This Easy Cookie Exchange Recipe Dominates The Dessert Table Every Time

If I got to choose my final meal on Earth, I have no idea what the main course would consist of, but dessert would be a Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Lovers slice-n-bake cookie. There’s just no better sweet treat, and while I have tried and tried, I can’t seem to make a homemade one that doesn’t turn into a hockey puck. But the one time a year I shlep out my baking stuff? To make this super easy cookie exchange recipe: peppermint chocolate crinkle cookies, adapted (just barely) from Jen Tilley’s recipe on How To: Simplify.

The first year I ever did a cookie exchange — at my first big girl writing job in an office and everything — I wanted to find a Christmas cookie recipe that was delicious and impossible to screw up. I don’t cook or bake often, and when I do, I’d like it to be over quickly. So as I scrolled Pinterest, these snowball-esque crinkle cookies caught my eye, both because they’re cute and the blog’s name spoke to my priority: simplify.

So I made these crinkle cookies and they were remarkably easy. Better yet, they were freakin’ good. I got so many compliments on them, and they traveled really well on my commute to work — no crazy breakage or messed up cookies I’d be embarrassed to trade away. I’ve made them again and again for cookie exchanges ever since. They’re so easy, but people love the damn things. This year, an acquaintance actually questioned me twice about whether I really made these crinkle cookies myself because she said they looked “professional.” So, you know, move over Betty Crocker.

These crinkle cookies have a special softness that makes them much more like a brownie in texture than your typical cookie, which doesn’t sound like the most Christmas-y treat on the planet. But, when you get home with a cookie tin full of sturdy gingerbread men and traditional shortbread meant for dunking in eggnog, having a melt-in-your-mouth little cakey boi in the mix is nice. Tilley’s original recipe is just for the crinkle cookies rolled in powdered sugar. Over the years, I’ve learned these little guys hold on to sprinkles just as well, and taste extra festive with a little peppermint kiss pressed into the top.

Peppermint Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• Assorted sprinkles
• Peppermint kiss candies

Directions

1. Mix together the cocoa powder, sugar, and vegetable oil in a large bowl.
2. Beat eggs into the cocoa mixture, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir this mixture into the cocoa mixture.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Fill shallow bowls with confectioners’ sugar and/or sprinkles.
7. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the confectioners’ sugar or sprinkles and place on the parchment paper.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to sit on cookie sheet for 1 to 2 minutes. Press a peppermint kiss into the center of each cookie while you wait. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Look at you! A baking icon! A Christmas cookie queen! Enjoy feeling like an All Star Baker with the easiest peppermint crinkle cookies ever.