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Everything you love about hot chocolate but as the best cookie, you’ll ever eat! Fudgy, decadent, and with a soft marshmallow filling!
What are your thoughts on hot chocolate? Are you a winter-only drinker of it or not at all? What about liquids, do you prefer it made with milk/cream or water?
Full disclosure, I LOVE hot chocolate BUT when it comes to drinking it, I can’t only handle a few sips. However the actual hot chocolate flavors I’m deeply in love with.
This cookie is the inspiration for my love of hot chocolate. It’s literally everything you love about hot chocolate but in the most delicious fudgy, cookie format.
Living in Pittsburgh, the cooler temperature starts around mid-September. The leaves have just begun to change, bonfires are a weekend thing, and we practically live in our hoodies. One more constant thing is hot chocolate. The hardest thing when we serve it is marshmallows or not.
My house is #teammarshmallow for sure. So back to this cookie…
I was in a baking mood (but then when am I not?) and felt like doing something with this massive tub of hot chocolate mix in my cupboard. So to the pantry, I went, and oh my goodness am I ever so delighted I did!
Ingredients List
What I love about this recipe is it uses standard ingredients. I would say the two things you may not have (and that’s only because you’re new to my site) are the chocolate extract and the marshmallow bits.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Brown Sugar
- Hot Chocolate Mix
- Butter and Eggs
- chocolate extract
- Leavening and salt
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Regular Fresh Marshmallows
- Dried marshmallow bits
Marshmallow Center
This cookie contains a marshmallow center that, when the cookie bakes, gets all kinds of gooey and melted. However, you just can’t stuff a marshmallow in the cookie in bake it. If you did, it would melt completely before the cookie had time to finish baking. So you need to do one thing first.
FREEZE YOUR MARSHMALLOWS – yes, freeze them. Each cookie uses half of a regular size marshmallow. Stick them into the freezer about 30 minutes before you start baking the cookies. You could slice them in half before freezing but personally, I found it easier to slice them when they were frozen.
Can I substitute Mini Marshmallows for the Marshmallow Bits?
No. The mini marshmallow bits will not melt when you bake (which is what you want.
Let’s Make The Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Beat together the eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add in the chocolate extract and mix again.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and, using a spatula, mix to combine. Just go slow as it will come together. If desired, you can use a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- When the dry and wet and almost fully incorporated, add in the melted butter and mix to combine.
- Dump in the marshmallow bits and the mini chips. Use a spatula to combine.
- Grab the frozen marshmallows and slice in half (if not already sliced). Using a large cookie scoop, scoop up about 3 tablespoon of cookie dough.
- With damp hands, place the cookie dough into your hand and make an indent in the middle pressing the dough outwards.
- Place half of a frozen marshmallow into the cookie well/indent and then form the rest of the dough around the marshmallow, closing it up.
- Place the cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet and repeat adding more cookie dough balls 2″ apart.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes or until the cookie is set but still slightly soft. They will firm up while cooling.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the tray for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
The Best Hot Chocolate Cookie EVER!
When this cookie came out of the oven I WISH you all could have seen my face. I literally was grinning from ear to ear. You could smell warm hot chocolate coming from the oven.
And seriously, can I just point out that gooey, melty marshmallow center just oozing onto the plate???
As they were cooling, Mr. Fantabulous came in from outside. He came into the kitchen, I could see his nose all cherry red as it was cold out. I whipped him up a cup of hot chocolate but I could see him eyeing the cookies.
I put one on a plate and, as he was taking his first bite, he let out a soft moan. I knew I did well. When you have someone moan off of a single bite, you know you did something good.
He put the cookie down and said, “Oh honey, this one is a winner! It tastes exactly like hot chocolate! And how’d you get that marshmallow in there?”
I just grinned and grabbed a cookie.
Folks… this cookie is RIDICULOUS! It’s fudgy and chocolate-y. It’s so tender and soft but has a bit of heft to it so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart when biting.
This cookie is my favorite hot chocolate anything ever! This cookie will be the star of any cookie exchange this year!
Flash Freezing Cookie Dough
I wrote a post years ago about flash-freezing cookie dough. For this recipe:
- Shape the cookies and place them on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet into the freezer, uncovered, for at least an hour or until the dough balls are frozen.
- Once the cookie dough balls are frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag and store for up to 3 months
To bake from frozen, place the frozen cookie dough ball onto a baking sheet, bake but add another 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
How To Store Baked Cookies
Very few cookies should be stored left out. These should be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
They will stay soft and fudgy. If you want, before serving, you can microwave them for 10-15 seconds or reheat them in the oven at 350 F for a few minutes.
