Brownie Crinkle Cookies

Our easy brownie crinkle cookies using brownie mix (Ghirardelli) can be made with just eggs, oil and powdered sugar on the outside for dessert. These are similar to our Christmas time cake mix crinkle cookies but chocolate (with chocolate chips).

I love easy dessert recipes when I am craving something sweet. Brownies can be bought the same way, the best way to tweak those is to make brownie crinkle cookies y’all. It’s a cheap way to make pretty cookies to take over to a friend’s house or enjoy on a weekend.

You can make these with cake mix with a little food coloring to transform them into green and red bites of goodness. So cute. From there you can make a bunch of different varieties depending on the flavor you choose. This time we use boxed or homemade brownie mix!

When it comes to boxed brownie mix you will only have a few options. I love the dark chocolate Ghirardelli variety but there are cheaper versions from Pillsbury that are milk chocolate, some with chocolate chips in them already. Use what you have on hand or the type that seems the yummiest to you.

Ingredient Notes

You are obviously going to use a box of your favorite Brownie mix as the base for this batter. I highly suggest that you spend a few extra dollars for the name brand as there is a difference when it comes to the quality of cocoa powder and other ingredients.

Eggs are best if room temperature is possible. Organic and free range has the deepest and richest flavor as well as making the end result as moist and chewy as possible. Just my two cents. 😉

You will want some Vegetable oil to add fat because fat means tenderness when it comes to baking. Yes there are alternatives like using Greek yogurt, pumpkin or even mashed avocados but those will make these flatter so I generally don’t recommend substituting.

You will want to use some all purpose flour so the dough is firmer than it would be if you were just to bake as is.

How do you make cookies look crinkled?

Powdered sugar (aka confectioners sugar) will be used to coat the outside. That is what makes these cookies look so “fancy”. When baking it seeps into the cracks so when they rise it fills in the divots with that white powdered mix making that look stand out.

Chocolate chips and instant coffee you can add into the batter as well – optional

Need something even simpler? Use just 2 ingredients to make our cherry brownies some time. For those you really could use any sort of pie filling but cherries seem like the obvious choice with chocolate to me.

You can make cake mix brownies but for this one you really want the original, and go from there. You will NOT use the ingredients shown on the box itself, only use what is listed below in the printable recipe card below.

Crinkle, crackle, call them what you want but everyone always says how cool these are. What’s the key to this look, it’s when you roll the dough in the powdered sugar of course.

Do you need to chill the dough?

Since the brownie batter is rather thick with these ingredients there really isn’t a need to chill the dough but you certainly could. If it seems pretty sticky to you on your hands cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour and then roll from there.

How Long to Bake Brownie Crinkle Cookies (with brownie mix)

Now let’s talk about baking time for these, because it’s a big deal. The first question is do you like the middle piece or edge the best? Here’s how you get them just right: 11 minutes will create fudgy cookies middle brownie piece consistency. If you like a more cakey cookies texture then bake for 13 minutes.

Of course this will vary a minute or two depending on your oven itself, and how large you make each ball. Make them all the same size, 24 in all to follow this timing. This needs 5 items, with 2 optional add ins, similar to our small batch of air fryer brownies recipe but made for a crowd and much prettier I say.

The biggest thing to remember when baking cookies is to NOT overbake them, that is the worst. Seriously they will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after you take them out y’all. You want to remember that when touching the top because if they are are semi firm on the outer rim and not wet in the middle, they are ready to remove.

How do you know when they are done?

I prefer a chewy cookie all day long. What I look for to get it to this texture is that the outside rim, about 1″ around feels and looks firmed while the center is still soft. Not so soft that it looks glistening and wet (that would indicate still raw dough) but just barely cracked in the center, but quite cracked all the way around the outside.

Other easy chocolate cookies you’ll love

Now if you want to use cake instead of brownie mix we do have instructions in our Cake Mix Cool Whip Cookies post. We also love these 3 ingredient cake mix cookies. Just like making brownie in a mug you will just need one with a glass of milk to satisfy your dessert cravings for sure.

Can you freeze crinkle cookies?

I mean we never have so many that we wouldn’t finish them off within a few days so we don’t but you could. If you will finish them off within 3 days I’d just use a freezer bag, suck the air out and leave them on the countertop. In the freezer do the same thing but lay flat and they’ll last this way for a good 3 months. Take all or one out to thaw at a time but just remember to seal it really good again before putting them back into the coldness.