These ube crinkle cookies are so delicious, they’ll convert any ube skeptic. Crinkly on the outside, and perfectly soft and chewy on the inside, I give recipe options for cookies both with and without ube halaya jam.
Ever since my matcha crinkle cookies went viral on socials, I’ve been dying to experiment with more flavors. Well, the day has finally come for my next crinkle cookie reveal, and it’s a good one! Get ready for not only the best ube crinkle cookies, but potentially the best ube cookie in general.
What is Ube?
Ube is a purple root vegetable from the Philippines. It’s got a mildly sweet flavor and is commonly used in Asian and Asian American desserts, like the Filipino cousin of the sweet potato. Ube can be made into a type of spread called ube halaya jam, which is commonly used when making ube flavored sweets.
Ube Cookies With Real Ube vs. Without Ube Jam
I made this cookie recipe both with ube halaya plus ube extract and with ube extract only. In the batch with extract only, the cookies had a sugar cookie texture with a very mild ube flavor. However, in the batch with added ube halaya, the ube flavor was only a little stronger. Both batches looked identical, and in a blind taste test, I think I would’ve barely been able to tell the difference, if any. The cookies with ube halaya had a slightly denser, squishier texture and took a little longer to bake. Overall, I did prefer the batch with the ube halaya, BUT you can definitely get away with making this cookie recipe with just the extract. I know that my local Asian market often sells out of ube halaya but generally has extract in stock, so this is a good recipe for times like those. If you’re going to use just extract, I recommend increasing the amount by 1/2-1 tsp for a stronger flavor.
Crinkle Cookie Tips and Common Mistakes
After seeing several people on Tiktok and Instagram make my matcha crinkle cookies, I noticed some common mistakes and requests for help, so here are my crinkle cookie tips:
First off, this dough does not require chilling, as long as your kitchen (and your hands) are not too warm. If you find that the dough is getting too soft to roll into balls, stick it into the fridge for 20 minutes.
Secondly, I saw a lot of people not properly cream the butter and sugar. Creaming butter and sugar is not the same as just mixing them together. You must really beat them well to get all the little air bubbles in. Your butter should look super light and fluffy, like frosting.
Another common mistake with crinkle cookies is skipping the step of rolling the cookie dough in granulated sugar. If you do not roll each cookie in granulated sugar before the powdered sugar, the powdered sugar will just dissolve. No crinkles. Sad times.
Lastly, I saw a lot of people squish their cookie dough into a flat circle before baking. Don’t do this! Leave it in a little cookie dough ball. The dough expands and flattens itself out in the oven, which is what creates the crinkly design.
More Asian Cookie Recipes
If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out these other fun cookie recipes:
- Black Sesame Matcha Neapolitan Cookies
- Black Sesame Sugar Cookies
- Matcha Checkerboard Cookies
- Strawberry Matcha Pinwheel Cookies
- Kinako Roll Out Sugar Cookies
Easy Ube Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter 1/2 cup
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup ube halaya jam optional, see notes
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp ube extract
For rolling:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream room temperature butter with sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ube halaya jam (if using, see note).
- Add in eggs and mix until homogenous.
- Add in flour, slowly mixing until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Add ube extract and mix until the purple color is evenly spread throughout the dough.
- Meanwhile, place the granulated sugar and powdered sugar in separate bowls.
- Scoop a 1.5-2 tbsp ball of dough. I like to use a 2 tbsp cookie scoop, but if you don't have one, aim for about the size of a ping pong ball. (Note: If your kitchen is too hot or your butter was too soft, you may have trouble shaping your dough into balls without making a mess. In that case, stick your dough in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before trying again.)
- Roll the ball of dough in the granulated sugar, then the powdered sugar. Place on the baking sheet and repeat for the rest of your cookie dough.
- Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes. Leftover cookies keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- I use the butterfly brand of ube extract, which also contains purple food dye. If your ube extract doesn’t contain dye, you may want to add additional food coloring to get the vibrant purple look.
- I have made this recipe both with ube halaya jam and without. Ube has such a mild flavor that the end results were almost exactly the same in flavor. The only noticeable difference was that the cookies with ube jam were slightly softer and took a couple minutes longer to bake. If you decide not to use jam, increase the extract to 1.5 tsp and check cookies for doneness after 10 minutes.