I’m not sure if you guys have caught on to this theme yet or not… but I love marshmallows (hence the abundance of s’mores recipes). I love them so much I eat the mini guys all the time for a little snack! These chocolate marshmallow cookies are an extension of my love. I think the best part about the cookies is the chewiness that the marshmallow brings. When it melts just a bit in the center, the gooey-ness itself seeps into the cookie. With this added melted marshmallow, the cookie becomes chewy and absolutely delightful. And, yes, the cookie base portion of this recipe is the exact same as my Double Chocolate M&M Cookies, so if you love these, you definitely need to check out those!
What kind of cocoa is best? Does it matter?
Up until about 4 years ago, I had no concept of “types” of cocoa. To me, there was Hershey’s 100% Cocoa (if I were lucky) and most often, Aldi basic brand cocoa. I later learned that both of these are natural cocoa powders and that there was a whole world of chocolate flavor out there to explore. I went through many brands and types of cocoa powders, learning about dutch-processed, blends, black cocoa, and even cacao powder. In the end, I concluded that I preferred dutch-processed, which made me re-evaluate just how I bake my recipes.
Though I prefer dutch-processed, you may prefer the more acidic natural cocoa powder that is common in America. If that is your preference, that is totally cool! However, you will have to make a small adjustment to this recipe for double chocolate M&M cookies if you want to stick with natural cocoa. Different cocoa powders have different pH levels, meaning they react differently depending on what kind of leavener you are using. For this recipe if you would like to swap for natural cocoa, you can, but you should substitute baking soda in for all of the baking powder, so you would be using 3/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, rather than a mixture of the two leaveners. This will give the correct rise to your cookies instead of having sad, flat cookies coming out of your oven.
How do I know when my chocolate marshmallow cookies are done?
The classic look of done-ness for most baked goods is a golden caramel. At this point, you know that your treat has been influenced by the Maillard Reaction and the baking is complete. For chocolate cookies though, it is a little more difficult. We have to look at our cookies with a bit more scrutiny to make sure we get the perfect bake. I narrowed the baking time of these cookies down to a window of 10-12 minutes, though it could vary from oven to oven. To make sure your cookie is done, focus your gaze on the middle of the cookie. Does it still look a little glossy or darker than the rest of the cookie? If so, then leave it in for 2 more minutes before checking it again, repeating these 2 minute interval checks until the cookie looks uniformly cooked through.
My marshmallow didn’t brown like yours?
If you’re worries because your marshmallows don’t look like mine when you take the cookies out of the oven, do not worry! My cookies look so toasty because I used a blow torch at the end to really amp up the caramelization. If you’re going to blow torch your marshmallows too, just be sure that you are safe and that you don’t take your eyes off of the process or else you could burn your mallows!
I know what you are probably thinking… aren’t “chocolate marshmallow cookies” basically hot chocolate cookies? My answer to that is NO! I considered calling them that, but there is no hot chocolate powder or mix included in these. And honestly I do not get the flavor profile of hot chocolate in these cookies at all. So, for now, my blog does not contain a hot chocolate cookie recipe, though that will change in the upcoming months. I have so much in store for the next coming months, I cannot wait to share everything with you guys!
Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Ingredients
- 2½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Corn Starch (optional)
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (packed)
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa (if wanting to use natural cocoa omit the baking powder and use ¾ of a teaspoon of baking soda in total)
- 12 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 20 Normal-Sized Marshmallows (cut in half so the cross-section is a circle)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk thoroughly until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, combine the butter and the sugars. Use either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, and cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy and sufficiently mixed (1-3 minutes).
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, beating each time until fully incorporated.
- Using a sift or a fine mesh sieve, sift the cocoa powder into the large bowl with the wet ingredients. Sifting keeps out the pesky clumps that cocoa powder is prone to having. Mix until all the cocoa powder is incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until the flour is just about totally combined give or take a few streaks of powder. At this point, add in your chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed across the batter.
- Using your hands or a cookie scoop, divide the dough into balls, roughly 1-2 tablespoons in size.
- With your thumb, make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie the size of the circumference of a marshmallow. Place a half of a marshmallow in the center of each cookie with the sticky side down, touching the cookie.
- When all cookies have been given their thumbprints and half of marshmallows, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until the middle no longer looks wet/raw. Note: a good spacing is 12 cookies per pan.
- If you want to have extra toasty marshmallows like mine, use a blow torch to caramelize the tops of the marshmallows as soon as you take the cookies out of the oven. If you don't have a blow torch, or do not like extra toasty marshmallows, you can skip this step!
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before enjoying!
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