These are perfect for Christmas! I confess that I changed the recipe a bit because I didn't have time for a dry run with it as written and I was looking for a plain rich chocolate flavor. My changes were simple - omitted lemon zest and wisked 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa into the dry ingredients and 1 tsp. vanilla extract in with the eggs. The result was the flavor I'd hoped for with a light cake texture. I'd prefer a slightly denser texture, but this can't be beat for for an easy, quick, from-a-mix recipe. Using a 1-inch melon ball scoop yielded a small cookie - perfect for cookie exchanges. Otherwise I would double the cookie size. The trick to the crackles is to roll the dough balls around until the confectioners sugar is thick and even all the way around. Be sure not to overbake or the cookies become too firm and dry. Very pretty!
Everyone Loves this cookie. To make more decadent add 1 cup white chocolate chips fold into prepared batter. This white chocolate really makes a difference and brings these cookies to a level of pure indulgence!
I also did with chocolate fudge cake mix and added 1 cup white chocolate and then placed a hersheys chocolate drop in center of each ball I call this a Triple chocolate cookie crinkle!
These are amazing and easy to make cookies! I strongly recommend them. No changes made just as is. Thanks for the great recipe!
Followed the recipe as well as what some others recommended: added in a quarter cup of cocoa and a dash of vanilla. Didn't have any lemon zest so I used a half teaspoon of lemon extract. (I agree with the commenter who urged people not to skip the lemon, it doesn't make these lemon flavored just adds a depth of taste to the cookie.) Also, as has been written here, I didn't think the cornstarch was necessary to making the powdered sugar coating. After the first batch, I mixed in some milk chocolate chips and some Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips. Oh boy, are they wonderful!
Needed to make 90 cookies for a Christmas Cookie exchange and decided to try these for a few reasons: pretty tasty and inexpensiveo make. I read the other reviews and decided to use the lemon zest anyway. Don't skip this part! It gives the cookie a plate-cleansing bright flavor but just a touch. You don't even need to use a full teaspon. Also even though I doubled the recipe I only got 45 cookies! I used a 1 inch melon baller. I suspect I bought the wrong box mix: so WARNING- make sure it is Duncan Hines CAKE and not Red Velvet CUPCAKE box mix. I guess the box mix would have had a bigger amount. BUT that all being said the cookies turned out delicious and beautiful! Next time I will use the rigt box mix! Oh. And these cookies ARE messy but worth it!
Delicious and pretty. I think the temp could really be 350 as the box suggests opposed to 375 to ensure they don't overcook on the bottom of the cookie.
These were fantastic! The only thing I changed was using lemon extract instead of the zest. I didn't measure it just dribbled some into the bowl. Everyone loved them and they disappeared so quickly - I will definitely make these again.
The cookies came out super moist and thats always huge plus. Although they were far from bad tasting the flavor wasn't exceptional either. It's not a cookie you impress with.
These cookies present so beautifully! I made them for a party, and they were really soft and tasty. I thought the dough was painfully thick, so I added another tablespoon of melted butter, which worked out great - the cookies didn't spread too much or anything. There was a lot of left over powered sugar left over, so I'd halve that in the future. Also, the lemon zest does have a nice flavor, makes it distinctly different from a chocolate crinkle cookie. I used a tablespoon to scoop out the cookies, and it yielded 34.
Made these into cutouts. Regardless of the size/thickness the lemon zest is very off putting. And there's no reason to put cornstarch into the powdered sugar. This is nothing like Panera's red velvet crinkle cookie.
