Hot Cocoa Cookies
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Hot Cocoa Cookies— These giant, bakery-style chocolate cookies taste just like a warm, cozy mug of hot chocolate with melty marshmallows. 😍
They start with a thick, chocolate cookie dough base, then get stuffed with a big marshmallow and rolled in hot chocolate mix. The dough chills in the freezer to give these cookies deeper, delicious chocolate flavor (and helps keep the marshmallow perfectly gooey once baked).
They’re thick with chewy edges, and soft, tender centers. The melty, gooey marshmallow in the middle is a delicious surprise. My favorite is when a tiny bit of marshmallow starts oozing out the top of the cookie–it’s totally irresistible!
If you’re a frequent reader here on the blog, you know that I LOVE making cookies. I had a home bakery running for a few months a couple years ago and it was so fun testing out a ton of recipes. This cookie recipe is actually one I sold during the holidays!
One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is make cookie boxes for friends and family. This year I know that I’ll be including these Hot Cocoa Cookies in my boxes!
I think I’m also going to include these Red Velvet Cream Cheese Chip Cookies, Thick Ginger Molasses Cookies, and probably my all time favorite, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I might even throw in some of my popular Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies.
This winter, cozy up with one of these big hot cocoa cookies on a cold night in. They’re perfect for the holidays or for wowing your friends at a cookie exchange party!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- New favorite, warm, cozy winter cookie for cold, snowy days
- Tastes just like a creamy, chocolaty mug of hot cocoa
- Gooey marshmallow and sweet, indulgent chocolate flavor
- Big, thick, bakery-style cookies
- Perfectly soft centers and chewy edges
- Can freeze dough or cookies for enjoying later
Ingredients
Butter: I like to use salted butter in my recipes, especially in my cookies because the little extra salt balanced out and complements the sweet so well. You can use unsalted if you prefer.
Sugar & brown sugar: These two sugars work together to make a chewy, sweet, and tender cookie.
Eggs: The eggs bind all of the ingredients and help the cookies taste perfectly rich.
Vanilla: Use 100% pure vanilla extract if you can here, but if you don’t have any, imitation will work just fine. The vanilla and cocoa powder work together to bring out this delicious sweet, chocolaty flavor.
Bread flour: A must-have for my cookie recipes! It makes them denser, chewier, and closer to that bakery-style that everyone goes crazy for. Definitely worth having some on hand. You can use all purpose, but I’ve only tested this recipe with bread flour.
Cocoa: For the dough, you’ll want to make sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder, NOT hot chocolate powder/mix. My favorite to use is Hershey’s Dark Cocoa or a dutch process cocoa powder.
Baking soda & baking powder: Leavening agents to help lift these cookies to tall, thick perfection.
Salt: Like the butter, the salt brings out the flavor of the chocolate and balances out the sweetness of the sugars and bitterness of the cocoa. I’ve realized throughout all of my recipe testing that cookies actually need way more salt than most recipes call for!
Marshmallows: Large marshmallows (not mini, but not jumbo) fit perfectly inside these chocolate cookies and get perfectly melty and gooey. Freezing the dough also helps the marshmallows stay marshmallow-y and not completely melted to the point that they disappear.
Hot chocolate mix: One packet of hot cocoa (or hot chocolate) mix is the perfect amount for rolling these cookie dough balls in and coating the outsides. The mix is sweet and slightly bitter and just gives the cookies that delicious hot chocolate look.
How to Make Hot Cocoa Cookies
- Cream the butter and sugars. Use slightly softened, cool butter and cream together with the sugar and brown sugar with a handheld mixer on medium speed for a couple minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla. Mix on low for another minute until the mixture becomes smooth and fluffy.
- Add the bread flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Measure the bread flour correctly by spooning and leveling–better yet, weigh it–and add it, along with the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Mix on low until it comes together and is a thick, non-sticky dough.
- Portion the dough and stuff with marshmallows. Divide the dough into eight cookies by using a scant 1/2 cup cookie scoop or by weighing into 130 gram dough balls. Form each part into a small disc and place a marshmallow in the middle, wrapping the dough around the marshmallow until it’s covered completely.
