Chocolate Sprinkle Crinkle Cookies

I’ve needed a heavy dose of chocolate from my kitchen the past few days.  No negotiations.  

There are all sorts of ways to get chocolate into my system, the most recent being this mushroom hot chocolate I’ve enjoyed every night for a week.  We drink mushroom now.  Did you know?  I think it’s been all the rage for awhile but, well… I’m tardy but I’m here for it. 

Of course one of the finest homemade chocolate iterations is that magical space between a brownie and a cookie.  Fudgy and chewy, crispy around the edges and crusted across the top.  This version is pleasingly chewy (even a few days after baking!) and covered in lightly crunchy chocolate jimmies. Nothing wrong here.  Just bringing us what we need. 

This recipe is a sweet treat from our girl Jessica Merchant‘s new book Pretty Dish.  It’s out tomorrow and aside from these chewy chocolate cookies she has a recipe for Fried Margharita Pizzas which (if you’re asking me) sounds very much like pizza doughnuts soooooo I’ll be making those very soon.  

All of this to say, Jessica’s book is lovely and is filled with both sweet and savory treats that will very quickly become part of my kitchen repertoire.  It’s a thumbs up! 

For these brownie-like cookies we’re keeping it simple:  

•  cocoa powder (I used this Belgian cocoa powder that was a gift from my other friend Jessica.)  (Sidenote:  exquisite + foreign cocoa powder is a divine gift to give a baker.) 

•  2 large eggs

•  vegetable oil is our fat here.  I find that oil actually works better in these cookies than butter – keeping the cookies chewy with a pure fat.  Butter has both water and milk solids as part of its makeup and will make for a more crisp cookie which is just not what we want going on here. 

•  vanilla extract, likely story…. except I’m out of vanilla extract and I’ve found that Kahlua makes an incredible substitute, especially in the company of chocolate. 

•  flour, baking powder, and salt. 

•  a generous supply of sprinkles.  Specifically the ‘jimmies’ variety of sprinkle as they’re easy on the teeth and don’t bleed their color during baking.  I used chocolate but you could easily use rainbow.  

No mixer required for these cookies – just a bowl, whisk and spoon.

Into the bowl with the exquisite cocoa powder. 

We’ll add the granulated sugar to the cocoa + the oil.  

Might feel weird to stir these three things together but don’t worry, this is how it goes.  Sometimes life feels weird. 

The mixture will be grainy. I mean… how could it not be?  

It’ll come together. This is my promise to you. 

Two eggs, whisked into the mixture one at a time will smooth the chocolate and sugar mixture to glossy. 

And we’ll whisk in our Kahlua / vanilla.  

This is a mixture of flour, baking powder, and salt. 

The cookie dough will thicken significantly with the addition of the flour.  Think of this as a thick brownie batter.  That’s the vibe. 

Chocolate chips because little melty pockets are sublime, no question. 

Like most cookie doughs, this dough needs to settle in the refrigerator and chill before baking.  

I found that two hours was a good amount of time to chill the dough and allow the flour to absorb some of the moisture. 

When it comes to cookie portioning (and it always comes down to cookie portioning) please please have a cookie scoop.  If you’re around this blog enough, you’ll use it.  

Cookies are portioned by the generous tablespoonful and fully coated in sprinkles. This is no time to be shy.  

Chocolate need – satiated.  Get in this with me!  And Happy Monday – we’ve got this. 

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