Ube Crinkle Cookies
By Matthew FairmanPublished on December 17, 2025
Time
1 hour
Yield
Makes 24 cookies
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Ube jam (also known as ube halaya, or ube spread) and ube extract are available in well-stocked Asian markets and online. We developed this recipe with Tropics Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam) and McCormick brand ube extract.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread ⅓ cup granulated sugar in shallow dish; set aside. Spread ½ cup (2 ounces) confectioners’ sugar in second shallow dish; set aside. Whisk 2¼ cups (11¼ ounces) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ¾ teaspoon table salt together in bowl.
- Combine remaining 1½ cups (10½ ounces) granulated sugar and ¼ cup ube jam in large bowl. Whisk in 8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons ube extract, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour mixture with silicone spatula or wooden spoon until no dry flour remains.
- Using #40 scoop, scoop dough into 24 portions, about 1½ tablespoons each; divide any remaining dough among portions. Working in batches of 6, use your hands to roll portions into balls. Drop balls into granulated sugar, and roll to coat. Transfer balls to confectioners’ sugar and roll to coat. Evenly space balls on prepared sheets (12 per sheet). Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls to ¾-inch thickness. Using fine-mesh strainer, dust tops of cookies evenly with remaining confectioner’s sugar from shallow dish (about 2 tablespoons per sheet), using all of sugar.
- Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just set and centers are puffed and cracked but still soft, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. (Cookies will seem underdone but will continue to set as they cool.) Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days.)
Time
1 hourYield
Makes 24 cookiesIngredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
We wanted another take on one of our all-time favorite holiday treats—the crinkle cookie. In a local bakery, we found a surprisingly delicious, stunning violet-colored variation that features ube, a Filipino purple yam increasingly internationally popular as a flavor for sweets and pastries. Ube extract and ube halaya (essentially a cooked down, concentrated jam of sweetened ube) are the most convenient, pantry-friendly forms of ube for American home cooks, and we found adding both to our crinkle cookies was key for the strongest ube flavor. The extract lent our cookies a deep violet color and the distinct earthy, sweet, nutty aroma of the purple yam. The sticky, dense halaya enriched the ube flavor while giving these crinkle cookies a more dynamic texture: chewy-crisp edges with a dense, soft, fudgy interior. Coating our dough balls in both granulated and powdered sugar and pressing them slightly flat yielded the prettiest crinkles and neatest round shape. Dusting the pressed dough balls with more confectioner’s sugar sharpened the contrast of snow white exteriors and the ube-purple cracks.
Before You Begin
Ube jam (also known as ube halaya, or ube spread) and ube extract are available in well-stocked Asian markets and online. We developed this recipe with Tropics Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam) and McCormick brand ube extract.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread ⅓ cup granulated sugar in shallow dish; set aside. Spread ½ cup (2 ounces) confectioners’ sugar in second shallow dish; set aside. Whisk 2¼ cups (11¼ ounces) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ¾ teaspoon table salt together in bowl.
- Combine remaining 1½ cups (10½ ounces) granulated sugar and ¼ cup ube jam in large bowl. Whisk in 8 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons ube extract, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour mixture with silicone spatula or wooden spoon until no dry flour remains.
- Using #40 scoop, scoop dough into 24 portions, about 1½ tablespoons each; divide any remaining dough among portions. Working in batches of 6, use your hands to roll portions into balls. Drop balls into granulated sugar, and roll to coat. Transfer balls to confectioners’ sugar and roll to coat. Evenly space balls on prepared sheets (12 per sheet). Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls to ¾-inch thickness. Using fine-mesh strainer, dust tops of cookies evenly with remaining confectioner’s sugar from shallow dish (about 2 tablespoons per sheet), using all of sugar.
- Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just set and centers are puffed and cracked but still soft, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. (Cookies will seem underdone but will continue to set as they cool.) Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days.)
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