Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Where I found the recipe(s):
My six-year-old has identified five possible vocations: scientist, ninja, teacher, baker or Jedi.  She received the Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking book for Christmas to nurture her baking dreams.
The aspiring baker and her five-year-old cousin mastered Chocolate Crinkle Cookies last Sunday afternoon.  And aside from a little help with the mixer, they did it all themselves.  (With plenty of supervision, of course.)
What I thought:
The recipe was simple, as befitting a child’s cook book.  And since this project was engineered for the small set, everything was hands-on, from using a hand-held mixer (I’d typically use a stand mixer for cookies) to rolling the dough into balls and then rolling them in confectioner’s sugar.
Handling the dough was, of course, the apprentice bakers’ favorite part of the exercise.  (They washed their hands thoroughly before commencing – twice, for good measure.)
The dusting of powdered sugar on the soft, cake-like cookies tantalizes with just a touch of sweetness.  But this cookie is not an exercise in chocolately decadence.  The flavor is truly cocoa, and rather subtle.  Perfect with ice-cold milk.
The book’s process-oriented instructions are appropriate for children, but a tad tenuous for most adult bakers.  I’ve rewritten the recipe in a more reader-friendly format below.
What I’d change:
Instead of buttering the baking pans as indicated in the recipe, I used silicone liners, which are less messy.
I wouldn’t change the recipe itself.  But, dunking them in frosting would add a more decadent twist.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies:
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking
(Makes 24 cookies)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Cream butter and sugar together. Add 1 egg and beat until blended; add second egg and vanilla and beat until blended. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; add dry ingredients and mix just until blended.
Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls. Roll balls in confectioner’s sugar and place 2 inches apart on buttered baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until crackled and puffed. Place pan with cookies on cooling rack and let sit 15 minutes; remove cookies to rack to cool completely.