These Chocolate Fudge Crinkle Cookies are naturally gluten-free and full of gooey chocolate! These fudgy cookies are completely flourless and dairy-free, and will be a new favorite whether you’re gluten-free or not.
So I recently wrote about how I’ve been eating healthier, and then I show up with these decadent cookies…which are probably one of the less healthy things I’ve eaten as of late. However, as decadent as they look, these Chocolate Fudge Crinkle Cookies are completely gluten-free and flourless, so that gives them a few bonus points in the “health” department — and they get a million more bonus points for being so delicious. Besides these cookies, as far as healthy eating goes, I’ve been doing pretty darn well!
I’ve discovered the joys of grains: quinoa, farro, and brown rice have all made their way into my pantry and I’ve been having so much fun discovering different ways to use them. I’ll definitely be sharing some recipes using those soon enough. Healthy eating really is not too hard once you stick to it – spices and herbs have become my best friends. They make everything taste wonderful and so flavorful, without all the grease, sugar, and white carbs that typically make food taste good.
With the right recipes, eating well makes me feel better, look better, and it tastes better. I’m loving it. These cookies, although not healthy, are really darn good. They are deep, rich, fudgy, and so ridiculously chocolatey. I was content with half a cookie – seriously. Right out of the oven, there is nothing better. They were gooey and the melted chocolate was dripping all over. It was chocolate heaven!
You won’t need too more ingredients to make these, either! Just these (most of which you probably already have in your pantry):
- Chocolate Chips – I like Enjoy Life Brand and Santa Barbara Chocolate
- Egg Whites
- Powdered Sugar
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Cornstarch
- Sea Salt
- Coconut Oil Spray (or another non-stick spray)
My dad is a complete chocoholic and he declared these close to the best, if not the best cookies he’s ever had. Whip these up for your gluten-free (and non-gluten-free) chocoholic friends and they’ll be praising the ground you walk on for weeks! I hope you try these out and enjoy!
Chocolate Fudge Crinkle Cookies (GF)
Ingredients
- Non-stick oil spray
- 1½ cups bittersweet chocolate chips about 9 ounces, divided
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar divided
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch see Notes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray.
- Place 1 cup of chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds, stir. Heat in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely smooth. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in ½ cup powdered sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme.
Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in separate bowl. On low speed, beat the dry ingredients into the egg white meringue. Once it is fully incorporated, add the lukewarm chocolate and ½ cup chocolate chips. Dough will become very stiff. If your dough seems loose at all, I recommend refrigerating the dough for at least a half hour to help it firm up before rolling into balls.
Place ½ cup powdered sugar in bowl. Roll 1 rounded tablespoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart.
- Bake until puffed and tops crack, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe Notes
Cornstarch can be replaced with tapioca or arrowroot starch to keep it grain-free.
What you’ll need:
uTry.it says
Oh my…these cookies looks so good! I don’t care if they are a little or a lot on the unhealthy side, a girl gotta indulge in some chocolate every once in a while! :) I’ll do the workout later on! hahaha….
Love and Zest says
your photography is beautiful! i really love that middle photo.
Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray says
Yum! Can’t wait to try these for one of my good friends who is gluten-free. :)
brighteyedbaker says
I must say, I’m pretty tempted by the fudginess of these cookies, as well as the fact that they’re free of flour. I’m still trying to find the perfect chocolaty double chocolate cookie – these might be it!
Sam says
Just made these cookies and they are delicous! I had to subsitute flour for corn starch but they still came out great! Definitely recommend them to everyone who loves choclate! :)
Rachel Conners says
Glad you enjoyed them! I’m tempted to make them again from hearing you remind me of how good they are :)
Jen @ The Scrumptious Pumpkin says
These cookies are so pretty and they sound so delicious. Pinning this one for sure! :)
April says
You literally just saved Christmas! These are even better than their gluten counterparts. Many, many, MANY thanks!!!
Danielle Murdoch says
I cooked these last night and they ended up flopping. I was just wondering what I did wrong? The look so good I want to make them again but turn out perfectly!? BTW – I am beating the eggs with an egg beater not an electrical one.
Rachel Conners says
Hi Danielle, sorry you’re having issues! I think the problem may be that since you’re beating the eggs with an eggbeater which takes longer, they may not be getting to the consistency that they need to be to maintain their shape. The egg whites and sugar should be very thick and pure white before you add the other ingredients, and it should stay very thick after adding them. Hope this helps!
