Chocolate gelt crinkle cookies

One night, I had an epiphany thinking about crinkle cookies, and the beautiful cracks that form when they bake from being pre-rolled in icing sugar. I figured, if I spray the cookies with edible gold spray paint, they’ll kind of look like a crumpled up foil wrapper from chocolate Chanukah gelt coins. The next morning and a few hours and a messy kitchen later, I hit the jackpot: a chewy, intensely flavoured chocolate cookie reminiscent of brownies, but oh so much prettier! To round out my Hanukkah cookie theme, I topped them with chocolate gelt coins made from real Belgian dark chocolate.

Credit: Chanie Apfelbaum

• makes

  36

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 160 ml (⅔ cup) olive oil
• 2 cups caster (granulated) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in ¼ cup water
• gold colour edible spray paint, to coat
• 36 dark chocolate gelt coins (see Note)

Resting time 3 hours

Instructions

Place the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and coffee. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well to combine. If any lumps remain, using an electric mixer, beat until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for 2–3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Roll 1 heaped tbsp of dough into a ball, making sure to roll quickly otherwise the heat from your hands will make it sticky, and place on a baking paper-lined baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Spray the balls with gold spray paint and bake for 12 minutes or until cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly.

While the cookies are still a little warm, but not too hot that they will melt the chocolate, press chocolate coins into the centre of each cookie.

Note

• Chocolate gelt coins are available from kosher food shops or online.

• For a variation, spray the cookies with silver edible spray paint and top with milk chocolate coins. If you prefer not to use spray paint, roll the cookies in turbinado or icing sugar instead. 

Recipe from Busy in Brooklyn by Chanie Apfelbaum, with photography by Chanie Apfelbaum.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.