Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These chocolate crinkle cookies are one of my favorite holiday cookies. Their texture is very similar to brownies. They're chewy, fudgy and deeply chocolatey on the inside and crispy on the outside. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it looked like a foolproof and delicious recipe. However, I wasn't sure about using oil in cookies. I always use butter but this time I decided to make a change and give it a try. And I was pleasantly surprised! They turned out more than delicious. I made them larger than the recipe indicated and I got less cookies (around 50 instead of 70). And I highly recommend you to do the same. Also, there are a few important steps to follow if you want them to turn out perfectly.
1) use the best quality dark unsweetened cocoa powder. 
2) coat them in powdered sugar generously before baking. 
3) Refrigerate for AT LEAST 4 hours. Preferably overnight. The longer - the better! 
4) DO NOT overbake. If you are making larger cookies like I did, it will take ~2 more minutes to bake. Don't be afraid to take one cookie out of the oven after 10 minutes to test how much time they need to stay in the oven. DO take them out of the oven when their centers look underbaked. When you take out of the oven, they will continue baking for a few minutes and their centers will harden a little bit. You do want chewy cookies, don't you? So don't try to leave the kitchen while they bake. Keep an eye on them!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

120g (1 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
400g (2 cups) white sugar
120ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g (2 cups) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
~1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (for coating)

1) In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa powder, sugar and oil. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth and shiny.

2) In another bowl, combine together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into the cocoa mixture with a wooden spoon just until smooth.

3) Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I chilled them overnight).

4) Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Prepare 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1 inch (I rolled them into 2 inch balls. Recommended!) balls. Coat each ball in icing sugar and place onto cookie sheets. Leave some space because they will spread. 

5) Bake for 10-12 minutes for smaller cookies, and 12-14 minutes for larger cookies. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.

Recipe adapted from here.