These vegan and gluten-free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are gorgeous. Other than beautifully decorated sugar cookies, I think these might be the most aesthetically appealing Christmas cookie out there. They’re essentially a sugar coated brownie cookie. All you have to do is roll your cookie dough ball in some icing sugar, and let it bake! The beautiful crinkling happens when the cookies slowly spread during the baking process.
A Few Blog Updates
I’ve been working hard(ish) on my blog, but neglecting the recipe creating/posting a little because of it. If you use Pinterest, make sure to follow me over there as I am trying to be more active on Pinterest! It’s been really helpful in bringing more traffic to my blog, which is amazing! In November I also made some blog changes, which included changing my theme over and playing with fonts and layouts. It’s still not perfect as I am trying to learn as I go, but I am really proud of where I have come! It’s really satisfying learning how to make changes to my website.
I’ve also added ads. I really hope you, as readers, don’t mind! I’m trying to keep the ads in specific places and keep them to a minimum, but I am still learning how to use them so bear with me as I venture into this process.
A Few Life Updates
I’ve been sad. I know! It sucks, especially around the holidays. Not quite sure why, because sometimes there isn’t a why, but I just can’t seem to shake that dark cloud looming over me all day. I think the worst is that I’ve been waking up sad, so I start tackling that feeling right away and by the end of the day I’m exhausted. There may not be as many Christmas/Holiday recipes posted this month as I had hoped. But I know you folks won’t go without great recipes — there are so many amazing recipe developers out there to support!
My dreaded thesis is also looming over my head. Not quite sure why I can’t wrap my head around writing it — okay, I actually do have an idea as to why, but not quite sure I’m ready to share that yet. It’s weird cause the topic is amazing and I’m really passionate about it. So, please, send me all the positive thesis writing vibes this month if you can!
And Now Back To The Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies..
These are so great! I already mentioned how pretty they are, but they’re also pretty easy to throw together. I never eat or make brownies, I am pretty fussy when it comes to them. They are never something I crave or even really think about, to be honest. But, these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are making me re-consider my brownie aversion.
These have a nice little crunch on the outside and then are soft and chewy on the inside. They aren’t too sweet inside, and so that icing sugar exterior doesn’t make these too sweet. I didn’t put them in this recipe, because I haven’t tried it yet, but I would love to put mini chocolate chips in these crinkle cookies. Is there a thing as too much chocolate? Nope! Let me know if you make these into a double chocolate crinkle cookie — I would love to know what you think!
What Gluten-Free Flour To Use In These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies?
If you look at gluten-free flour blends, you might be surprised to find that they are not all the same. Take for example Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour blends. The “classic” all purpose blend, in the red bag, has a large quantity of bean flour. Whereas Bob’s 1 – 1 gluten-free flour replacement is largely rice flour.
This recipe calls for the all purpose blend, the bean-based blend in the red bag. I love chickpea flour, as you might know. But I use it in this recipe for a good reason. It gives a hearty, chewier texture to the cookie that you’d want from a brownie-like cookie. I’m not saying you shouldn’t or can’t try another blend — but I do really like this blend for this crinkle cookie!
Bake and Be Merry, my friends!
I hope you enjoy these vegan and gluten-free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies! They make such a wonderful addition to a platter of holiday cookies.
I hope your days have been brighter than mine have been. And if not, I suggest reaching out to a loved one and baking a batch of these vegan gluten-free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. If anything, maybe it’ll be a distraction for a little bit.
Try some other vegan gluten-free cookies:
You'll never know that these vegan gluten-free Crinkle Cookies aren't a classic recipe! They're chewy on the inside and pack a tun of chocolate flavour!
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup aquafaba (chickpea liquid)*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup Bob's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp I'm Free Gluten Replacement, or xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4-1/3 cup icing sugar, for rolling the cookies
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In a large bowl, mix together the cocoa, sugar, and oil until well combined.
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Add the aquafaba and vanilla.
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In another, medium sized bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, Gluten Replacement or xanthan gum, and salt.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
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Cover the bowl with saran and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the icing sugar in a small bowl.
