About These Ube Crinkle Cookies
These ube crinkle cookies are a unique and special take on classic, chocolate crinkle cookies. They are soft and cakey but with a little chewiness, with subtle vanilla and pistachio flavors from the ube.
The cookie recipe below is also INTERNET FAMOUS. In 2020, they were featured in The Kitchn‘s Quarantine Cookie series highlighting the best holiday cookie recipes online.
Cookies Inspired By A New York Bakery!
When I lived in New York City, I befriended Autumn, the owner of Brooklyn Kolache, a bakery in my neighborhood that sold ube kolaches. It turned out that her husband Dennis is Filipino. He had gotten her hooked on ube. So much so that she developed an ube crinkle cookie recipe to sell at his bar, Swell Dive.
To this day, I maintain that her cookie is one of the best ube crinkle cookies I’ve ever eaten. But eventually, I decided to develop my own recipe. And that’s the one I’m sharing with you guys today!
Looking for more ube baked goods? Check out these 5-star rated Chewy and Fudgy Purple Ube Brownies!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Let’s talk about some the key ingredients in these ube crinkle cookies:
- Ube Halaya (Ube Jam). I use Monika ube halaya anytime I make anything ube! In a pinch, you can also make your own with fresh or frozen ube—check out my recipe for Ube Halaya Jam For Baking.
- Purple Food Coloring. When developing this recipe, I found that I definitely needed to boost the cookies with food coloring. Without it, my cookies turned out a very light brown color with purplish tones.
For these cookies, I used a purple from this “Nifty Fifty” Americolor food coloring set. You can also buy as an individual bottle online. - Ube Extract. In the United States, there’s only a handful of brands that make ube extract: McCormick and Butterfly. I’ve used both and recommend either one!
Best Recipe Tips
Ingredient Tip
- Most baking recipes instruct you to sift confectioners’ sugar before using in the recipe. Confectioners’ sugar tends to clump when stored; sifting removes these lumps. However, you don’t need to sift the confectioners’ sugar for these ube crinkle cookies. Why? I find that the lumps in the confectioners’ sugar help coat the cookies more thoroughly. The lumps also break up into interesting crinkles when baked!
Technique Tips
- In the recipe, I instruct you to scoop the cookie dough with a cookie dough scoop. I then instruct you to drop the dough balls directly into the confectioners’ sugar and toss to coat. Don’t skip this step! If you drop the dough onto a sheet pan without coating them first, it’s likely that they’ll stick to the sheet pan. If you don’t plan on coating them immediately, I recommend chilling the dough for an hour first. Chilling the dough will make it easier to work with.
- Coat the cookies generously with confectioners’ sugar. I mean it. Ideally, you don’t want any purple spots showing on the cookie dough balls. These show up as “bald spots” on the cookies, ruining their crinkle effect. Additionally, the cookies will absorb some of the confectioners’ sugar as they bake. So err on the side of caution and cover them with a THICK layer of confectioners’ sugar!
Video: Making Ube Crinkle Cookies, One Step At A Time
Use the video player below to watch my Instagram Story tutorial on how to make ube crinkle cookies! Clicking the left or right side of the frame allows you to move through the different steps:
Get the Recipe: Ube Crinkle Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For the Ube Crinkle Cookies
- 1 ¾ cups (7.85 ounces or 223 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) ube halaya jam, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon purple food coloring
- 1 teaspoon ube extract
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) confectioners' sugar
Equipment
- a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop
Instructions
For the Ube Crinkle Cookies
- Prep your oven and pans. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Make the cookie dough. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter. Beat on medium-high until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the mixer to low and add the egg; beat until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, add the ube halaya jam, purple food coloring, ube extract, and vanilla extract, beating until combined and completely purple, 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
- Coat the cookies. Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium, shallow bowl. Use a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to portion the cookie dough into balls, dropping them directly into the bowl with confectioners' sugar. Toss until the cookie dough balls are completely and generously coated. Place the cookie dough balls at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.
- Bake the cookies. Bake one pan at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still soft.
- Serve and store. Serve warm, or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
my other comment is meant to say bake sale not back sale😂
srry
Easy to make and so yummy!
Deliciously soft cookies! New favorite cookie recipe.
Excited to check your other recipes to see how else I can use the Ube jam.
This is a great recipe. I didn’t have purple food coloring so I added an extra tsp of ube extract after reading comments that the ube flavor was a bit mild. It is still a bit mild but I like it. 3tbsp looked like an egregious cookie size so I did 2tbsp baked for about 15 mins. The bottom came out crispy and caramelized so I probably baked for too long or my oven ran hot but I think it added a nice textural balance. I got <10 crinkles from that so I don't know how the recipe could make 18 crinkles as written (unless the 18 is from if you make a 1tbsp cookie — which I think is a perfectly fine size for these as they're chewy).
These were absolutely delicious! I am wondering though, if I have to alter the recipe slightly? I live at high altitude (9000FT), so I am not sure if what I thought was the cookie being “uncooked” in the center, was actually just moisture from the jam, or it was somehow undercooked from the different in altitude?
These were incredible. Nice and crispy on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside can’t wait to try this again.
I love how Michelle connects cultural inspiration with creativity in these ube crinkle cookies the story behind discovering ube in New York gives the recipe so much personality. The tip about not sifting confectioners’ sugar to enhance the crinkle texture is especially clever and practical. The vibrant purple hue paired with that chewy, cakes texture makes these cookies truly stand out. It’s that same thoughtful attention to detail that Clipping Expert Asia brings to perfecting visual aesthetics every element matters to create something beautiful and memorable.
js tasty af