Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like the best hot cocoa of all time! Tons of rich, decadent chocolate and marshmallow flavors.
Texture: The best part. Soft, ooey, gooey, sticky, and completely crave-worthy.
Ease: Super easy! Just be careful if you’re toasting the marshmallows with a broiler, they go from toasted to burnt VERY quickly.
Pros: Perfect Christmas cookie recipe.
Cons: Difficult to store or travel since the marshmallow gets sticky.
Would I make this again? I make these every winter!
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These Hot Cocoa Cookies are the perfect cold weather bake, wrapping decadent chocolate and marshmallow in one cozy, heavenly bite.
These cookies are everything you could want in a small cookie package.
All the most mouthwatering textures in a single bite. And all of the flavors of the Christmas season. They’re seriously so delicious.
Free Cookie Customization Guide!
The science-based guide so you can bake perfect cookies every time!
Plus it’s a super simple recipe to make!
These cookies make such a fun afternoon or weekend baking project, and they look amazing on a cookie platter too.
I hope you give these cookies a try this holiday season!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Hot Cocoa Cookies
How to Toast the Marshmallows
You can use your broiler to toast the marshmallows but I find a kitchen torch gives you way more control – and it’s more fun! If you don’t have one, maybe this is the year to add one to your Christmas wishlist 😉
What Type of Chocolate Should I Use?
- I like to use milk chocolate chips inside this cookie dough, and semi-sweet baking bars chopped and added to the top, for the best hot cocoa flavor.
- Feel free to change up these chocolates if you wish.
- You could also use a few white chocolate chips, or even peanut butter chips instead – just note that this will change the ‘hot cocoa’ flavor, and will make your cookies a little sweeter.
- Just be sure to keep your chocolate to the same amount as written in the recipe for best results.
Why Did My Hot Cocoa Cookies Spread?
To prevent flat Hot Cocoa Cookies that spread into little puddles, it’s important to make sure your butter is at a COOL room temperature. Your sticks of butter should give slightly when pressed with your finger but still hold their shape. To be precise, your butter should be 67°F.
How to Avoid Dry Cookies
Be sure to measure your flour correctly to avoid dry, hard, or cakey cookies. I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale, but if you don’t have one, use the spoon and level method.
Just check out the difference between the cookies pictured below. Both cookies were made using the exact same recipe – the only difference was the way the flour was measured!
Can I Make This Hot Cocoa Cookie Recipe With a Hand Mixer?
Yes! A hand mixer will work just as well as a stand mixer.
Can I Halve This Recipe? Can I Double This Recipe?
Sure! Divide all the ingredients in half to yield approximately 12-13 medium cookies or 7-8 large cookies. For a double batch, just double all ingredients to yield approximately 50 medium cookies or 30 large cookies. No other modifications needed.
Does This Hot Cocoa Cookie Dough Need to be Chilled?
We are chilling this dough for just an hour or so, as it’s pretty sticky to portion out before this brief chill period.
If you need to chill the dough for longer to work with your schedule, you can do that! More on this just below.
Can I Make These Hot Cocoa Cookies Ahead of Time?
Yes! Shape the dough balls and wrap them in plastic wrap or move them to an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 2 days. If you need to prep these cookies further in advance, check out the freezing instructions just below.
Can I Freeze Hot Cocoa Cookies?
Yes! Freeze the pre-portioned hot cocoa cookie dough balls in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Allow the cookie dough balls to thaw overnight in the fridge or for 30 minutes at room temperature, then bake as directed below.
Check out my How to Freeze Cookie Dough article for step-by-step instructions and learn how to bake cookie dough from frozen.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:
Hot Cocoa Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (32 grams) hot chocolate mix*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at a cool room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 grams) milk chocolate chips
- 8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet chocolate, cut into 20 equal pieces
- 10 large marshmallows, cut in half
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, hot chocolate mix, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until well-combined and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. Chill for about 1 hour, or until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a spoon or a medium spring-loaded cookie scoop, drop 1 1/2-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top each cookie with a piece of semisweet chocolate and 1 marshmallow half, cut side up. Return to oven and continue to bake for another 4 minutes, or until the marshmallow begins to melt slightly. Remove from the oven and use a kitchen torch to toast the tops of the marshmallows. Alternatively, place the cookies under the broiler for about 30 seconds to toast the marshmallows. Be careful as the marshmallows can go from toasted to burnt very quickly!
- Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies are best served the day they are made due to the marshmallow but may be stored in an airtight container in one flat layer for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
This post was originally published in 2017 and has been updated with additional recipe tips.
These Hot Cocoa Cookies were an instant hit at our Hanukkah Holiday Party! The chocolate melted in everyone’s mouths, with the gooey toasted marshmallow, I mean, what else could we ask for!?! As always, they were rated a 15 out of 10!!!
Hi! Question – is the dark chocolate Ghirardelli mix the one that says “double chocolate hot cocoa mix”? Or is there another one on the market? Thank you!
Hi Rani! Ghirardelli may have updated their products since Tessa shot this recipe, but the double chocolate hot cocoa mix should work great. Let us know how the cookies turn out!
If you don’t have Ghirardelli dark chocolate mix available, would it be possible to add natural cocoa powder to the recipe to have a more intense coloring (and taste)? I realize you’d have to either subtract some of the hot cocoa and make up the difference in natural cocoa or add some type of liquid (maybe milk) to offset the addition of more powder…if you think this would work, any suggestions on potential measurements for it? Thank you!
We haven’t tried using cocoa powder in place of the cocoa mix, but you’re more than welcome to test it out! It could be a fun experiment:) Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
Hello! A fan of yours for quite a long time. This will be my first time to try this one out and I am just wondering if I can skip the cinnamon? I am not much of a fan of cinnamon anymore (sorry, I think I have had too much in the past and I am done with it yaiks!) Is there a substitute or it’s totally fine to leave that out?
Thanks!
This recipe should still turn out just fine without the cinnamon! Hope you love these cookies.
How long do chocolate chunks stay melted inside the cookies?
These turned out so gooooood. I didnt have marshmallows but they were lovely on their own. Would recommend
What makes them so dark? Mine turned out just slightly darker tan a regular chocolate chip cookie. I keep double checking the ingredients but I didn’t miss anything…
Hi April! It’s simply the brand of hot cocoa mix used. I always use Ghirardelli dark hot cocoa mix because it has more chocolate flavor and a deeper color 🙂
Is there a substitution we can make for the hot cocoa mix? Perhaps using cocoa powder?
yes, love the textures here, these are wonderfully different from any Christmas cookies I’ve ever made, so thank you for this recipe!