Chocolate Mint Crinkles

Recipe Ingredients

Let's dive into what makes these Chocolate Mint Crinkles so irresistible! Each ingredient plays a vital role in creating the perfect balance of flavor and texture.

All-Purpose Flour: This is the foundation. It gives the cookies their structure, ensuring they hold their shape while maintaining a soft bite.

Unsweetened Baking Cocoa: The cocoa is what gives these crinkles their deep, rich, chocolatey goodness.

Baking Powder: The secret to the signature crinkle. This leavening agent helps the cookies rise and crackle beautifully in the oven.

Salt: Just a pinch balances the sweetness and brings out the full depth of the chocolate.

Granulated Sugar: It not only sweetens the cookies but also helps create that delightful crackled surface.

Vegetable Oil: For a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The oil adds moisture, making these cookies incredibly soft and chewy.

Peppermint Extract: This is what gives these cookies their signature chocolate mint flavor, creating a delightful contrast.

Powdered Sugar: The snowy magic! Rolling the dough in powdered sugar before baking creates that iconic crackled exterior, making these cookies visually stunning.

HERSHEY'S KISSES: The crowning glory! A creamy, pepperminty surprise in the center of each cookie, adding the perfect finishing touch.

Other Ingredients You’ll Need: Eggs, vanilla extract.

How to Make Chocolate Mint Crinkles

Here are the essential steps for making Chocolate Mint Crinkles. See the full recipe below for all the details.

1. Make Your Dough

It's important to mix your dry and wet ingredients separately before bringing them together. Think of granulated sugar as a 'wet' ingredient in this recipe. It needs to dissolve fully into the oil and eggs to create a smooth, emulsified base.

2. Combine and Chill the Dough

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. You must chill the dough for at least 2 hours. Skipping or shortening this chilling time is the number one reason for failure. Dough that isn't chilled will be a sticky, unmanageable mess that is impossible to roll, and the cookies will spread into thin, flat discs in the oven. 

3. Shape and Coat

Roll and shape the dough into balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar to evenly coat. The powdered sugar is what creates the beautiful white "crinkle" effect against the dark chocolate cookie as it bakes. Don't be shy with it! Also, proper spacing is important to prevent the cookies from baking into each other as they spread.

4. Bake and Add Candy

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the dough no longer looks wet in the crack. Immediately press the candies into the center of each cookie. Don’t wait until they cool!

5. Cool

Cool cookies for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack. Cool until candy is set.

How to Store Chocolate Mint Crinkles

To keep your leftover Chocolate Mint Crinkles fresh and delicious, here's how you should store them.

Room Temperature

The key to maintaining freshness is an airtight container. This prevents the cookies from drying out and losing their soft, chewy texture. A container with a tight-fitting lid, a resealable plastic bag, or a cookie jar with a good seal will work well. Store up to 4 days.

Freezer

For longer storage, you can freeze the cookies. Place them in a freezer-safe container or bag, and they can last for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature before enjoying.