Chocolate crinkle cookies are a holiday favorite. Gooey and fudgy, with plenty of powdered sugar to go around, a package of these cookies is sure to please anyone on your gift list. The recipe is inspired by my absolute favorite chocolate crinkle cookies from Williams-Sonoma ($19). The mix is heavenly, but the price tag keeps me pretty limited to making them for special occasions only. Determined to see if I could hack recipe myself, I got out my trusty scale and started weighing out all the ingredients on the package. I felt like a modernist cook, breaking down the recipe bit by bit.

My experimental hack was a success, and tasters loved the crumbliness of the cookies and the brownie-like interior. Do these taste exactly like the Williams-Sonoma brand? Not exactly, but that is to be expected since I used different cocoa powder, pastry flour, chocolate, and vanilla. Next time, I do plan to splurge on all of Williams-Sonoma's baking ingredients, so I can get even closer to the flavor of the original mix.

Take a look at the chocolate crinkle cookie recipe.