Christmas crinkle cookies

Chop one stick of butter into even sized slices and let it come to about 60F while the other ingredients are got ready.

Weigh 400 g of sugar into a large bowl.

Add the 60F butter and cream it into the sugar by hand, which whips air into the mixture and gives the dough more volume; an electric mixer makes this much easier.

Add the vanilla to get some liquid in and help the creaming, and stir about 10 to 12 minutes.

Crack in the three eggs and mix until the egg, sugar and butter are completely combined.

Melt the unsweetened chocolate on a plate in the microwave, pour it into the bowl and fold it in with a spatula.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until cohesive, scraping the bowl so the dough is uniform.

Refrigerate at least one hour; undercooled dough spreads much further and loses height.

Preheat the oven to 350F and set out a bowl of confectioner's sugar.

Scoop roughly 20 gram pieces on a scale and roll each between the hands into a sphere, which gives a repeatable structure.

Toss each rolled ball in the confectioner's sugar until completely covered - do not skimp.

Set them on parchment paper over a baking sheet, shake them lightly and space them evenly.

Bake 10 to 13 minutes; check the internal temperature at about 10 minutes and pull them at 175 to 185F.

Cool on the baking sheet - they are loose out of the oven and firm up through carryover cooking - then move to a rack or a container.