Hot Chocolate Cookies

Hot-Chocolate Cookie

Hot Chocolate Cookies. Or, you can call them Chocolate Surprise Cookies. Regardless, the name sounds pretty awesome. Hot chocolate flavor packed into a cookie with a marshmallow on top, this sounds promising.

Unfortunately, these cookies disappointed me. The chocolate cookie dough baked to be pretty dense. The chocolate flavor was dark, but also a tad chalky. These tasted like chocolate graham crackers, or chocolate teddy grahams, which if you like that taste, then you will love these. However, I am not a fan of either of these delights, and therefore I wasn't a huge fan of these cookies.

For some reason, my cookies didn't spread out evenly as IndianSimmer's. Maybe it's because I didn't roll my dough into perfect balls, rather I used two teaspoons to scoop out a rounded dollop of dough. I still can't figure out why mine turned out this way. In addition, after tasting the first batch, I was so disappointed I didn't bother to drizzle melted chocolate on top. I also substituted the last fourth cup of cocoa mix with hot chocolate mix. I saw another variation of this cookie on the The Pastry Affair's site that used hot chocolate mix in the batter, so I figured it would be a fun touch. However, I have a slight hunch that the hot chocolate mix was a factor in the cookies being a bit chalk-like.

Although these weren't a huge hit, my roommates and friends still liked them, especially when slightly heated in the microwave, which makes the marshmallow nice and gooey. I might try the Pastry Affair's version next time. Hot chocolate cookies are a fun idea, and I plan on revisiting them later.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from IndianSimmier and The Pastry Affair

Yields: 24-30 smallish cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder*

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

12-15 marshmallows

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In an electric mixer, or using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until they turn light and fluffy.

4. Add egg, milk and vanilla to the butter and sugar mix, and mix together until combined.

5. Add flour mixture slowly on a low setting until they are combined.

6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, then using a spoon or small ice cream scoop drop batter onto the sheet, leaving a couple of inches in between.

7. Let them bake for 10 minutes.

8. In the meantime, cut the marshmallows horizontally into halves.

9. Take the cookies out of the oven, place on marshmallow half (cut side down) over each cookie.

10. Put cookies back into the oven, and bake for 3-4 minutes.

11. Transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy either warm or cool!

What I Did Differently:

1. I did 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 cup of hot chocolate mix (around two packets).

2. I baked my cookies for 7 minutes, put the marshmallow on top of the cookie, and then baked for around 5 minutes. This way the marshmallow became a little bit more browned and gooey-er. 

3. Indian Simmer made a chocolate drizzle, I left this out.