Hot Cocoa Cookies

Hot cocoa cookies are a mug of cocoa turned into a cookie: a thick, chewy chocolate cookie with the milky, rounded flavor of a cocoa mix rather than the bitterness of a brownie, a marshmallow half melted onto the top in the last minutes of the bake until it puffs and toasts, and a zigzag of dark chocolate over the marshmallow. A pinch of crushed peppermint makes the December version. They are the cookie of the season on every platter and cookie swap from November on, and the reasons most versions fail, a flat cookie, a marshmallow that vanished into a puddle, a drizzle that went grainy, each come down to one ingredient decision explained below.

The recipe card at the bottom has the amounts and numbered steps for 20 cookies. This guide covers what gives a hot cocoa cookie its flavor and why it is not just a chocolate cookie, why the cocoa and the leavener have to match, the chew, the marshmallow timing and what a marshmallow does in the oven, the ganache drizzle, the peppermint variation, and storage. It sits in the site's baking and desserts section with Gordon Ramsay's chocolate chip cookies, which is the same chewy-cookie method without the cocoa.

What Makes It Taste Like Hot Cocoa, Not a Chocolate Cookie

The difference between hot cocoa and chocolate is milk and sugar. A packet of cocoa mix is mostly sugar and dried milk with a modest amount of cocoa, which is why a cup of it tastes soft and creamy where a square of dark chocolate tastes sharp. This cookie borrows that formula without the packet: a quarter cup of nonfat dry milk powder goes into the dough alongside a half cup of cocoa. The milk powder does two jobs. Its milk sugars and proteins round the cocoa's edge into that cocoa-mix flavor, and the same proteins and sugars brown in the oven through the Maillard reaction, which deepens the base of the cookie the way the milk solids in brown butter deepen a blondie. Many recipes stir packets of cocoa mix straight into the dough; the milk powder plus real cocoa gives the same flavor with control over the sweetness.

The cocoa itself has to be natural, not Dutch-process, and the reason is the leavener. King Arthur Baking explains that natural cocoa is acidic and Dutch-process cocoa has been treated with an alkali to neutralize that acid, which darkens it and smooths its flavor; because natural cocoa is acidic, it pairs with baking soda, a base, and the acid-base reaction makes the bubbles that let cookie dough spread into round cookies, while Dutch-process needs baking powder because it brings no acid of its own. King Arthur also notes what happens if you swap without adjusting: natural-cocoa recipes made with Dutch-process bake up thick and cake-like. This dough uses natural cocoa and baking soda, so it spreads to a proper thick disc with crackled edges. If Dutch-process is what you have, use a teaspoon of baking powder in place of the half teaspoon of soda.

The Chew: Brown Sugar, a Yolk, and a Short Chill

Chewy is a formula, and it is the opposite of the crisp one used for the site's cookie brittle. King Arthur's cookie chemistry test found that more brown sugar and butter, and a shorter bake, give a soft, chewy cookie, because brown sugar carries molasses and butter carries milk solids and water, and both are softeners. So this dough is three parts brown sugar to one part white, creamed with softened butter until light, with a whole egg for structure and an extra yolk for fat and a fudgy center. Beat the egg in well, then stir in the cocoa, milk powder, flour, soda and salt just until combined, and fold in a half cup of mini chocolate chips.

Chill the dough 30 minutes before scooping. Cold butter melts later in the oven, so the cookie sets its edges before it has spread thin, and a thicker cookie is a chewier one; it also gives the marshmallow a base to sit on instead of sliding off. Scoop two-tablespoon balls onto parchment-lined pans, three inches apart, and bake at 350°F for 9 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops are crackled but the centers still look slightly underdone. That is the moment the marshmallow goes on.

The Marshmallow: On for the Last 3 Minutes, Not the Whole Bake

A marshmallow is a foam. Science News Explores describes it as air bubbles whipped into a hot sugar syrup and held in place by gelatin, which sets into a network as it cools and traps the bubbles. Heat undoes that. Gelatin melts at about body temperature, so in a 350°F oven the network softens within a minute while the trapped air expands, and the marshmallow swells to nearly twice its size; leave it longer and the softened gelatin cannot hold the expanded foam, the bubbles merge and escape, and the marshmallow collapses into a sticky, translucent puddle that spreads across the cookie. That is the failure in every recipe that bakes the marshmallow from the start.

So the marshmallow gets 2 to 3 minutes. Pull the pan at 9 minutes, press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto the center of each cookie, and return the pan to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until the marshmallows have puffed and softened and their tops are just beginning to color. The color is the same browning that a campfire gives a s'more, the marshmallow's sugars caramelizing and its proteins browning at the surface, and it comes fast; for a deeper toast, 30 seconds under the broiler after baking, watched the whole time, does it. Cool the cookies on the pan 5 minutes so the marshmallow sets back into a soft dome, then move them to a rack.

