These chocolate crinkle cookies are the perfect festive treat—crisp on the outside, soft and fudgy on the inside, and finished with a snowy dusting of icing sugar. They're simple to make and always a hit at Christmas gatherings or as part of a foodie gift box.
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Some of you may have seen the hashtag #foodiesecretsanta floating around on Instagram and Twitter in the last week.
If you were wondering what it is all about, wonder no longer.
I was sitting at my desk a few weeks ago, generally enjoying the fact that I wasn't in an office at the busiest time of the year then I got a little sad.
I realised, yet again, one of the only downsides (in my opinion) of working for yourself - no secret Santa.
I had to fix that. Straight away I sent at email to a few of my blogging buddies asking if they'd be interested in a foodie secret Santa and the response was a resounding yes.
So the rules were set. Each Santa was given three people to send homemade foodie gifts to and last week was unbelievably exciting when three days in a row the postman brought be gifts of food.
The first present I received was this amazing smelling chilli lime crumb. I'm very intrigued to try it on mango.
I'm embarrassed to say that the gingerbread biscotti disappeared in quick succession.
I'm thinking that the gingerbread syrup will go nicely through a batch of ice-cream to make gingerbread ice-cream.
Now I wish I'd saved some biscotti to crumble on top.
On the last day I got this beautiful box filled with choc-dipped candied oranges. Now these go nicely on ice-cream and would have been beautiful on a cake had they lasted long in my kitchen.
Now I know what you're thinking 'Claire if you organised it then don't you know who your Santas are?'
In all honesty, I did it all in an excel spreadsheet and just copied and pasted without really looking and by the time the gifts arrived I had no idea who had me.
So you guys could get a little bit of foodie secret Santa fun too, I thought it would be nice for all the Santas to share their recipes this week so down the bottom of this post you'll find a little linky party.
Be sure to have a hop around if you're in need of some homemade gift inspiration.
If you have a blog and are sharing a foodie gift recipe this week then please feel free to join in too.
Next year I will organise it a little earlier and expand the Santas (it was a bit too last minute to be huge this year).
What did I give my recipients? Well there's a bit of a story. I thought that I was making one of my favourites - chocolate crinkles.
When I took the first batch out of the oven, all I had was a giant, flat slab of crinkled cookies. Not cool.
For the second batch, I made the balls really small (about Malteaser size) and cooked them a little longer and what emerged from the oven was crispy, light cookies that were a little meringue-like. I'd have loved to send my favourites but at this stage I had no time to find a new recipe and still really liked the new biscuit.
Unfortunately they're best eaten on the day of baking.
When I came home from the post office I had a leftover biscuit for morning tea and while it was still tasty, it was rather on the chewy side.
Sorry guys! Lucky I posted another little goodie with the biscuits (recipe coming soon).
If you decide to bake them, serve them on the same day. If you really want to make little pillow chocolate crinkle cookies the way they're meant to be, Mother Thyme has a wonderful looking recipe. Enjoy!
Recipe
Chocolate crinkle cookies
Ingredients
- 120 g 4oz dark chocolate
- 125 g ½ cup butter
- 3 free-range eggs lightly beaten
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups plain AP flour
- ⅔ cup icing confectioners sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring until smooth.
- Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar, baking powder, vanilla and salt.
- Slowly add the chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
- With the motor running on low, gradually add the flour and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170C (375F) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Pour the icing sugar into a bowl.
- Working with a teaspoon of dough at a time, roll it into malteaser-sized balls and toss in icing sugar to coat.
- Place the dough balls on the trays leaving 3cm between each one.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Leave to rest on the trays for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Catherine says
What a gorgeous idea! May I put my hand up to play next year? Happy to help organise, too...
Catherine (catescates.com.au)
Claire says
Sure can Catherine!
Cate @ Chez CateyLou says
What a great idea to do a foodie secret santa! I definitely want to join in the fun next year! And your crinkle cookies look absolutely amazing! Yum!!
Claire says
Thanks Cate. It was lots of fun. Love to have you next year!
erin @ she cooks, she gardens says
Hey Claire, thanks so much for organising this and for the gorgeous cookies. It has been wonderful to receive all these lovely gifts the last few days, next year I am going to be a lot better prepared! :)
Claire says
Thanks for being a part of it Erin!
JJ - 84thand3rd says
Thank you for the lovely cookies and that fabulous lemon and rosemary salt! Glad you enjoyed the Gingerbread Biscotti and yes, that syrup would be fabulous on ice cream :D Happy Holidays!
Claire says
You're very welcome JJ. Thank you again for the gingerbread goodies. You'll see from today's post they were just perfect!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
I really wish that I could have "played" this year! But next year with a bit more notice and I'd love to :D
Claire says
Definitely Lorraine!
Ayesha (Miss Spicy Hat n' Sugar Socks) says
Lovely/scrummy ideas for gifts....!
Claire says
Thanks Ayesha!
Jess says
So fun! You make me wish I had been more organized and done this with Bangkok foodies. It was nice to live vicariously through your haul though!
Claire says
Well next year you can do one in the US! You're welcome to join in the hop if you have a sharable recipe this week. x
Hotly Spiced says
Thanks for all your efforts in organising this. I was thrilled that you're my Santa. I loved the presentation of the gifts with the gorgeous box and the lovely DIY gift tag. I wouldn't worry about the crunch of the cookies - it was the flavour we were after and they were wonderful xx
Claire says
I'm so glad Charlie! Next year I'll consider the humidity! x
Kyrstie @ A Fresh Legacy says
Thanks so much for organising such a fun activity Claire, I really enjoyed getting my gifts in the mail and of course working on a recipe to send out too. Your cookies sound lovely, I am sure that they made the journey fine and will be enjoyed - things always taste better when someone else makes them anyway ;-)
Claire says
Thank you for being part of it Kyrstie! Your treat looked wonderful too. That's true about other people's baking.
Lisa the Gourmet Wog says
oh this was so much fun! thanks so much for organising Claire!
mmmm these look so yum too!!
Claire says
Thank you for being part of it and thank you for my delicious gift!
lizzie - strayed from the table says
Claire, thanks so much for organising #foodiesecretsanta. Look forward to checking out the other blogs recipes and find out who my santas are. Such Fun.
Have a wonderful Christmas and look forward to doing this all again next year.
Claire says
Thanks for being part of it Lizzie! I'm looking forward to it too!
The Life of Clare says
These look wonderful. I make a very similar looking chocolate biscuit. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that my treats arrive today.
Claire says
I hope so Clare. I know one that is on its way. The post is always a little slow this time of year unfortunately.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
This was great fun, Claire. I'm looking forward to my mailbox check this morning. I'll give your crinkly cookies a try!
Claire says
Hope you get some great goodies Maureen!