Mid afternoon blog break! - Dipped Chocolate Crinkle Cookies!

Today is my Christmas baking extravaganza: Virginia edition (for I am sure that I will also have a Florida edition in just mere days!). And as my gingerbread dough chills in the fridge, I thought I'd check in.

This morning I made cake balls, which you already know about.
And the oatmeal cookies you saw here.
But I also made these heavenly chocolate crinkle cookies dipped in melted white chocolate with crushed candy cane pieces mixed in. Yum!

So I'll go ahead and blog the recipe and then get started on those gingerbread men!














Oh My Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour (or all all purpose if you're not cookie challenged like me)
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix these dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Meanwhile, gather these ingredients:

• 16 oz. semisweet chocolate (I used Baker's - sometimes chocolate chips can melt funny in this large of a quantity) in chunks
• 10 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (*I left these out because I was planning to dip my cookies in melted white chocolate and didn't want those eating my cookies to have their teeth fall out! However, the chips would be heavenly!)

I'll share with you how I did this and then you can decide what method works for you.
I put a pot on the stove on the lowest heat setting. Then I threw in my semi-sweet chocolate chunks (not chips) and let them begin melting as I combined my melted butter with the 2 sugars, mixing with an electric mixer until smooth.

Going back to the stove, I have the chocolate a few good stirs (not melted completely yet!) and then lightly beat my 4 eggs and vanilla together and poured into my sugar mixture, beating until well incorporated. By the time I was finished with this step, my chocolate was melted and so I poured it in and beat until combined. If you're using them, stir in your chocolate chips.

*Now, chocolate is finicky and burns easily, so if you do it "my" way, make sure you keep a good eye on your chocolate. Because it's a full 16 oz, it does take a while to fully melt. But you could also melt your chocolate, set aside and then: mix your butter/sugars together, lightly beat the eggs/vanilla and add, and stir in your melted chocolate and then the chips. -Or you can make up a way that works for you!

Regardless, at this point refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Once dough is ready, roll into balls (the general size of the cookie you want: they don't spread out very much) and bake about 10 minutes. Just until the edges are set. The middles might seem goey still, but they firm up as they cool.

You can stop there, OR:
Then, melt some white chocolate (to coat all of them I used about 16-20 oz of white chocolate bark, but I melted it a little at a time to make sure I wasn't wasteful) on low in a saucepan on the stove.

Crush up some candy canes or starlight peppermints (until you have the desired amount - I had my dearest hubby crush 6 candy canes and it was perfect). Stir those candy cane pieces into your melted chocolate and begin dipping!

Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, sprinkle with festive sprinkles if desired, and chill until set. Yum!