Hot Chocolate Cookies are like biting into a soft, chewy cookie that tastes just like a mug of rich, creamy hot chocolate, complete with gooey melted marshmallows. They are irresistible for cozy nights by the fire, your Christmas Cookie platter, and holiday gatherings.
Speaking of Christmas cookies, I love adding Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies and easy edible Cookie Dough Bites to my holiday cookie trays.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Cookies are the ultimate in make-ahead desserts! They store on the counter or freezer to free up your time.
- The dough needs chilling, so you can split up the mixing and baking portions if you're short on time.
- Hot Chocolate Cookies are the perfect indulgent treat for the Christmas parties with their melted chocolate and candy cane. I could say the same for my soft molasses cookies recipe too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter: I use unsalted butter so I'm able to control the salt level myself.
- Sugar: Brown sugar helps keep these hot chocolate cookies soft and chewy. The added granulated sugar is a bonus.
- Cocoa Powder: I use Dutch processed cocoa powder.
- Espresso Powder: This wonderful ingredient brings out the chocolate flavor, if you can't find it you can omit it. The Spice House is my go-to!
- Chocolate Chips: I prefer semi-sweet or bittersweet here but use whatever you like for these double chocolate chip cookies.
- Marshmallow Fluff: It's not hot cocoa without marshmallows! Marshmallow fluff or jet puffed mini marshmallows work here.
- Candy Canes: Crush the candy canes then sprinkle them on to the baked cookies if you like.
- Flaky Sea Salt: A little extra salt on top of something sweet is always delicious. Try it on this Lemon Ricotta Cookies recipe too!
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Try mini jet-puffed marshmallows instead of marshmallow fluff. Use the leftovers for the marshmallow glaze on this Sweet Potato Pound Cake recipe!
- Sprinkling crushed candy cane on top of baked Hot Chocolate Cookies is optional for that peppermint flavor, but you can also add ½ teaspoon peppermint extract to the wet ingredients after creaming the butter and sugars for a hint of peppermint throughout.
- Substitute half white chocolate chips for half of the chocolate to get a mix of both. Alternatively, you can melt white chocolate or vanilla almond bark and dip the cooled cookies.
- Add some festive holiday season sprinkles to each Hot Chocolate Cookie to suit your holiday celebration.
- Espresso powder can be omitted if you don't have it on hand although, I do recommend trying it if you never have! It intensifies the chocolate flavor.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
How To Make Hot Chocolate Cookies
Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla and mix.
Step 3: Combine dry with wet until no white flour streaks remain.
Step 4: Fold marshmallow topping into dough.
Step 5: Fold chocolate chips into dough.
Step 6: After scooping cookies, add more marshmallow!
Step 7: Bake cookies, then let cool on a rack.
Step 8: Sprinkle Hot Chocolate Cookies with candy canes and sea salt if desired.
Expert Baking Tips
- Chill the cookie dough before baking. It helps the dough rehydrate and eliminates too much spreading. The cookies will spread then be a flat mess if you don't chill the dough. The same tip goes for Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies!
- Save some pre-scooped cookies in the freezer for later! One of my favorite things to do after chilling the dough is to freeze it. That way you can bake them later when you're craving just 1 or a couple cookies.
- Scoop the cookies then chill the dough, not vise versa. It's easier on you and the cookie scoop.
- If you forget to pull your eggs out of the fridge to come to room temp, there's a trick you can use! Fill a bowl with warm water, place your eggs in it and let them sit for 5-8 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
After scooping, you can pop the sheet right in the freezer to flash freeze them individually. Then store in a bag for later baking. You might want to skip the extra fluff on top so they don't stick together! You can cook right from frozen, adding a minute or two to the bake time.
Cookies are perfect for making ahead, up to a week in advance. Just pop them in an airtight container and store at room temp. Because these are "sticky" cookies with the marshmallow on top, you will need to store them in a single layer.
I love scoops that have the swinging arm to push the dough out - no need to dirty your fingers that way! Using an actual scoop will give you nice neat round dough balls that are all the same size. I also recommend scooping the cookie dough before chilling it. This way it is very easy to scoop and won't break the arm on your scooper, or give you a workout!
This type of cocoa is processed to have lower acidity than natural or regular cocoa powder. Often Dutch process will be labeled as such, as Ghirardelli does, or called dark (like Hershey's has a Special Dark version) and it does look darker. I use this in my Chocolate Espresso Banana Bread recipe too.
More Cookie Recipes You'll Love
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📖Recipe
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Equipment
- oven
- baking sheets
- rubber spatula
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ tsp espresso powder
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temp
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temp
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix Ins
- 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup marshmallow fluff divided, marshmallow topping optional
Toppings (optional)
- 3 candy canes crushed
- ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
Mixing the Dry Ingedients
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients and set aside
Mixing the Wet Ingredients
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together the butter and both sugars on medium speed for 4 minutes until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition
- Mix in the vanilla
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low just until incorporated. A couple streaks of flour left is ok, do not overmix
Adding the Mix Ins
- Fold in the chocolate chips
- Fold in ½ cup of the marshmallow. Do just a few folds, you want the marshmallow to be very streaky through the dough
Preparing and Baking the Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Scoop the cookie dough into 2oz balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet
- OPTIONAL - Top each dough ball with a small amount of the marshmallow fluff from the remaining ½ cup. This makes for a more gooey cookie.
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour or up to 72 hours. If chilling the dough for more than a couple hours, loosely cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap after the first couple hours
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Set the cookies on the tray at least 3 inches apart
- Bake the Hot Chocolate Cookies for 8-10 minutes. Check them after 8, all ovens are a little different but mine are done at 8 minutes
- After letting the cooking cool for 1-2 minutes on the sheet tray, transfer them to a cooling rack
- Sprinkle the cookies with crushed candy cane, flaky sea salt or both if desired
- Enjoy!
Emily
These were so good! Even got the work crew requesting I make them again already. Can't wait to make them again and again!
admin
Love to hear it! Thank you!
Vicky
Do you have your recipes with grams (weights)
I hate using measuring cups. Slows me down and is less accurate.
admin
Hi Vicky! I do not currently have this recipe in weight measurements. I only occasionally have recipes with weight measurements, sorry about that!