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These Hot Chocolate Cookies are like a warm cup of hot cocoa in cookie form! Take a bite and you’ll be whisked away to a delicious winter wonderland.
I love classic cookie flavors. Chewy chocolate chip cookies or an oatmeal cookie with a glass of cold milk just can’t be beat…. or can it?! When my Hot Chocolate Poke Cake & Hot Chocolate Brownies became a hit, I knew these Hot Cocoa Cookies would be a popular cookie, especially during the holiday season!
Whip up a batch of these cookies, grab a glass of milk (or hot chocolate?!) and enjoy! Better yet, make an extra batch to share at those holiday cookie exchanges!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: I use salted, but you can also use unsalted butter (just add 1/4 teaspoon more salt to the cookie dough)
- Sugars: White sugar and brown sugar (light or dark brown sugar will work)
- Wet Ingredients: Egg, milk (regular dairy milk or milk alternatives work fine) and vanilla extract
- Dry Ingredients: All-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
- Hot Cocoa Mix: I use the Swiss Miss brand, but any will work (though I don’t recommend the fat-free or sugar-free versions)
- Chocolate Chips: I like using semi-sweet or dark chocolate to balance the sweetness of the marshmallow.
- Marshmallow Bits: These are small dehydrated marshmallows that are sold in the grocery store near the hot cocoa mixes – I use the Jet Puffed Mallow Bits. If you can’t find them at the store, you can find them online.
How to Make Hot Chocolate Cookies
The cookie dough starts like many others; cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl, add the wet ingredients then the dry ingredients. The dough will be very thick.
Then you’ll stir in the mallow bits and chocolate chips before scooping the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Be sure to leave about 2 inches between the cookies as they’ll spread a bit as they bake.
Bake the cookies (but don’t overtake!) then press a few additional marshmallow bits and chocolate chips onto the top of each cookie while they’re hot.
Let them cool to set up before removing to a wire rack.
Variations
Shortcut Hot Chocolate Cookies with Brownie Mix
Stir together 1 box (18 ounces) brownie mix, 1/4 cup hot cocoa mix, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg, 1/4 cup water, and 1/2 cup marshmallow bits. Scoop and bake according to the recipe then press additional marshmallow bits and chocolate chips onto the cookies when they’re hot out of the oven.
Gooey Marshmallow Filled Hot Chocolate Cookies
I thought it would be fun to stuff a ball of cookie dough with half a marshmallow, but it ended up oozing all over the pan. It worked much better to form the dough around 2-3 mini marshmallows and bake it that way. They do melt a bit and form a gooey center that’s oh so good!
Extra Chocolate-y Hot Chocolate Cookies
Use 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/3 cup white chocolate chips in the dough!
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
Spice it up by adding 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon chili powder to the dough when you add the salt. If you want a little heat, you can also add 1/8 teaspoon cayenne.
Storage Instructions
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The soft mini marshmallows will ooze out of the cookies as they bake and give you a gooey mess!
You can for up to 36 hours. Note that the mallow bits will begin to dissolve into the dough a bit, but will be just fine!
Use a gluten free all purpose flour and you should be good to go! (Though I always recommend double-checking your ingredients to make sure as different brands vary)
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
- Almond Joy Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies
- Chocolate Kiss Cookies
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer
- Baking Sheets
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/8 cups flour (1 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 1/3 cup powdered hot cocoa mix
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup marshmallow bits plus extra for topping
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus extra for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Mix on low until combined then on high until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, milk and vanilla and mix until well-combined, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula at least once halfway through mixing.
- Add the flour, hot cocoa mix, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until incorporated.
- Add the mallow bits and chocolate chips; stir until well-dispersed.
- **Optional: Cover the dough and refrigerate for up to 36 hours.
- Use a cookie scoop to evenly scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes; do not overbake. The cookies will still be very soft in the center.
- Press a few additional chocolate chips and mallow bits onto the cookies while they're still hot.
- Let the cookies cool completely on the pan (the heat from the pan will continue to bake the cookies a bit).
This is the best chocolate cookie I’ve made. So good!! This will be my go to now. Thanks for a great recipe! 🙂
I have mixed the batter then frozen the batter until I was ready. I took it out, let it defrost and baked as directed. Turned out so good!
Super good! I will make these for a cookie exchange! Only issue for me is, the recipe shows it makes 24 cookies. I only ended up with 16. I used a scoop that I use for all cookies and ended up with average size cookies, so to get 24 cookies, they will need to be smaller than normal
In the directions, it says to refrigerate for 36 hours prior to baking, but then one of the advice says not to let it be in the refrigerator longer than two hours 🤷♀️
Thank you for bringing this to my attention – just fixed that typo! 🙂
Excellent recipe.I added a teaspoon of instant coffee to the recipe for some extra richness. I do this to almost any chocolate cake or cookie recipe I make.
I always do that in my chocolate cakes, but never think to add it to cookies! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them! ~Kelsey
What brand of boxed brownie mix (even if it’s the correct 18oz size) definitely matters. I used the Ghirardelli dark chocolate mix and it made something more akin to a thick, oily brownie batter than a dough with the given wet ingredients. It took roughly an additional 1/4 cup of coco mix and 1/2 cup of flour to stiffen the dough up enough to bake without immediately becoming paper thin and burning. I do plan on trying this recipe the full way eventually as it doesn’t feel fair to judge it solely on the shortcut, but would not recommend using any boxed mix outside of what it was originally tested with.