are something that is easiest to make when using either a stand mixer or an electric mixer. I do not recommend making these completely by hand.
Typically, you'll cream together your butter and sugar(s) until smooth then add in the eggs (one at a time) and vanilla, mixing and scraping down the bowl as needed.
Dry ingredients will then be added and combined as well.
Avoid Overmixing
Once your flour has been added, you really only want to mix the dough enough so that all of the flour has disappeared and not any more than that. Continuing to mix past this point will incorporate excess air into the dough as well as increase how much gluten is developed.
The excess air will cause your cookies to deflate while baking, making them flat and dense. An abundance of gluten will also contribute to dense cookies and make them excessively chewy, too.
Chilling the Dough
Crinkle cookies have a very soft and sticky dough. In order to be able to work with them (so that you can form balls and roll them), you'll want to give the dough enough time in the fridge to firm back up.
Another effect of chilling your dough is that it slows down how quickly the cookies spread in the oven. In order for your cookies to crack perfectly, you need the ideal balance of rise (from your leavening agents) and spreading.
Follow your recipe to determine how much time your dough should spend in the fridge. Some recipes only recommend it for a short period of time to make the dough easier to handle, while others call for chilling it for at least an hour.
Rolling Crinkle Cookies
What makes crinkle cookies unique is their appearance made from being coated in powdered sugar! To achieve this, you will portion your dough into balls and then roll each one into granulated sugar, followed by powdered sugar.
The layer of granulated sugar will help to soak up excess moisture so that your powdered sugar remains vibrant. When coating, you want the dough balls to be completely saturated with confectioner sugar!
Baking Crinkle Cookies
Depending on your recipe, your cookies will be baked somewhere between 325°F (160°C/Gas Mark 3) and 350°F (175°C/Gas Mark 4). The size of the cookies will impact how long it takes for them to bake.
Based on size and recipe, they should bake for between 10 and 15 minutes.
You'll know your crinkle cookies are done baking when they have puffed up, and the edges are set.
Cooling
Your freshly baked crinkle cookies will be very tender. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes so they can become more firm.
Then, you can use a spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack where they can finish cooling off.
🍪 Crinkle Cookies Troubleshooting
There are a few common errors you may have come across if you've tried making crinkle cookies in the past. Check out this list to see why your cookies turned out the way they did!
- Crinkle cookies did not crack: Leavening agents weren't fresh (or measured incorrectly), or the oven was not at the right temperature. Baking powder and baking soda can lose their effect over time, so it might be time to buy new ones.
- Flat cookies: Measuring errors (too much sugar or not enough flour) can lead to flat cookies. Additionally, your cookies may be flat if you do not chill the dough.
- Hard cookies: If your cookies are too hard or crunchy, they are most likely overbaked.
💭 Tips For Making Crinkle Cookies
Make sure you follow these tips for perfect crinkle cookies every time!
- Use a room-temperature baking sheet. Placing dough onto a hot or warm baking sheet will cause them to spread faster.
- Always roll the dough in granulated sugar before powdered sugar. This will keep the powdered sugar from disappearing.
- Use a cookie scoop for uniform cookies. Not only will they all be the same size, but they will bake at the same rate.
- Properly measure all ingredients using their appropriate measuring tools.
- Use room temperature ingredients for even baking so that your dough mixes together easily.
- Avoid overmixing your dough. As soon as the flour is incorporated, stop mixing, or else you will have dense and tough cookies.
- Chill the dough so that it is easier to work with and the cookies don't spread as much.
- Use a generous coating of powdered sugar for the best results.
🥄 Make Ahead Options
You can chill your cookie dough (covered) for up to 3 days before rolling and baking it. If it is too hard, let it sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes before scooping the dough.
Freezing Crinkle Cookies
Crinkle cookies also freeze well, either baked or unbaked dough.
To freeze the dough, portion it into balls (do not roll it in sugar) and place them all onto a baking sheet without touching. Freeze the entire baking sheet until the balls are solid, and then move them into a container.
The dough can be frozen this way for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, let them thaw on the counter for only about 30 minutes before rolling in sugar to bake.
Baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months! I recommend using parchment paper to separate them so that they don't stick together.
🥡 Storing
Crinkle cookies can be stored at room temperature. Make sure you put them into an airtight container! When properly stored, they should last for about 5 days.
>>>>See all of my recipes here<<<<
❓ Recipe FAQs
Crinkle cookies are adorned with beautiful crackles, created from gaps between the powdered sugar coating. This appearance is achieved solely from the amount of rise and spread that happens in the oven while baking.
The cracks are the result of the outside of the cookie drying and setting before the inside does, causing the continued expansion to make it crack.
As cookies are baked and cooled, they release moisture. If you've ever used powdered sugar before, then you know that it easily dissolves when wet.
Make sure you coat your cookie dough in granulated sugar before powdered sugar to prevent this from happening. Additionally, use a thick, generous coating of powdered sugar.
Always follow the recipe. If it states that the dough does not need to be chilled, then no. However, chilling the dough will always help to reduce spreading, so it is always an option!
Now you know all of the best tips and tricks for making perfect crinkle cookies! What flavor do you want to make first? Let me know in the comments below!
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📖 Recipe Card
Crinkle Cookies Ultimate Guide: Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies (+Best Tips & Tricks!)
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cookies
- ½ cup butter (room temperature)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (packed)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring (or more if needed)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)
For Rolling
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Get started by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
- Using your stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and white granulated sugar until fluffy and light.
- Add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl so that everything is well distributed.
- Next, mix in the vanilla extract, red food coloring, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
- Add the flour and sifted cocoa powder to the bowl and mix until just combined, being careful not to overmix your cookie dough.
- Fill a small, shallow bowl with your granulated sugar and a separate bowl with the powdered sugar.
- Use your hands to roll the cookie dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Then, roll the ball in the granulated sugar followed by the powdered sugar before placing it onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining cookie dough, placing the balls about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 minutes, or until they have risen and cracked with a center that is still gooey.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for a couple of minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack
Notes
- Food coloring can easily vary drastically from brand to brand. So, use as much as you need to reach your desired deep red color, but I recommend using high-quality gel coloring.
- Don't be stingy when rolling your cookie balls in powdered sugar! You want them to be completely coated!
- Rolling the cookie dough in granulated sugar helps them to crackle and keeps the powdered sugar from dissolving!
- Anytime you are baking with flour, you should fluff it up with a spoon and then use the spoon to scoop it into the measuring cup before leveling it off. If you scoop it out of the container with your measuring cup, you could easily be packing in too much flour and make your cookies dry.
- This dough will be sticky. While it is unnecessary to chill the dough beforehand, you can do so if you like in order to make the dough easier to roll.
- These red velvet crinkle cookies should be undercooked in the center when you pull them from the oven. While they are resting on the baking sheet, they will continue to cook as they cool off!
- To freeze dough: Prepare your cookies as directed, up until you form them into balls (but don't roll them in sugar yet). Place them onto a baking sheet and pop them into the freezer until solid. Then, you can transfer them to an airtight bag or container.
- To bake: Let your frozen cookie dough completely defrost in the refrigerator before rolling in the granulated and powdered sugar and baking as directed.
- To store: Let your cookies cool completely before storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- To freeze: Keep your cookies in a freezer-safe ziptop bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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