Chocolate Crinkles

One evening, Husband was craving for something sweet and suddenly asked me to bake him cookies, specifically chocolate crinkles. I said sure and went to the net to search for the easiest recipe. For testing my first try on popular treats, I try to use some recipes found on this site. The description, tips and instructions are fairly simple to understand plus it uses weights as I don't rely on volumes. 

After an hour, we had freshly baked cookies! I love that it’s fudgy and very chocolaty albeit not overwhelming sweet since I used bittersweet chocolate and used less sugar. It's a little soft and delicate so if you want one that is a little crunchy on the side I think you may need to lengthen the time in the oven by 5-8 more minutes. We like our chocolate crinkles fudgy so this one sits very well on our palate.  Anyway, everyone loved it so much I had to literally take the plate away from Husband and Toddler otherwise they would have finished the whole lot in one sitting. Not kidding. 

Before going to be bed that night, I thought to myself, WOW! I mean come on, if Husband asked me a year ago, I would have gone crazy and asked him to just buy at the grocery. I feel so empowered knowing that I can simply bake goodies in such as short notice. I've had my share of catastrophes in the kitchen being I am still a novice when it comes to baking. But those disasters made me want to bake more. So to all the novice bakers out there, keep the faith. We would eventually get there. We just need to keep in mind that practice makes perfect. You never know when spur of the moment baking can result in scrumptious treats!

Chocolate Crinkles

recipe from Joy of Baking

• 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
• 8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar, I used around 80grams only
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Topping - 1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Instruction

1. In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight).
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, and then roll each ball in the sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
6. Bake cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.
7. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.