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When the dough has chilled, roll the dough into 1 tbsp balls and then roll in the icing sugar, making sure to coat the balls generously.
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Place no more than 8 to 12 (depending on the size of your baking sheet) on the baking sheet. Don't flatten them!
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Bake the cookies for approximately 12-14 minutes. You'll want them to have spread a bit, but still have a nice rounded top. At 12 minutes the cookies will be softer, if you keep them in a bit longer, they'll have more crunch on the outside (but still be soft inside!)
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Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
*If you haven't used aquafaba before, don't worry! It's just the liquid from a can of chickpeas. No lie! Its something you'd throw out anyway, but it actually acts as an amazing egg replacer.
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Made these cookies today and they are fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoy them! Thanks 🙂
I got so many compliments and requests for these. They were easy and turned out great.
That’s great! Thank you for trying the recipe and I am so glad you could share the results 🙂
Can you substitute the aquafaba for another egg replacement?
I haven’t tried anything else in this recipe, but I think it would work! I would try a flax egg – 1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 4 tbsp water!
This recipe is everything it claims to be.! Gluten-free vegan baking can be disappointing but these cookies are ‘no fail’ and delicious. My daughter and I have both baked this recipe (using both types of Bob’s Red Mill flour and raw sugar). The results have been superb. We both take them to social gatherings and no one guesses they are Vegan, GF. Moreover we have had so many requests for the recipe!
Thank you so much! I am so glad to hear that you like them, and that others enjoy them too! 🙂
Can you freeze these?
I did freeze them with success last December! I found the texture changed slightly, but they were still delicious!
Holidays are always hard to get through in our own way. The exhaustion from all the extra energy expectations is exhilarating, unfortunately learning the slow aspect of the bodies learning mechanism has always been hard for most entities these days. Positive energy your way and may all your wishes and dreams come true today.
Thank you, Joshua. Sending the same positive energy back to you!
I recently discovered this recipe and have already made 3 batches! My new favorite
I’m so glad! 🙂 Thanks for trying it!!
Anyone will love these flavourful, delicious cookies.
Thank you! 🙂
Is it possible to make these just vegan and not gluten free?
I can’t guarantee it will work (I’m celiac so I never use regular flour), but you can certainly try! I would recommend starting with 1 cup of flour and omitting the tapioca, then see how the dough is and if it needs more flour add a tablespoon at a time. Hopefully that works!
If you use a gf flour that has xanthan gum in it, would you omit the additional xanthan gum?
Yes, you should omit the xanthan gum if your blend has it already. I should add that to the post – thank you!
Delicious and undetectable that they’re vegan and gf. Thank you!!
Thank you!! I’m glad you like them!
i need to use eggs. how many?
Hi, I don’t bake with eggs and this recipe was developed to not contain eggs. You could try swapping the aquafaba for an egg, but it might be best to find another recipe for crinkle cookies that contain eggs.
I made these and they are delicious. I substituted agar powder as I didnt have xanthum and it worked out.
I’m glad you like them! Thanks, Kim! 🙂
Can you make those dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge, if so how long?
You can leave it in the fridge for a couple days, you may need to let it rest on the counter a bit before rolling them out. For longer than that, I’d recommend rolling them and freezing them on a baking sheet for an hour, then placing them in a bag! They should last about a month in there. Bake for an extra couple minutes, or thaw the balls of cookie dough in the fridge on a baking sheet in advance of baking.
These smell delicious, but when I made the dough it was dry and crumby. I was able to squeeze the crumbs into a ball but then they didn’t spread at all in the oven. I followed the directions to a tee…..what could I be missing? Thank you!
I’m sorry to hear that! The dough shouldn’t be dry. My recommendation is to start with less flour next time. Also make sure you’re not packing the flour into the measuring cup – I use the fluff, scoop, and level method to make sure it doesn’t get packed! I hope that helps!
Thank you! I’ll try that. They are still delicious little balls! 🙂
This looks so good! What a great way to have some allergen friendly options on the cookie plate!
Thanks for sharing! Do they freeze well?
I have successfully frozen these cookies! I only had them in the freezer for a week or two, though. I have not tried longer than that.