Hot Cocoa Cookies

No word of a lie - I have been wanting to make these hot cocoa cookies with marshmallow bits for years! Ever since I pinned them onto my easy cookie recipes board on Pinterest years, years and years ago, I've been telling myself every winter that I'm going to make these cookies and it's just never happened...until this year! Sure, this hot cocoa cookies recipe can be made at any time of year, but they're extra special if you make them at Christmas, don't you think?

We've been practically living on hot cocoa around here for the past few weeks - it seems like I've been having it at least once each day since the start of November! Which is a bit weird when the sun is shining outside and the temperature is warm enough for sunbathing. But heck - it's the festive season and if I want to pretend it's snowing outside and wear reindeer- and snowflake-adorned Christmas leggings whilst drinking hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, then I bloody well will!

Anyway, I love dark chocolate and my hot cocoa of choice is definitely Bournville. If you haven't tried it, you absolutely must. It makes the thickest, richest and most delicious hot cocoa ever! You need a fair bit of sugar or sweetener to balance the bitterness of the cocoa, but it's so worth it!

And not only can you make hot cocoa with Bournville, but you can also bake with it instead of cocoa powder, too! Seriously - if you have a look at the list of the ingredients on the back of the tub, you'll only see one - cocoa powder. No nasty additives or chemicals here. Yay!

I knew before I even took a single bite of these hot chocolate cookies with marshmallows that I'd fall head-over-heels in love with them. They're based on my recipe for The Best Chocolate Cookies (which, you know, are the best) and are topped with perfectly golden, ooey gooey marshmallows, before being kissed with a dollop of smooth chocolate spread.

I used plain Cadbury's chocolate spread because My Official Treat Taster hates Nutella (crazy, right?!) and I'd worked my way through the entire jar delicious chocolate spread with toffee bits that we bought from IKEA about five minutes earlier. But feel free to top your marshmallows with whatever delicious chocolate spread you have at home.

📖 Recipe

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours

Servings: 12 cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 4 oz /115g dark chocolate
• 1 medium-size egg at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 12 medium-sized or 6 jumbo marshmallows
• 12 teaspoons chocolate spread Nutella/Hershey's/whatever you want!

Instructions

• In a medium-size bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set to one side.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the dark chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring each time to make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.
• When fully melted, beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
• In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Scoop in the melted chocolate and beat together for a further 1 minute.
• Pour in the flour-cocoa powder-baking powder mixture into the wet ingredients and gently stir until just combined. Do not over-mix!
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes, until the cookie dough takes on a scoopable texture.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F/175C and line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• After 30 minutes, take a tablespoon measuring spoon and scoop out heaped mounds of cookie dough. Drop each mound of cookie dough out onto the lined baking sheet. The cookies will spread a little so give them room to grow.
• Top each cookie dough round with 1 medium marshmallow or half a jumbo marshmallow and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, until the cookies are set and the marshmallows are golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave the cookies to sit on the baking tray for an extra 10 minutes, before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
• When fully cooled, scoop about 1 teaspoon of chocolate spread onto the top of each marshmallow and serve.

Notes

Based on my recipe for The Best Chocolate Cookies

Here are the link parties I link up to.