I'm fully committed to making my recipes with less sugar than the original, purely in an effort to try to recreate something that tastes really good without having as much of the sweet stuff in it. These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are no exception.
But when I did a little research of the Crinkle Cookie itself, I was surprised to see it was originally made with molasses and had no chocolate in it at all. If I were to try to recreate a molasses crinkle cookie to taste really good but less sweet, I wouldn't know where to begin! I didn't grow up eating foods with a lot of molasses in them, but we always had this weird molasses bottle in our kitchen that didn't do anything.
I guess molasses cookies were not a big thing for my siblings or me growing up.
Even though there are so many great blogs out there with delicious recipes, and a lot of great home-spun bakers as well, I love love love going to America's Test Kitchen for their tips on making cookies and other recipes. From a culinary perspective, it's somewhat educating, too.
If you've been on the recipe side of my blog before, you probably know that I also like to make things gluten free, and sometimes - but not always - dairy free. These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are dairy free, gluten free and grain free. They're full of healthy fat and at least half the sugar of most recipes.
They definitely crinkle, but don't lay flat like a traditional crinkle cookie. Don't let that turn you off. They're really rich, and taste like little cake balls with enough sugar to make you want another one.
Low Sugar Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Low sugar?
A crinkle cookie wouldn't be a crinkle cookie without powdered sugar, so I didn't cut corners there. Fortunately, the powdered sugar is only the outer coating.
The inner workings of the cookie have much, much less sugar. Most recipes call for two to three times as much. I doubled down on the cocoa powder and it really worked out. I used unsweetened cocoa, but, according to America's Test Kitchen, you can use Dutch-process cocoa instead without expecting any changes.
The sugar I opted for in the cookie itself is coconut sugar. Coconut sugar has a few nutrients you won't find in other sugars, like potassium, zinc and a few antioxidants. That's because coconut sugar is sourced from the coconut palm, which is abundant in nutrients.
It's also a little lower on the glycemic index than regular sugar. This is because coconut sugar contains a little bit of a fiber called inulin, which helps buffer the blood sugar response. Every little bit of help counts.
If you don't have coconut sugar, you can swap can sugar just the same. I feel pretty good about that recommendation as the recipe itself is so much lower in sugar than most.
Before I get to the recipe, if you like this cookie, you might also like my Paleo Chocolate Sweet Potato Bread or my Chocolate Cashew Coconut Bites.
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Ingredients
- 2 C almond flour
- 1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 C arrowroot flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 eggs + 1 egg white, lightly whisked
- 1/2 C coconut milk, canned, full fat
- 1/2 C coconut palm sugar (organic cane sugar can be subbed)
- 1/2 C powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot flour, salt and baking soda.
- In a smaller bowl, mix together eggs, coconut palm sugar and coconut milk.
- In another small bowl, add powdered sugar and set aside.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Roll together small balls of dough and drop into powdered sugar until coated.
- Place on baking sheets.
- Bake for 11 - 12 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies look slightly broken open and crinkled.
Notes
*It's important to use the full fat canned coconut milk, not the containers of coconut milk near the other nondairy milks. Canned coconut milk is usually found in the baking aisle or near the Asian food section. *Arrowroot flour is a lifesaver, but is very powdery! Gently add the arrowroot flour to your bowl or you'll end up wearing it instead! *You won't need the full 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, but it's good to have in the bowl to ensure each of the cookies is properly coated.
