Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Recipe

The list of foods I hate is incredibly short. Despite how few items are on it, though, my disdain for them is nearly endless. Right at the top of that list: fudge. I will never understand what the appeal is. It masquerades as chocolate, but any true chocolate lover knows it for what it really is—a soulless, treacly pablum that offers nothing but unchecked sweetness. Fudge is the Muzak of sweets.

"Fudgy," though, as an adjective, is something else entirely. I love fudgy things. They're soft, verging on gooey; indulgent and, yes, chocolaty. These classic crinkle cookies, contributed by Carrie Vasios Mullins, are a prime example. Made with unsweetened cocoa powder and instant espresso powder, they have a deep chocolaty richness with a slightly bitter backbone that stands up to the powdered-sugar coating. As Carrie notes:

Most recipes for crinkle cookies rely on a 1:1 ratio between flour and sugar, yet the cookies aren't overly sweet. Unsweetened cocoa powder adds a deep chocolate flavor which I enhance with instant espresso powder.

Inside, they're moist and chewy, delivering that perfect fudgy consistency, while the exteriors are crisp and covered in those telltale crackles, signaling the textural shift between brittle crust and tender core. It's like the geology of Earth itself, rendered in miniature, chocolate-cookie form.

Perhaps you feel the same as I do about how terrible fudge is, or perhaps you don't. No matter. Regarding how good these fudgy cookies are, I'm confident we'll be in agreement.