I love the holidays.  For the first time in a long while, I’ve been home for the holidays and fully able to enjoy the prep – baking, gift wrapping, decorating, and entertaining.  We got a tree (fake), centerpieces (leftover wedding + dollar store), cool wrapping paper (silver + black),  and most of the gifts  are done.  I even snuck in a week in Punta Cana for my cousin’s wedding last week.  And now, it’s time to bake Chocolate Crinkles – a truffle-y rich cookie to put under the tree for Santa.

Before going gluten free, I used to make these amazing chewy chocolate cookies by the talented Anna Olsen. I loved her show ‘Sugar’ on the Food Network and remember loving the dreamy white set.  She made it look so simple and even though it’s a few extra steps than say my Neiman Marcus cookies, they’re so decadent that it’s worth it.  There is only 1/2 a cup of flour in the original recipe which I swapped out for a GF combo of Bob’s GF All Purpose Flour mix, coconut flour and xanthum gum.

To make this recipe mostly dairy-free, I swapped the butter for heart-healthy coconut oil.  Chopping the chocolate helps it melt quickly over the double boiler.  A double boiler is just a heatproof bowl set over a pot with about a 1″ or so of lightly simmering water.  The steam from the water heats the bowl, melting the chocolate delicately.  It’s important not to let the water touch the bottom of the bowl or the chocolate will get weird and nasty.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and let it cool down.  Next up is prepping the egg mixture.  A stand mixer is great but if you don’t have one, no worries.  A hand mixer will work great and burn a few extra calories too.  Just keep whipping until the egg mixture is pale and thick.

After you have the egg mixture ready, it’s time to add in the melted chocolate.  Whisk in together until fully incorporated.  I love the swirly pattern – so pretty.

Next up it’s time to add in the dry ingredients.  Mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk and add into the chocolate egg mixture.   Cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 4 hours.  I know I know, it’s a lifetime to wait for cookies.  I’m all for instant gratification, especially after all that melting and stirring (and dirty dishes) so  I cheat and wait 2 hours, bake up about a dozen, and put the rest of the batter back in the fridge to fully chill.

These cookies are pretty rich so I like to keep them fairly small and dainty so I use a melon baller to scoop out the chilled dough.  Roll into balls and then gently roll in some icing sugar and voila, they are ready to bake.

This makes a pretty big batch of cookies (especially if you make little ones) so it’s perfect for your cookie plate or gifting.  I know it seems like a lot of steps, and truthfully, it is.  So give yourself enough time, make sure your ingredients are all sorted out, and blast those Christmas carols and give it a go.  They’re a real treat whether you’re gluten-free or not since you can’t even tell they’re GF. These crinkles are so rich they’re naughty and so gluten-free they’re nice.