These vegan chocolate crinkle cookies are dangerously delicious. They have the flavor and texture of brownies. If you dare to eat one while it’s warm, you will be under their spell until they’re all gone. They are also a very pretty holiday cookie!
The original recipe called for ground flax seed, but I usually keep ground chia seeds on hand. So I used chia seeds and they worked perfectly. If you have never ground up flax seeds or chia seeds, a coffee grinder works just great! Once you’ve ground them, you can store them in an airtight container, like a jar, to use at a later date.
For this recipe, when adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, it’s important to sift the dry ones. The cocoa powder in this recipe is especially prone to clumping. If you don’t have a flour sifter, just use any fine mesh handled sifter to shake the flour through and into the bowl.
When I made the cookies, I ended up with about 2 1/2 dozen. When you reuse a cookie sheet, just be sure to let it cool a little before putting the next batch of cookies on. You don’t have to use fresh parchment each time. I reused the parchment once, then I didn’t the second time. I was careful to place the second batch of cookies on unused spots of the parchment on the second go round. Either way, it all worked out fine.
I put my first tray of cookies into the oven as soon as I had them on the pan. Then it took about 5 minutes for me to get the next pan rolled, sugar coated, and into the oven. But I found the staggering of a sheet of cookies every five minutes made it easy on me, resetting the timer in five minute increments. You can put both cookie sheets into the oven at once, if you prefer.
This recipe is adapted from Nora Cooks. If you are looking for Christmas or winter holiday cookies, you might also enjoy baking Molasses Ginger Crinkle Cookies.

Prep Time | 20 minutes |
Cook Time | 12 minutes |
Passive Time | 30 minutes for dough to chill |
Servings |
dozen plus
|
- 1 cup sugar (granulated sugar)
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 tablespoon flax seeds or chia seeds ground
- 1/3 cup plant-based milk I use unsweetened almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
Ingredients
|
![]() |
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the granulated sugar and melted coconut oil. Stir until well combined and smooth. Add the ground flax seeds, plant based milk, and vanilla, and mix to combine.
- Into the same large mixing bowl, on top of the wet ingredients, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir until well combined and a dough is formed. The dough may seem like a batter, but will thicken when refrigerated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to become more dense and manageable.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Using a spoon, shape about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie into a ball. Roll each generously in powdered sugar, being sure to coat all sides. The more sugar on these cookies, the prettier they will be. As you create the sugar coated balls, place them on the baking sheet 2 inches apart.
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven, until the cookies are set and crinkles have formed in them. They will seem slightly undercooked and soft, but will firm up upon cooling.
- Let the baked cookies cool about 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer to cooling racks using a spatula.
- Once the cookies have cooled slightly and become firm, they can be served warm. Once cooled completely, the cookies can be stored 4 to 5 days in an airtight container.*
- *I found these were best served on the first day of baking, as the powdered sugar tends to be absorbed into the surface of the cookies. You can re-dust them with powdered sugar, but then the crinkles are also covered up by the white sugar.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Leave any feedback in comments below. Also, share your comments on Instagram: @key_lime_coconut or on Twitter: @keylime_coconut.
We love seeing hashtags #keylimecoconut #keylimecoconutblog and #beachbumvegan when you try our recipes.
Recent Comments