Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

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Soft, fudgy gluten-free vegan chocolate crinkle cookies perfect for Christmas cookie exchanges, potlucks, or for treating your family. These classic holiday cookies, with a vegan gluten-free twist, are easy-to-make, plus, they’re nut-free, dairy-free, and eggless.

Try them once and they’ll become a new favourite to make during the holidays!

If you love chocolate, then you’re going to love these vegan gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies (also known as chocolate crinkles!). They’re a classic Christmas cookie and I’ve made them vegan and gluten-free so no one has to miss out.

These holiday cookies are soft, chewy, fudgy, and SO chocolaty! They’re reminiscent of a brownie and they make the perfect addition to your December baking list.

Speaking of December baking lists, have you tried my other vegan gluten-free Christmas cookies yet? If not, you should, they’re all equally delicious and very simple to make:

To make this recipe, you’ll need Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free flour blend, Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, vegan butter, sugar, flax eggs, vanilla, and powdered sugar to roll the cookies in before they bake.

Cocoa Powder – I use unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder for this recipe and have not tested it with natural cocoa powder.

Sugars – I always use organic cane sugar in my recipes but you can use regular white granulated sugar if you don’t have cane sugar. Powdered sugar is the magical ingredient that gives these gf cookies the fun, crackly tops associated with crinkle cookies and there’s no substitute for it. (Use organic powdered sugar to be sure it’s vegan)

NOTE: Always measure your flour correctly for the best results!

(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions at the end of this post.)

Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together and setting them aside.

Next, with an electric mixer (you can mix with a wooden spoon by hand if you don’t have a mixer), beat the sugar and vegan butter together for a couple of minutes until it’s creamy, then add the flax eggs and vanilla.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. I usually switch over to mixing by hand at this point to avoid making a mess but feel free to continue using your mixer on low speed.

Once the dough has formed, you’ll notice that it’s very soft and sticky, that’s how it’s supposed to be and why it needs to rest in the refrigerator to firm up.

Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for AT LEAST 3 hours. While you wait for it to cool down, check out some of my other vegan gluten-free holiday recipes! ‘Tis the season!

After the dough has chilled, using a spoon or a medium-sized scoop, scoop up some of the dough, roll it into a ball, and then roll in the powdered sugar until fully coated. Repeat until all the dough has been used up.

Some recipes will have you roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar and THEN in powdered sugar, but I don’t find this necessary, all you need is a powdered sugar layer for this recipe and your cookies will be perfect.

Place the balls on your cookie sheets (don’t press them down, the baking process will take care of that!) and bake.

Much like my molasses cookies and soft gingerbread cookies, these are fun to watch while they bake because they start out as little powdered balls and then as they expand the exterior splits in several places to create the crackly tops. Fun!

When you take them out of the oven, they’ll be too fragile to move immediately, so let them rest for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

They’ll also appear a little puffy and underbaked, don’t worry, they’ll flatten a little and firm up as they cool.

These gluten-free chocolate crinkle cookies call for 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, but you can change the flavour by doing the following:

There are a few reasons why this can happen.

Either your dough was too warm and not chilled enough or you measured either your flour (too little) or butter (too much) incorrectly.

If you find that the rolling process took you a long time and the dough is no longer cold to the touch, before rolling in the powdered sugar, you can place the cookie sheet, with the balls on them, in the refrigerator for about 15-minutes.

These cookies are soft, moist, and a little puffy. They have a slightly crisp outside and a fudgy inside. Have a look at the picture below.

And the taste? An explosion of chocolate. If you love chocolate, you’re going to love these cookies!

You can store your leftover cookies for up to 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container

Freezing Baked Cookies: Freeze the cookies in single layers in a freezer bag or airtight container, with parchment paper separating each layer, for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter and when you’re ready to serve, just place them on a plate, bring them to room temperature, and enjoy.

To Freeze the Cookie Dough for Baking Later: Scoop and roll the dough into balls, but don’t roll them in the powdered sugar. Place the cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place the whole cookie sheet in the freezer.

Once completely frozen, place the balls in an airtight freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake them, remove from the freezer and let them sit on a plate at room temperature for 30-minutes, preheat the oven, and after the 30-minutes have passed, roll them in the powdered sugar and bake as directed.

Are you new to vegan gluten-free baking? If so, be sure to read all of my vegan gluten-free baking tips!

These cookies are perfect to give as an edible homemade holiday gift, for potlucks, get-togethers, a hostess gift, or just for treating your family and yourself, because you deserve it.

Please let me know by leaving me a comment and rating below. You can also share a picture on Instagram and tag me so I can see!

You may also like my other vegan gluten-free cookie recipes as well as these other chocolaty recipes:

You can help others to find this recipe by pinning it to one of your food boards on Pinterest. Click here to pin it now!