Cookie Add-ins
This is probably one of my favorite things when it comes to baking or cooking. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what else you could add to these:
- Crushed Candy Canes or Peppermint Candies
- Chopped Chocolate Mint Candies
- Dark Chocolate Chunks/Chips
Fudgy Hot Chocolate Cookies with Marshmallow Filling
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30
- Category: baking, cookies, holidays, desserts
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: baking, cookies, holidays, desserts
Everything you love about hot chocolate but as the best cookie, you’ll ever eat!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 Xl egg
- 1 Xl egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix
- 1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoon butter, unsalted and melted
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup marshmallow bits
- ~8 regular-sized marshmallows
Instructions
- Place the fresh regular marshmallows in the freezer.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and brown sugar to a bowl. Beat until light and creamy. Add in the chocolate extract and mix until combined.
- In another bowl, add the flour, hot chocolate mix, dutch processed cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and mix until almost fully incorporated. If desired, you can use a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to combine. Or, just use a spatula. Add in the melted butter, and mix to incorporate.
- Add the chocolate chips and marshmallow bits in and using a spatula, mix to evenly incorporate.
- Grab the frozen marshmallows from the freezer and slice them in half (if not already sliced). Using a large cookie scoop, scoop up about 3 tablespoons of cookie dough.
- With damp hands, place the cookie dough into your hand and make an indent in the middle pressing the dough outwards.
- Place half of a frozen marshmallow into the cookie well/indent and then form the rest of the dough around the marshmallow, closing it up. Repeat until all of the dough is used up.
- Add the dough balls to the prepared baking sheet leaving 2″ apart. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until the cookie is set but still slightly soft. They will firm up while cooling.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the tray for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.
Notes
Recipe yields 14-16 large cookies
Keywords: Fudgy, decadent, and with a soft marshmallow filling! hot chocolate cookies, hot cocoa cookies, hot chocolate bombs, hot cocoa filled cookies, cookie, exchange, marshmallow filled cookies, holiday cookies, christmas cookies, fudge cookies
These were incredible! I made half filled with marshmallow and half with ganache. OMG these are addictive!
★★★★★
Link to hot chocolate mix goes nowhere. What should I use?
Sorry about that. Amazon doesn’t let us know when they update the links. I just updated it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this blend by Ghirardelli – it’s their Premium Hot Cocoa blend and it has such an incredible flavor!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Are there any substitutes for the chocolate extract? I can’t see myself using it in any other recipe.
You would use it in a chocolate recipe. But you can omit it all together if you wish.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
2 questions – 1. It looks like you used 3 egg yolks (maybe 2 whole eggs plus yolk, rather than 1 egg and 1 yolk? Also, mine came out flat-ish and the marshmallow exploded on top and then melted into the cookie leaving a big hole…but they were delish! I’m trying to figure out what to tweak to fix this – yours look awesome!
Hi Lissa,
No, it’s 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk. If you look closer at the one pic, you’ll see that I cracked the yolk on the one egg so it looks like two but it’s only 1 whole egg and 1 yolk.
For the marshmallow – did you freeze the halved marshmallows and did you put them in the middle of the dough? It sounds like perhaps you didn’t either freeze them long enough or you perhaps didn’t have enough dough wrapped around them. These should be 3-4 bite cookies if that helps in reference. You’ll get some cracking/marshmallow peeking through. Also these should be cooked until set but will be still soft. So if you touched them with the tip of your finger, they won’t stick but you’re finger will indent them.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Hi! 😊
Excited to try this recipe! What baking time adjustments should be made if I want to make smaller cookies (1 1/2 tablespoon scoop)?
Thank you!
Hi! Oh those are baby cookies; love it. So the normal size uses a large scoop which is 3 Tablespoons of dough which bakes between 11-14 minutes. For that small of a cookie, I’d try for 6-7 minutes or until set. They will be soft when you touch them but not gooey.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Can you sub vanilla extract for the chocolate extract? I plan on making these for cookie box Christmas gifts ❤️ 🎄
I would just omit but definitely add this to your grocery list.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
This was such a huge hit over the weekend that I had to return to share how lovely this recipe is.
I made these, following the directions, but my marshmallows completely melted. What should I change next time I make them?
Were they frozen solid prior to baking? You stuffed them then baked, right? They will get gooey inside like the pictures.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Loved These cookies! They are the bomb!!!! So soft, gooey and marshmallow yum!! You won’t be disappointed.
What an amazing cookie. The way you laid that marshmellow in the middle is brilliant. It reminds me of how did the get the caramel in the Cadbury chocolate bar! Lol! I can only imagine how decadent these are! Well done!
★★★★★