- Roll the dough in hot chocolate mix. Take each dough ball and roll it in the hot chocolate powder mix to coat fully.
- Chill the dough balls. Place the dough balls on a parchment lined sheet pan and freeze for at least two hours.
- Bake the cookies at 350˚F on two parchment lined sheet pans for about 18 minutes. Let cool on the sheet pan for about 30 minutes before enjoying and let cool completely before storing or freezing.
Notes & Tips
Tips for Success
- Use cold butter. Starting with cold butter (and keeping the butter as cool as possible even during the cookie dough making process) helps give you taller, thicker cookies that spread less.
- Weigh your flour. This is the most reliable way to measure flour and ensure that your cookies turn out like mine do! I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh the flour in baked good recipes. It’s way too easy to over-measure flour when using measuring cups. If you do use a measuring cup, make sure to spoon and level the flour.
- Chill the dough. Freezing your cookie dough balls for at least two hours allows the dough to develop more flavor while it sits and cools. The cookies will also spread less and stay thicker/taller.
- Under-bake the cookies. The cookies may still look really tall or underdone at the ~18 minute mark, but trust me and take them out. Don’t over-bake them please! Slightly under-baked cookies continue to set once pulled from the oven and once they cool slightly, they’re the PERFECT soft, gooey texture. And they’ll stay soft and delicious longer once cooled and stored.
Modifications for Hot Cocoa Cookies
- Marshmallow fluff: I have not tried this, but I imagine that replacing the marshmallows with some dollops of marshmallow fluff on top of these cookies before baking would be really delicious, too!
- This cookie dough base would be delicious used as a chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. Adding dark chocolate chips + those little marshmallow bits that are dried (not mini marshmallows) would be so good.
- If you’re not a marshmallow person, you could definitely skip the marshmallows and make a yummy chocolate cookie with this recipe.
- You could substitute the hot chocolate mix if you don’t have any on hand and just use granulated sugar for the rolling the dough.
Storage
These cookies stay fresh when store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days. If storing longer, keep in the refrigerator for up to five days.
These cookies can also be frozen for up to three months. Alternatively, you can keep the dough balls frozen for as long as you need (up to three months) and bake whenever you get the craving or have company stop by last-minute!
Other Recipes You Might Like…
- Red Velvet Cream Cheese Chip Cookies
- Thick Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
Hot Cocoa Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter cold and cubed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups + 1 tbsp bread flour (spooned and leveled) 400 grams
- ¼ cup dutch process cocoa powder 28 grams
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 large marshmallows
- 1 packet hot chocolate mix
Instructions
- In a large glass mixing bowl, warm the cold cubed butter in the microwave for 15-30 seconds, until it's just softened enough to work with.
- Add the sugar and brown sugar. Using a handheld mixer, cream together the sugars and butter on medium speed about two minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until smooth and fluffy, about one minute.
- Add the bread flour (measured correctly), then sprinkle the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over evenly and mix on low speed until just combined. The dough will be thick and should not be very sticky.
- Using a slightly less than full 1/2 cup cookie scoop, portion the dough into eight dough balls. Alternatively, you can weigh out the dough balls if you have a kitchen scale (about 130 grams each).
- Flatten the dough slightly into a thick disc shape, then place a marshmallow in the center. Fold the dough up around the marshmallow until it's completely covered. Roll each dough ball between your palms to smooth and round it out.
- Add the hot chocolate packet to a small bowl. Roll each dough ball in the hot chocolate mix until it's completely covered.
- Put the dough balls onto a parchment lined small quarter sheet pan and place in the freezer to chill for at least two hours.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Prepare two large half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Place four cookies on each sheet pan. Bake for 17-19 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for at least 30 minutes before enjoying. Let them cool completely before storing.
Notes
Did you try this recipe? Make sure to give it a rating and leave a comment below and tag Table Nutrition in your photos on social media!
