Description
Delight in these rich Hot Chocolate Cookies featuring a perfect blend of cocoa, chocolate chips, and gooey marshmallows. Soft, fluffy, and slightly underbaked for a melt-in-your-mouth texture, these cookies capture the warmth and comfort of hot chocolate in every bite.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened, but still cool
- ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar, fresh and soft
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 cup chocolate chips, divided
Toppings
- 10 full size marshmallows, cut in half across the middle
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chocolate (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure cookies bake evenly and don’t stick.
- Cream Butter and Sugars: Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the softened butter together with the light brown sugar and granulated sugar for several minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Add the egg and pure vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture. Beat until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the unsweetened cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch until well mixed.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry cocoa-flour mixture to the wet mixture. Mix only until just combined to avoid overmixing.
- Add Chocolate Chips: Reserve ¼ cup of the chocolate chips for topping. Stir the remaining ¾ cup of chocolate chips into the dough evenly.
- Scoop Dough: Using a cookie scoop or spoon, portion dough into 1½ tablespoon-sized mounds and place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between each. Make sure the dough balls are mounded and not flattened.
- Add Topping Chips: Press some of the reserved chocolate chips onto the tops of each dough ball to add extra chocolatey goodness.
- First Bake: Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes. The cookies should just begin to spread and still have a mound in the center when you take them out.
- Add Marshmallows and Second Bake: Remove baking sheets from the oven. Carefully press one half of a marshmallow onto the top of each cookie, lightly pressing down to slightly flatten the cookies.
- Final Bake: Return the baking sheets to the oven for an additional 1-2 minutes. The edges should look nearly done but the center still a bit underbaked — this keeps them soft and gooey.
- Cool Cookies: Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool completely. They will firm up as they cool. If desired, sprinkle finely chopped chocolate over the warm cookies.
- Repeat: Repeat the process with the remaining dough once the baking sheets have cooled.
Notes
- To properly measure flour: Fluff the flour in the container, scoop a heaping portion into your measuring cup, then level it off with the back of a knife for accurate measurement.
- Adjust bake time according to dough ball size to avoid overbaking; cookies should look slightly underbaked when removed.
- If your kitchen is warm, chill the dough between batches to maintain the dough consistency and prevent spreading.
- Serve cookies slightly warm for melty chocolate chips and gooey marshmallows.
- Store cookies tightly covered at room temperature for up to 2 days; freeze baked cookies or unbaked dough balls for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 14 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
