This is the first ever recipe I cooked when I moved to Clare 5 years ago. I was craving these cookies while pregnant with my daughter Summer, and I figured that they weren’t available in the area.

Nevertheless, I found a recipe from the Philippines, tweaked it to my liking, baked them and shared them with my Acadian family and friends. Fast forward to today, and it’s still the number-one potluck staple that my friends and family would ask me to bring.

A little history about these cookies: Chocolate crinkle cookies were invented by Helen Fredell in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the early half of the 20th Century. They were sold in our school canteen and they instantly became my favourite snack. I remember eating these cookies throughout my childhood. They are so popular in the Philippines that you see them everywhere, from school canteens to corner bakeries to fancy restaurants. They are still very much loved and more so during the Holiday season.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Dutch‐processed cocoa powder
2 room temperature eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix sugar and cocoa powder until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time beating each addition for 20 seconds followed by vegetable oil. Add the vanilla extract, mix, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add into the cocoa mixture and mix well. It will become a bit sticky at this point. Scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time to make sure all are well incorporated as you fold it together.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge and let it chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The harder the dough, the easier it will be to work with. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put some icing sugar in a small bowl and preheat oven to 175°C/350°F.

Take dough out of the fridge. Scoop a spoonful of the dough and roll into a ball using your hands. Drop the ball into the sugar. Balls should be about an inch to 1 ½ inches (small) or 2 inches (big) in diameter. Cover each ball completely with icing sugar. Place the balls on the baking sheet at least 2 inches apart as they will expand as they bake. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Once done, remove them from the oven and let the cookies stand for 1‐2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.