Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

CHOCOLATE CRINKLE COOKIES 

Cook's Notes: I loved these cookies, which taste like a brownie, crispy on the outside with a chewy inside. A dusting of powdered sugar gives them a festive snowball look. Check out some cooking tips for making these cookies at the end of the recipe.
The recipe was adapted from cafedelites.com and makes 15 cookies.
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil 
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar (for coating)
• Optional 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

• In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.
• In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until a dough forms (do not overbeat). Cover the bowl with a wrap and put it in the freezer for an hour.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets or baking trays with parchment paper. Roll 2 tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Make sure hands are floured for easier rolling. 
• Add the confectioners' sugar to a smaller bowl. Generously and evenly coat each ball of dough in confectioners' sugar and place onto prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven for 9 to 10 minutes. The cookies will come out soft from the oven, but will harden up as they cool.
• Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool. Use a sifter and sprinkle baked cookies with more confectioners' sugar.

Cooking Tips:

• Make sure you start with room temperature ingredients so the oil and egg mix together more easily.
• Use Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder instead of Dutch process cocoa powder.
• Make sure you chill the cookie dough in the freezer for at least an hour, as the dough is super sticky and easier to manage once it has been chilled (the longer, the better). Chilling also ensures thicker cookies with a fudgy texture and less spreading while baking.
• Once they are rolled into balls and placed onto your baking sheet, there is no need to press them down. They will naturally bake into shape.
• Cookies will be super soft when they come out of the oven and harden as they cool. If you bake them for too long, the centers will not be fudgy.