Christmas Cookies ~ Cocoa Crinkles

The snow is falling, Christmas music is playing, and I am in the kitchen baking up a storm! Well, not a storm, but a delicious batch of cookies! I wanted to try something new and I came across this recipe for these cocoa crinkles at Hershey's.

They look so pretty with the powdered sugar coating. The only down side to this recipe is that to takes 6 hours for the dough to chill, but they are well worth the wait!

 These cookies are what's made when a cookie and a brownie have a baby ;) Gooey, chewy, chocolatey, and with just enough crunch to know it's a cookie. They are really delicious! And so pretty! Just look how pretty these are...

This is another great cookie recipe for a cookie exchange and Santa ;)
Here's what you'll need to make these adorable cookies...

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• 3/4 cup Canola Oil
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
• 4 Eggs
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar, to roll the dough in

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil; add cocoa, beating until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla. 
2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to cocoa mixture, beating well. Dough will be sticky.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or until dough is firm and easy to handle, like the consistency of peanut butter cookie dough.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat and lightly grease. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar to coat. 
5. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. I put 12 cookies on each cookie sheet because they will expand a little bit.
6. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes and then remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two. 
7. Remove cookies from baking sheets and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Yield: about 4 dozen

Here's a few tips I found helpful along the way.

• Use canola oil, I've tried other oils and for some reason they don't turn out as good.
• Spray your hands with a little bit of cooking spray when forming the cookie balls to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
• Between batches, put the cookie dough back into the refrigerator to keep it cool and at the right consistency.
• When rolling the dough in the powdered sugar make sure and coat them pretty heavily
• Don't over bake, it's better to under bake than to over bake when it comes to these cookies.

Let me know how you like them and if you bake them up this holiday season.

Thanks for reading :)