These gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies are chocolatey, fudgy, and totally irresistible! These cookies have soft centers with crackly edges. It’s like eating a fudge brownie packed inside a cute little cookie. This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosures.
The holidays are here, so it’s time to make classic chocolate crinkle cookies, only without the gluten.
Gluten is an essential ingredient in holiday baking as it offers baked goods stretch, texture, and structure. Without the sticky protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oats, baked goods could literally fall apart.
But these crinkle cookies don’t crumble because they’re made with a special flour blend that mimics the taste and texture of wheat flour.
Typically you don’t want your cookies to crack, but in the case of crinkle cookies, the crack is what makes these crinkle cookies special. As the cookies expand during baking, the out shell bakes, and you wind up with a beautiful crinkle cookie that is soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside.
These crinkle cookies are coated in powdered sugar, making it look wintery, festive, and perfect for your holiday cookie exchanges. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Crinkle Cookies
To make these yummy, fudgy and perfect gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies, you’ll need a few key ingredients:
Gluten-Free Flour: It’s important to use a blend of gluten-free flours and starches to ensure a chewy and fudgy cookie. I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend to make this recipe, as it mimics the taste and texture of wheat flour well.
Unsweetened Cacao Powder: I recommend using cacao powder to give these gluten-free crinkle cookies their chocolate flavor. Cacao powder is made from raw fermented cacao beans, while cocoa powder is made from roasted cacao beans, which means it’s more bitter in taste. However, cacao powder is a good source of important trace minerals such as magnesium, selenium, manganese, and chromium, and a good source of antioxidants, so it’s clearly the superior choice.
You could use cocoa powder instead of cacao powder, but please note that cacao powder absorbs less liquid than cocoa powder, so when using cocoa powder, you may want to add a bit more oil to the mixture.
Vegetable Oil: You might be surprised to find that this recipe is made with oil vs. butter. I usually always use butter in cookie recipes, but this recipe is moister and more tender with oil. Choose a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, like avocado oil (which is what I use), canola oil, grapeseed oil, or sunflower oil. Learn more about cooking oils in this article.
Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar, also known as icing sugar and confectioner’s sugar, is a must in this recipe as it adds a beautiful snow-like coating to the cookies. Plus, the cacao powder is a bit bitter, so the powdered sugar will add an essential touch of sweetness to the overall cookie. If you’re looking to avoid corn products, please note that most powdered sugar contains cornstarch. However, you can find powdered sugar made with tapioca starch.
Other Essentials: You’ll also need eggs, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract to make these delicious crinkle cookies.
How to Make Gluten-Free Crinkle Cookies
To make gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies, start by combining your sugar and vegetable oil in a bowl. Whisk it together until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, and salt, then add the dry ingredients to the oil mixture and stir well to incorporate all the ingredients. Continue to mix the ingredients for one minute, by hand, until you have a thick sticky batter.
Cover the batter and place it in your fridge to chill for 1-2 hours or overnight. The dough will be easier to work with once it’s chilled, and chilling allows the wet ingredients to absorb the dry ingredients better.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat your oven to 350º F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
Lightly wet your hands, then use a spoon or cookie scooper to grab a 1-1.5″ ball of dough. Roll it into a ball, then place it on a piece of plastic wrap.
Dip each ball of dough into a bowl of powdered sugar, coating the cookie completely. Then place the round cookie on the prepared baking sheet. Do not flatten the cookies. They will spread and crack as they bake.
Repeat until all the cookies are coated in powdered sugar, and you have 12 cookies on your baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes and allow them to cool for 5 minutes on your baking sheet before putting them on a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy immediately or store them in a sealed container for 4-5 days at room temperature.
Why We Love These Cookies
We love these crinkle cookies for so many reasons:
They Have a Great Texture: The texture is a mixture of a soft and fudgy brownie and a soft-baked chocolate cookie. You’ll love the pillowy and tender inside while enjoying a slight crunch from the outside.
They Taste Incredible: These are fudgy and bursting with bitter and sweet notes of chocolate. You’ll find that the cookies are slightly sweet but not overly sugary.
They’re Festive and Cute: These gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies are adorable and festive. They are perfect for the winter holidays and Christmas cookie exchanges. No one even has to know the gluten is missing – shhh!
Troubleshooting, Substitutes, and FAQs
Flour: I’ve only tested this flour with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend. If you use another flour blend, make sure it includes xanthan gum, an essential binder in gluten-free baking, or add 1/2 tsp of it. Without xanthan gum, the cookies would literally crumble!
Dairy-Free: This recipe is dairy free. Cacao powder contains no dairy. Cocoa powder is typically gluten free, although some brands add milk. Read ingredient labels carefully. I recommend Navitas cacao powder.
Egg-Free: I have not tested this recipe without eggs, but if you try it, I recommend using 2 flax eggs. To make each flax egg, combine 1 tbsp flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water and allow it to sit for five minutes until it forms a gel. Remember to double the recipe, as the recipe calls for two eggs.
Classic Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil I used avocado oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend 148 grams
- 1/2 cup cacao powder see notes if using cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Topping
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar for coating each cookie
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the oil until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk together for 1 minute until smooth.
- Sift the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, and salt in a second bowl. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix [with a spoon] until well combined. Continue to mix the ingredients, by hand, for 1 minute to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Cover the bowl with the batter and place it in your fridge to chill for 1-2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350º F and prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Roll the dough into 12 evenly-sized rounded balls (about 1" to 1.5" balls). Lightly wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to them. You could also use a cookie scooper to help shape the dough. Place each dough ball on a piece of plastic wrap.
- Roll each dough ball in the powdered sugar and then place each cookie on your baking sheet 1-1.5 inches apart. Do not flatten the dough. The cookies will spread.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, then remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve immediately or store in a sealed container for 3-4 days at room temperature.
I’ve made these twice.I know
you said don’t flatten but I do. They are delious! Thank you.
Did you make any changes? They are soft and fudgy every time I make them.
I just made these and they weren’t fudgey and chewy like I thought. It was pretty disappointing.
These cookies were so good, light yet fudgy, not too sweet! I took them to a gathering and no one could tell that they were gluten free, always a plus. The dough is very sticky, but the cookies turn out just fine!
just made these for my daughter who is gluten intolerant. They are really good! Thanks
Donna
I haven’t tried it but I think it could work. Give it a try and let me know 🙂
Do you think this would work with an egg substitute? Like a chia or gelatin egg?
Fixed. Apologies