A little over a year ago,* I tempted you with a tantalizing description of these brown-black beauties, the Williams Sonoma Chocolate Crinkle Cookie. I wrapped it up in a tale about how I hadn’t been able to cook in my kitchen, due to a nasty roommate situation, which was a rather lame thing for me to write about. Even more lame — I hid them from your sight, and didn’t even share a recipe with you. Shame on me. Do you (few, brave) readers come here looking for stories about unpleasant roommates? I believe that you do not.
Today, I remedy these wrongs.
I can hold out on you no more.
Behold, the recipe:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
4 large eggs
2 c granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 c chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli bittersweet)
1/2 c confectioners’ sugar
Melt the butter and chocolate on top of a double boiler, over simmering water, and stir often. Remove and set aside to cool a bit.
In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients — flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture on low speed until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. The dough will be stiff, but you must persevere: mix in the chocolate chips by hand.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a good long while, at least 2 hours. I sometimes leave the dough in the fridge overnight.
Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 325, though if you have an old, tempermental oven like I do, you might need to settle for 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl.
Roll a rounded tablespoon of dough between your palms into a 1 1/2 inch ball, and toss it around in the powdered sugar. Place the cookies about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until the tops are puffed and crinkled and feel firm when lightly touched, about 13-17 mins. (My oven usually gets them done in about 15 mins.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
*Yes, you read that right. G3 is a year old (plus a little bit). Thanks for reading!
Oooooh, my mom used to make these when I was little! I haven’t seen them since! Thank you so much for posting this…you brought back wonderful memories!!!
You’re welcome, TeacherPatti! Hope you get a chance to enjoy them over the holidays.
I too have an old, temperamental oven with a wildly inaccurate thermostat. My favorite kitchen gadget? An oven thermometer. Actually, come to think of it, my oven’s not old. It’s relatively new. Though it is one of those half-size ranges for small spaces. My landlord calls it European.
My oven is one of those half-size “European” jobs, too. But it is quite old, does not have a thermostat, and many of the numbers rubbed off sometime during the Carter administration. If that’s not tricky enough, it also doesn’t really like to stay at one temperature, which I know because I (must) use an oven thermometer. Without my OT, there would be many a burnt chocolate cookie coming out of this kitchen.
I just decided to recreate your recipe and discovered no mention of eggs in the ingredient list, though it is in the instructions. I assume it must be 2…. though 1 seems like it should be enough for the recipe.
Oops! The ingredients list should include “4 large eggs.” Now updated.