Several years ago I received chocolate crackle cookies as a gift from a friend during the Christmas holidays. Rich with dark chocolate flavour, covered in powdered sugar, crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy in the middle. That’s when I knew I have to make them myself and since then they have become the ‘must have’ cookies in our home, which start the holiday season. They are easy to make on your own or in company of family or friends.
I often make several batches of dough in one go, bake a part of it and freeze the rest for later. Whenever I want to bake the cookies again, I just move the necessary amount of dough from the freezer to the fridge the night before.
Ingredients
- 250 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
- 75 grams (3/4 cups) unsweetened cacao powder
- 7 grams (1 and 1/2 teaspoon) baking powder
- 115 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted, room temperature butter
- 220 grams (1 cup) sugar
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl sift and mix flour, cacao powder and baking powder. Add a pinch of salt.
- Beat butter and sugar till it’s fluffy.
- Add one egg and continue mixing.
- Add the second egg and mix well.
- Add the flour mix to the batter and mix everything well together by hand using a wooden spoon or a spatula.
- If the dough is too sticky to form it into a ball, add a little bit more of flour.
- Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about half an hour. If needed, it can stay in the fridge for longer.
- When ready to bake, set the oven to heat to 160° C or 325° F.
- Insert parchment paper or a silicone baking mat in a baking tray and grease it with some oil or butter.
- Put powdered sugar in a small bowl.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into small balls, approximately 3 cm or 1 inch in diameter.
- Roll each cookie ball in the powdered sugar, so that it sticks generously.
- Put the cookie balls on the baking tray leaving a little distance between them as they will flatten a little while baking.
- Put the cookies in the oven to bake for 12 minutes. If the cookie balls are smaller, they will need less baking time. It is important not to bake cookies for longer, so that they are crispy on the outside and soft, chocolatey in the middle. If baked for too long, they will be dry in the middle.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and let the cookies cool in the tray for a few minutes before removing them as they are still soft.
- Enjoy!