AngelicaDawn says
Thanks for sharing this recipe. This is my second gluten-free Christmas, and I was looking for a Chocolate Crinkle recipe. This isn’t exactly like my traditional recipe, but it looked intriguing so I decided to give it a try. They were a complete mess to make, but they are so delicious. I should have made a double-batch, because they’re going to be gone so quickly. The one thing I appreciate is that they are completely flourless and don’t call for xanthum gum which so many gluten free recipes need. I have family that are not gluten free but they don’t tolerate xanthum gum, so it’s nice to offer these as an option for them.
Merry Christmas!!
Mayan says
I tried this recipe and failed to come up with a solid cookie. All I got was chocolate goop (which was delicious) all over my baking sheet. I did everything as instructed. What could have I done wrong?
Rachel Conners says
Hi Mayan, thanks for trying the recipe, so sorry it didn’t work out for you! A few things could have happened, as this recipe is a bit finicky due to the lack of flour. First, it’s important that the chocolate isn’t too warm, or your dough will be too soft and melt too easily in the oven. If this is the case, pop the dough (pre-scooping) into the fridge to set up and chill for 15-30 minutes before forming the dough. The same thing could also occur if your kitchen is too warm. Make sure the dough is chilled, again, and work quickly! Finally, make sure your oven is on the right temperature and fully preheated before you put them in the oven. I hope these tips helped – let me know how it goes if you try them again! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know the issue. :) Have a good day!
Mayan says
I will give this a try again. I do have another question, though. Does powdered sugar mean confectioner’s sugar (with cornstarch) or simply pure sugar in powder form? Thanks, Ms. Rachel.
Rachel Conners says
Powdered sugar refers to confectioner’s sugar, or also sometimes called icing sugar.
Amanda says
IS there any way for you to somehow add that note to the main recipe? The exact same thing happened to me. I’d almost include refrigerating the dough as part of the method. Double batch of chocolate pancakes, anyone?
Rachel says
Hi Amanda, so sorry for your trouble! I’ll add a note to the main recipe right now to chill the dough. Hope they still tasted good, and again, so sorry they didn’t work out as you expected – I know how frustrating that can be!
Gaia says
Hi, I just attempted to make these cookies but failed miserably. i replaced cornstarch with flour as mentioned in the comments. after beating the eggs the mixture looked perfect however when combining the rest of the ingredients the mixture was not dough-like at all. so they look now like standard (huge) chocolate chip cookies. what could have went wrong? thanks!
Rachel Conners says
Hi Gaia, unfortunately I’m not sure what would have caused this because I wasn’t in the kitchen with you and a number of things could have happened! Since it seems like the mixture wasn’t thick enough (correct me if I’m wrong) it could be that the chocolate was too warm when you added it, sort of “melting” the rest of the ingredients. A runny dough can be salvaged with some time in the refrigerator to help firm it back up. Hope this helps, let me know if you have another other comments, questions, or concerns.
Iane says
Hi, Rachel! It’s me who sent you an email last year regarding crinkles spreading out on the baking tray. It is only now that I realized that what made my supposed-to-be dough a batter was that I melted all the chocolate morsels, so there was an increase in liquid. I don’t remember having solid chocolate prior to baking. On a lighter note, I was able to make chocolate cupcakes out of the remaining batter. I only added about 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of milk. Voila! Fluffy Chocolate Cupcakes!
I’m sorry I didn’t read well your recipe. My bad. This is a lesson learned for me. :)
Rachel Conners says
Hi Iane! That would definitely make the batter a lot runnier – so glad that you made the best of it though! :) Chocolate cupcakes are never a bad thing. Thanks for letting me know, and I hope you’ll try the cookies again sometime.
Mindy says
How are these cookies the next day after baking?
Rachel Conners says
Hi Mindy! They’ll stay good for about 5 days when sealed in an airtight container. Hope you like them!
Kerri says
I tried baking these and they turned into a gloppy chocolately mess! (Don’t worry still ate the glops) I am at a high altitude and that always requires me to add more flour in order for anything to rise. That being said, I wasn’t surprised a flourless recipe turned into a flat melted chocolate mess! They were still tasty though!
Rachel Conners says
Hi Kerri – I don’t have much experience with high altitude baking, but I’m glad you figured out that was the issue. Despite being a chocolate mess, I’m glad it was still a delicious chocolate mess!
Annie says
These cookies are AMAZING. I made them for my gluten intolerant friend and they were eaten up by everyone in ten minutes. I wrote about them at scantronsandscones.wordpress.com
Thanks for sharing this! They are delicious topped with sea salt! YUM.