The Ganache Drizzle, and the Peppermint Version

The drizzle is a small ganache, 3 ounces of chopped semisweet chocolate melted with 3 tablespoons of hot cream and stirred until glossy, which sets soft rather than hard and does not crack off the marshmallow. Semisweet means at least 35 percent chocolate liquor under the federal standard, enough cocoa to read as dark against a sweet marshmallow. Two rules keep it smooth. Heat gently: Guittard puts the melting ceiling for dark chocolate around 120°F, and past it the chocolate scorches and turns grainy, so pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate off the heat and let it sit a minute before stirring. And keep water out: Guittard warns that exposure to water or steam makes chocolate seize and thicken, which is why a dry bowl and cream, a fat-and-water emulsion that the chocolate can absorb, work where a splash of water would ruin it. Let the ganache cool to about 90°F, thick enough to hold a line, and drizzle it from a spoon or a snipped bag in zigzags over each marshmallow.

For peppermint hot cocoa cookies, add a half teaspoon of peppermint extract to the dough with the vanilla and press crushed peppermint candy or candy canes into the ganache while it is wet. Add the candy on the day you serve: hard candy is hygroscopic and pulls moisture from the air and the marshmallow, so overnight it softens and weeps pink into the drizzle. The same rule keeps the crushed candy on the site's red velvet cheesecake brownies off until serving. For a Mexican hot cocoa version, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne in the dough; for a plain version, skip the drizzle and dust the toasted marshmallows with cocoa.

Storage and Make-Ahead

The cookies keep 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature, in a single layer or separated by parchment so the marshmallows do not glue to each other; they stay chewy because the brown sugar holds moisture, and they go stale faster in the refrigerator, where the starch firms. The dough freezes for 3 months, scooped into balls, and bakes from frozen with 2 extra minutes on the first bake. The ganache can be made a day ahead and rewarmed gently. Do not stack them for gifting until the drizzle has set fully, about 20 minutes, and keep any peppermint version dry. The pistachio brownies fill out the same holiday tray with a fudgier chocolate.

Hot Cocoa Cookies (Marshmallow Top, Chocolate Drizzle)

Chewy chocolate cookies made with natural cocoa, nonfat dry milk powder, brown sugar and an extra yolk, baked 9 minutes, topped with a marshmallow half and baked 2 to 3 minutes more until puffed and toasted, then drizzled with a semisweet ganache. Makes 20, with a peppermint option.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 20 cookies

Calories 210 kcal

Ingredients

  

• For the cookies
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup natural (non-alkalized) cocoa powder
• ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 10 large marshmallows, halved crosswise
• For the drizzle
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 Tbsp heavy cream
• Peppermint version (optional)
• ½ tsp peppermint extract, added with the vanilla
• ¼ cup crushed peppermint candy or candy canes, for the top

Instructions

 

• Beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla (and peppermint extract, if using). Whisk the flour, cocoa, milk powder, baking soda and salt together and stir into the butter mixture just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment. Scoop 2-tablespoon balls of dough 3 inches apart.
• Bake 9 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops are crackled but the centers look slightly underdone.
• Remove the pan and press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto the center of each cookie. Return to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until the marshmallows are puffed and soft and just beginning to color. Cool 5 minutes on the pan, then move to a rack to cool completely.
• Make the drizzle: heat the cream until steaming, pour it over the chopped chocolate in a dry bowl, let stand 1 minute, then stir until smooth and glossy. Cool until it holds a line, about 90°F, and drizzle in zigzags over the marshmallows. Press crushed peppermint into the wet drizzle if using. Let set 20 minutes.

Notes

Natural cocoa with baking soda; if using Dutch-process, swap the soda for 1 teaspoon baking powder. The marshmallow goes on after the first bake and stays in only 2 to 3 minutes or it collapses. Keep water away from the ganache. Add peppermint candy the day you serve. Keeps 3 days airtight at room temperature; dough freezes 3 months.

More from the baking bench: Gordon Ramsay's chocolate chip cookies, cookie brittle, and pistachio brownies. Holiday tray: red velvet cheesecake brownies.

Hot Cocoa Cookies FAQs

The questions that come up most: whether hot cocoa mix can go in the dough, why the marshmallow melted into a puddle, why the cookies spread flat, whether Dutch-process cocoa works, how to make the peppermint version, how to store them, whether the dough freezes, and why the chocolate drizzle went grainy.