Gluten Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

By Nicole Hunn | Published: October 9, 2020 | Posted In: Cookies, Desserts, Holiday season recipes, Holidays

5 from 68 votes

Prep Time : 15

Cook Time : 12

Fudgy gluten free chocolate crinkle cookies with that thin sugar shell outside and deep, beautiful cracks. Learn the secrets to making sure your crinkles always crackle!

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Classic gluten free chocolate crinkle cookies are fudgy inside, with an outer shell of crisp sugar. One of the best festive cookies around!

Crinkle cookies on white paper, one with a bite taken

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Like almost everyone else, I really only make chocolate crinkle cookies around the holidays. But why oh why do I save this perfect cookie for just once a year?

You know how M&Ms have a candy shell, and smooth chocolate insides? Well chocolate crinkle cookies are the M&Ms of the cookie world. Confectioners' sugar forms a kind candy shell on the outside, and the inside is like the most perfect brownie you've ever had.

Shaped chocolate crinkle cookie dough on brown paper

How do you get crinkle cookies to crinkle?

Crinkle cookies are named for the crinkled, crackled appearance they take on as they bake. The soft white sugar on the outside splinters around the cracks that appear on the face of the cookie.

I guess you could call them crackle cookies, but for some reason that sounds positively ridiculous to me. Like “crinkle” is so serious and important.

The secret to always getting that crackle on top of your cookies is simple. Coat the cookies twice in confectioners' sugar (also called powdered sugar or icing sugar).

Go through all the cookies, coating them in sugar as you go. Then return to the very first cookie, and coat once more, very generously, with sugar.

There has to be a thick enough layer of sugar to form a crust in the oven. Some might call it a candy shell. ?

Chocolate crinkle cookie dough shaped with confectioners' sugar

If you want deeper crevices and crackle crinkles

I've made these cookies so many times over the years, and my priorities have shifted a bit over time. I started out only wanting to make the most beautiful, striking cookies with the most dramatic, deepest fault lines in my cookies.

To make the cookies with those super deep cracks, press your mounds of cookie dough down only slightly when you shape them. Each piece should be closer to an inch thick.

Then, roll them in confectioners' sugar twice and continue with the recipe as written. The baking time should not vary.

I no longer make the cookies this way, though. They aren't really stackable, and they're much more fragile.

Made flatter like you see in the photos and video here, the cookies have more of a uniform crackle. The outer shell is more pronounced, and the cookies travel well.

Chocolate crinkle cookies baked on white paper

Gluten free chocolate crinkle cookies: ingredient and substitution information

Gluten free dairy free chocolate crinkle cookies

If you are dairy-free, try replacing the butter with vegan butter. Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen brands are my favorites. Be sure your chocolate is also dairy-free.

I don't recommend Earth Balance buttery sticks, since they have a lot of moisture and will likely cause the cookies to spread more than we intend. And if the cookies spread too much, the crackled appearance and texture of the inside and the outside of the cookie change for the worse.

Gluten free egg free chocolate crinkle cookies

There are two eggs in this recipe. You can try replacing each of them with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).

What type of cocoa power is best in these gf crinkle chocolate cookies?

You can use either Dutch-processed or natural cocoa powder in this recipe. Natural cocoa powder is acidic, but there is a touch of baking soda in this recipe that will neutralize that acidity.

I do prefer Dutch-processed cocoa powder in a recipe like this that is so chocolate-fudgy-forward. I use Rodelle brand, but if you don't have that, use what you have. If you have Hershey's Special Dark, which is a blend of natural and Dutch-processed, that works well, too.

What type of chocolate is best in these gf crinkle chocolate cookies?

For the chocolate, I recommend using bittersweet chocolate because it makes the richest cookies with the deepest chocolate flavor. The term “bittersweet” just refers to the fact that the chocolate is approximately 70% cacao, and has fewer milk solids than semi-sweet, if any at all.

You really can use any baking chocolate you like, though, as long as it's not unsweetened chocolate, which is quite bitter. Semisweet chocolate works quite well, too, but I would not melt chocolate chips to use in the batter since they contain wax, which helps them keep their shape in the oven.

Hand holding chocolate crinkle cookie with bite taken

Hand holding a chocolate crinkle cookie with a bite taken and baked whole cookies on white paper

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Gluten Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe

Fudgy gluten free chocolate crinkle cookies with that thin sugar shell outside and deep, beautiful cracks. Learn the secrets to making sure your crinkles always crackle!

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 12

Yield: 18 cookies

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped (See Recipe Notes)
6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter chopped
1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
5 tablespoons (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (See Recipe Notes)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (115 g) confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter.

In a medium-size heat-safe bowl, place the chopped chocolate and butter and melt in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring in between, until just melted, or over a double boiler.
Set the mixture aside and allow it to cool until no longer hot to the touch. (See Recipe Notes for tips.)

Make the cookie dough.

In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
Add the melted butter and chocolate mixture, and mix to combine. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick but soft.

Shape & decorate the cookie dough.

With a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or two spoons, drop the dough about 2 inches apart in about 24 pieces on the prepared baking sheet (each piece of dough should be about 2 tablespoons’ worth of dough).
Roll each piece of dough into a ball between slightly wet palms, coat the dough generously with the confectioner’s sugar, and press the dough into a disk about 1/2-inch thick.
Repeat with every piece of dough. (See Recipe Notes for tips.)
Press each piece of cookie dough once more in the confectioners’ sugar, making sure to cover generously in the sugar. Return each piece to its place on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies.

Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven, one at a time, and bake for 12 minutes or until just set in the center.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

For the chocolate.

“Bittersweet” chocolate just means that it’s chocolate that is approximately 70% cacao, and has fewer milk solids than semi-sweet, if any at all. Semisweet chocolate works quite well, too, but don’t melt chips, since they contain wax.

For the cocoa powder.

You can use either Dutch-processed (I like Rodelle brand) or natural cocoa powder, like Hershey’s. Hershey’s special dark also works.

If your cookie dough seems uneven.

If you find that your cookie dough is not quite as smooth as it should be, your melted butter and chocolate mixture may have been too hot. Don’t worry! Just allow the dough to sit at room temperature, stirring occasionally until it’s more cohesive.

For deeper cracks in your cookies.

If you prefer deeper cracks in your finished cookies, only press your mounds of cookie dough down slightly, until it’s closer to an inch thick before rolling the cookie dough in confectioners’ sugar twice. The baking time should not vary, and the cookies will be more dramatic, but more fragile.

Originally posted on the blog in 2013. Recipe ingredients and method altered for ease and texture. In 2020, photos, video, much of text new.