Rachel Conners says
Hi Annie, I’m so glad you and your friend liked them!! The sprinkle of sea salt is genius – totally trying that next time I make these. Thanks for writing about them on your blog, I’ll check it out. Happy New Year! :)
Andrea Tiffany says
hi, just wanted to let you know that this recipe was very tasty! but, it did take about three tries to get it right. maybe it was the climate and temperature at the various times i made them but it took several tries for the consistency to be right. the first time, the cookies ended up very dense and fudgy. the second time they were a bit better. the third time they were pure heaven!
thanks for sharing the recipe
Rachel says
Hi Andrea – thanks for letting me know! I appreciate your feedback and I’ll work on the recipe to try to figure out some of the inconsistencies and how to make it so they turn out great every time :)
Georgiacaroline says
I just made these cookies and oh my! Delightful! My first batch ran pretty flat so I stuck the second pan in the fridge first and they did a little better. Later, I was writing down the recipe (because I will definitely be making them again!) and I realized the ingredient list calls for two cups of powdered sugar divided, however the steps only call for rolling the dough balls in 1/2 cup of the sugar. I wondered if there is suppose to be powdered sugar in the mixture as well as outside?
Rachel says
Hi Georgia, glad you enjoyed the cookies! The recipe calls for powdered sugar three times: 1/2 cup added to the egg whites, 1 cup whisked together with the cocoa powder, etc., and 1/2 cup to roll the cookies in. Hope this clears it up for you!
Nicki says
Just made these and they came out beautifully and are delicious! Not perfectly circular like in the picture because I accidentally rolled the balls a little too big haha! Great recipe super easy – thank you so much :)
Rachel says
So glad they turned out well, Nicki. Nothing wrong with extra large cookies :) enjoy!
Leslie says
Just made these and not sure what to think. They look like the ones pictured but bite into one and you get a mouthful of chocolate goo.
Rachel says
Hi Leslie, sorry they weren’t what you were expecting! Is it possible you didn’t bake them long enough?
Melissa says
Just made these tonight and love them. Anyone know if can freeze the balls and bake later? Would love to just bake a few at a time.
Rachel says
Haven’t tried that with these cookies in particular but it works for pretty much all my other recipes, so that should be just fine! You might need to add an extra minute or two to the final baking time. So glad you’re loving them, Melissa!
Nicole Jessica says
I’ve made these twice now. The first time, they came out perfectly and my only disappointment was that it was a small batch for so much effort. I used my kitchenaid stand mixer whisk to whip the egg whites and then switched to the paddle attachment to mix the rest of the dough together. I chilled them for maybe half an hour before forming into soft balls. The second time (today), I made the mistake of leaving the dough in the fridge overnight and it turned into an absolute rock at the bottom of the bowl, which my boyfriend had to help chip out. They still came out great but I ended up lowering the oven temp to 325 to give them a bit longer to firm up–the first batch I did at 350 was VERY gooey (and delicious!) and had a bit of a strange effect of the crinkle being flakey. I think ideally the dough should be the texture of a thick mousse–not like chocolate chip cookie dough and not totally mushy. I really appreciate this recipe, it’s a great use for eggwhites left over from other recipes!
Rachel says
Hi Nicole, so glad you’re enjoying the cookie recipe!! Glad you could salvage even after they got a little too firm, as well. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Elyse says
Made these for the first time today, and they worked perfectly! I am surprised to read so many comment where folks had trouble. I didn’t find them messy to make, and was surprised/delighted at how little the cookies spread on the sheet. I got 24 out of the recipe, and the icing sugar on the outside didn’t melt at all or absorb into the cookie.
Instead of baking on an oiled baking sheet, I used parchment. Everything else was the same.
Love that this recipe is GF without requiring any special ingredients. Had everything on hand.
Rachel says
So thrilled you enjoyed them, Elyse, and that they worked well for you! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback :)
Charyssa says
I’ve made these twice now. Both times, some have come out great, but a few others are runny in the middle. Not sure why. Even baking them a few extra minutes didn’t seem to help (and I didn’t want them to burn!). Maybe a lower temperature for longer time??
Rachel says
Hi Charyssa, since some of them are fine and some are runny, I’m guessing your oven has hot spots that cook certain areas more quickly whereas other areas aren’t as hot, so they cook more slowly. I’d try rotating the pan once or twice during cooking to see if that helps.