I can't believe there's no butter!

I helped throw a shower for a friend of mine and I was in charge of bringing the desserts. My friend can’t eat any dairy, but the only thing I could think of that didn’t contain butter was meringues and biscotti. My meringues never turn out very well, and biscotti sounded ok, but I wanted something that sounded really good. Then I remembered making chocolate crinkle cookies in high school. One of my friends from high school, now my sister-in-law, made chocolate crinkles often and I remembered her recipe using oil instead of butter. I looked around online to try to find a recipe that had good reviews and I came across one from Simplyrecipes.com. It sounded good, had good reviews, and in my mind only required one alteration: more salt. The recipe called for ½ teaspoon salt, but since I usually use salted butter in my baking and there was no butter in this recipe, I knew I would need more salt. A whole teaspoon more, in fact. And it turned out perfectly salty so that the chocolate flavor really came out.

Besides the 4+ hours the dough needs to chill in the refrigerator, these are some of the easiest cookies ever. I didn’t use a mixer at all, although you can if you’d like. They can be mixed by hand since there is only oil and no butter to incorporate. The messy part is rolling them into balls before dunking in powdered sugar, but otherwise, only one bowl to wash.

My brother-in-law tasted these cookies and said they were like a cloud. I think he said this because they are so soft and moist. They are nice and thick, which my husband liked, and I loved the chocolate flavor. They are delicious in the morning with a cup of coffee or mixed into ice cream since they have a brownie-like consistency. Everyone at the shower loved them and asked for the recipe. I think this is a keeper!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (adapted from www.simplyrecipes.com)

Yield: Makes approximately 36 cookies.

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional – I left it out)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (though you can do this with a wooden spoon, too) beat together the cocoa powder, white sugar, and vegetable oil until it comes together into a shiny, gritty, black dough of sorts.

 Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds each. Add the vanilla and beat in thoroughly.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder if using. Stir into the chocolate mixture on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough for four hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat. Place the confectioner's sugar in a wide bowl. Using a rounded teaspoon get clumps of the chilled dough and roll them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) sized balls using your hands. Roll the balls in the confectioner's sugar and place on the cookie sheets (you should be able to get about 12 on each sheet). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.