If you’ve ever read one of my Friday Favorites posts, then you know I have an affinity for outrageous desserts.
Eight layer chocolate cake dripping with caramel, chewy chips ahoy and fruity pebbles? Chocolate chip cookie dough stuffed inside brownies, wrapped in pancakes and drizzled with hot fudge? Red velvet cake balls rolled in hot rocks and marshmallows, then grilled over an open flame?
I’ll have one of each.
While I enjoy drooling over and devouring these extreme edibles, I rarely make them at home. Mostly because I know they’d never stand a chance at a long and happy life with my raging sweet tooth lurking in the wings, but mostly because I’m lazy.
I mean, you know me! I adore cooking, hence this blog, but when a recipe starts taking more than 30 minutes of active cooking time, I tend to get a little fidgety. Then this happens.
I will make an exception for the Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls though. Don’t get it twisted.
At any rate, the same rationale applies to me and Christmas Cookies. Would I like to take the time to make sugar cookie Santas and decorate them with royal icing, sparkly sugar and licorice ropes? Of course. Do I wish I had the patience to cut out and bake Linzer cookies with jam shining through the top like European stained glass? You bet.
Unfortunately I simply won’t, and don’t!
Maybe that’s why my favorite Christmas cookie in the world also happens to be one of the easiest. No waiting for butter to get to room temperature, no labor intensive decorating, and no icing. Ok, the dough does have to chill before they’re baked – but Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are totally worth it!
Each bite of this deeply chocolaty cookie treat is absolute Heaven. The outside is sweet and pure, while the inside is decadent and rich.
They just scream Christmas! to me. Maybe it’s because they look like a chocolate snowballs! 
Like I said, they’re totally easy to make too. Just cream together cocoa, vegetable oil and sugar, with eggs then vanilla.
Simple enough.
Next mix in flour, baking powder and salt.
Getting closer!
(Taste now, if you must. I must.)
I say the simple factor up until now overrides the fact that the dough now needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
It’s not like it’s anymore work, you’ve just got to wait to get your reward!
Mmmkay, 4 hours later and we’re back. Roll 1 Tablespoon worth of dough into balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes, and voila!
I adore these cookies, and they’re always such a crowd pleaser when I take them to get togethers!
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Makes 18 cookies
From AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
- In the bowl of a mixer (or in a medium-sized bowl) beat together cocoa, sugar, vanilla and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into wet ingredients in 3 batches, mixing until just combined in between each batch. Cover the dough and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out 1 Tablespoon dough, roll it into a ball between your palms and roll in powdered sugar. Place on a non-stick sprayed, or parchment paper lined, baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
The insides of these cookies are dense like fudge, which I just can’t get enough of. MMMM!
Fa-la-la-la-lahhh-la-la-la-getinmymouth! 
Month of Holiday Giveaways
The lucky, soon to be even more on the move, winner of the Fitbit Ultra Giveaway is…
Amy: I have been doing at least 50+ push-ups everyday for the last 2 years-though maybe it’s time to up that to 100!
Congratulations Amy! Email your full name, address and ph# to IowaGirlEats@gmail.com, and we’ll get that out to you. To everyone else, keep on keepin’ on. Steps still count even if they’re not officially counted!
20 Day Holiday Workout Challenge
Uggghhhhh, it’s happened. I missed yesterday’s workout for the 20 Day Holiday Workout Challenge. Things were going so well, too! I’m vowing to make it up this weekend, and started over by hitting the gym for a great sweat sesh tonight, beginning with this 40 Minute Treadmill Routine:
| Time: | Speed: | Incline: |
| 0-5 | 4.0 | 4% |
| 5-10 | 6.5 | 0% |
| 10-15 | 7.0 | 0% |
| 15-35 | repeat minutes 5-15, 2 more times | 0% |
| 35-40 | 4.0 | 4% |
| Total: | 4.1 miles |
Followed by18 tortuous minutes on the stair stepper. I think we might be close to breaking up.
| Time | Steps per minute |
| 1-3 | 70 |
| 3-5 | 80 |
| 5-6 | 90 |
| 6-18 | repeat minutes 1-6, two more times |
Back on the bandwagon and feelin’ groovy!
Off to tackle a to-do list a mile long – goodnight! 
~~~~~
What’s your favorite Christmas or holiday cookie?
[...] Christmas chocolate cookies by Iowa Girl Eats look super [...]
[...] were all practically family). Iowa Girl Eats made some that are very similar to what I make… Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. They look great That post reminded me that I should make the Snowflake cookies. I think I will [...]
I made these delicious babies and although they turned out tasting delectable I had a few problems with them. Most of my powdered sugar “melted off” or absorbed into the cookie so it was not nearly as white and snowy and yours. Also, the bottom of my cookies burnt and I only cooked them 8 minutes! It was weird though because the rest of the cookie was cooked perfectly! Any suggestions? I also stuck a mint truffle hersheys kiss in the middle after it was baked but right when it came out so it melted into the middle – I reccommend it!
I really rolled my cookies into the powdered sugar so there was a lot. Also, some ovens cook hotter than others, so you may want to bake them for a little less time!
[...] Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Hello and happy holidays, This Heart of Mine readers! [...]
[...] Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (Iowa Girl Eats) [...]
The dough tastes great but when I went to roll them the dough was SO sticky I could barely get it off my fingers and the spoon, let alone roll it in the powdered sugar. Suggestion? Is it supposed to be like this and as you roll in the sugar (like flour when you have sticky bread dough) kind of smoothes it out?? Or is the dough itself too sticky?
The dough is sticky, but it should be ok if you refrigerate it long enough. Maybe try sticking it in the freezer for while?
Just made these after leaving the dough to refrigerate over night. So, so good and so easy. Now having to make another batch because I’m pretty sure these have zero chance of lasting longer than tonight in my house!
[...] first batch of cookies, which were Iowa Girl Eats’ Chocolate Crinkle Cookies turned out amazing [...]
Already made one batch of these and about to make another. YUM.These and my dark chocolate almond bark are killing me this year. Might have to register for that 15k in Feb. after all.
[...] off the meal with these delightfully fudgy, sugary, chewy cookies. Decadence in small [...]
[...] made these cookies a couple of times over Christmas & saw them evaporate from the serving plate in a matter of [...]
Hello I.G.,
Just found your link on recipe.com (I had no idea it has “do follows” on it). I’m going to have to leave my link there too.
Just wanted to say if your cookies taste as good as they look, then they’ve got to be de-lish!
I’m gonna have to try ‘em.
Awesome blog, btw.
[...] Christmas chocolate cookies by Iowa Girl Eats look super [...]
[...] morning. I’d found this recipe a little while back on one of my favourite food blogs ‘Iowa Girl Eats‘. They just looked so pretty and seemed surprisingly easy to make so I wanted to give it a [...]