How to make perfectly soft and gooey hot cocoa cookies for the holidays with hot cocoa mix and marshmallow bits. Fun, festive, & cozy Christmas dessert that’s so easy to make in 10 minutes or less, and it’s great for kids!
My family LOVES Christmas cookies. Each year we make everything from white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies to Italian sugar cookies and cutout sugar cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies, reindeer thumbprint cookies, gingerbread cookies, Christmas light cookies and even butter almond snowball cookies. But these hot cocoa cookies have become the new family favorite!
Hot chocolate mix cookies are so easy to make, and the cocoa mix imparts a rich, chocolaty flavor that you just can’t get from cocoa powder. Not only that, but the marshmallow bits add this addictively sweet, melt-in-your-mouth pop of flavor in every bite without overpowering the cocoa flavor. These cookies literally taste like a cup of hot chocolate with chocolate chips! It’s like fantasy fudge, but in cookie form!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- All-Purpose Flour – I just use plain all-purpose flour for this recipe. If you like a softer cookie with a more cake-like texture, you can also use cake flour instead!
- Hot Cocoa Mix – I use milk chocolate flavored hot cocoa mix for these hot cocoa mix cookies, but any hot cocoa mix will do. You can even use homemade hot chocolate mix!
- Unsalted Butter – I use unsalted butter for this recipe, but you can use salted butter in a pinch if that’s all you have on hand. Just be sure to reduce the actual salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon for every 1/2 cup of salted butter used, to make up for the additional salt in the butter itself.
- Light Brown Sugar – Thanks to the sugar that is already in the hot cocoa mix, you don’t actually need very much sugar for this recipe. That said, I do like to add a little bit of light brown sugar for an extra touch of sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract – You can use imitation vanilla, but I always recommend using a 100% pure vanilla extract for best flavor.
- Chocolate Chips – I prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but feel free to use either milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips if you prefer!
- Marshmallow Bits – I like to use actual marshmallow bits, not to be confused with mini marshmallows. While as mini marshmallows will certainly work for this recipe, I prefer the smaller size of the mallow bits. Not only are they easier to mix into the cookie dough, but they also have less of a tendency to overpower the chocolaty flavor provided by the hot chocolate mix.
How to Make Hot Cocoa Cookies
Before getting started, you’ll want to pre-heat your oven to 350ºF. Line 2 13×9 baking sheets with parchment paper or these handy silicone baking mats.
Mix Up the Cookie Dough
- Start by whisking together the flour, baking powder, salt and hot cocoa mix in a large mixing bowl.
- In another large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter until well combined and fluffy. Optionally, I like to use my electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment for this step.
- Next, add the egg and vanilla extract, beating together ’til well combined.
- Then gradually add the dry mixture a little bit at a time, beating ’til well combined in between each addition.
- Finally, use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallow bits ’til they’re evenly dispersed all throughout the cookie dough.
How to Bake Hot Cocoa Cookies
Now that your cookie dough is all mixed up, use a tablespoon or cookie dough scoop to scoop the dough out evenly onto the baking sheets that you prepared in the first step. Bake at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes, or ’til firm and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cookies comes out clean. The middle should also be soft and puffy, and it will slowly spring back at you when lightly pressed into.
That’s it! Your hot chocolate cookies are ready to enjoy. Serve them up with a piping hot cup of hot chocolate, coffee or tea for the ultimate holiday snack or dessert. Trust me, everybody will be coming back for more!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
Yes, you can make gluten free hot cocoa cookies. Most of the ingredients in this recipe, including the hot cocoa mix, are naturally gluten free. That said, you will need to swap out the flour for a good cup for cup gluten free all-purpose flour, and you’ll also need to add some xanthan gum according to the package directions for better rise. As always, be sure to check all of the ingredient labels to ensure that they are truly gluten free!
Yes, you can make these cookies sugar free. I recommend using a sugar free hot cocoa mix. Then you’ll want to use some sort of sugar free replacement for brown sugar, like this Truvia Sweet Complete brown sugar substitute. You’ll also want to use sugar free marshmallow bits and sugar free chocolate chips. Other than that, you should be good to go!
Once completely cooled, you can store your hot chocolate cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. And as a tip, try placing a slice of bread in the container with the cookies! In my experience, the moisture from the bread will help to keep them from going stale.
Yes, you can freeze them! Once cooled, place them into an airtight container or freezer bag and into the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve, just reheat them in the microwave on high ’til warm and gooey.
Alternatively, you can also freeze the cookie dough before baking. To do this, I recommend scooping each cookie out individually onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Then place the baking sheet with the individual cookies into the freezer for 25-30 minutes, ’til each dough ball is firm. Once frozen, transfer them all to an airtight container or freezer bag and into the freezer for up to 12 months. When you’re ready to eat, just pull them out of the freezer, bake and serve as directed in the recipe. Keep in mind that you may have to add a few minutes to the baking time to make up for the cold dough!
Optional Add-Ins & Variations
Here are a few ways that you can change this recipe up…
- Swap out the hot chocolate mix for a flavored hot chocolate mix. Peppermint hot cocoa mix, dark chocolate hot cocoa mix and salted caramel hot cocoa mix all come to mind.
- Try adding instant coffee powder or instant espresso powder for an extra mocha kick!
- You can always mix candies into the cookie dough for extra flavor. Think caramel bits, toffee bits, M&M Minis and peppermint chips; be creative.
- Drizzle a little chocolate syrup or even caramel syrup on top if you really want to get fancy!
More Cookies & Bars Recipes for the Holidays
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Gluten Free Blondies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeye Bars
- Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies
- Grandma’s Gobs
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Hot Cocoa Cookies
Equipment
- Electric Stand Mixer optional
- cake tester optional
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/2 cup Hot Cocoa Mix
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
- 1 Large Egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips milk or semi-sweet
- 1/2 cup Marshmallow Bits
Instructions
- Before getting started, pre-heat your oven to 350ºF and line 2 13×9 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Start by whisking together the flour, baking powder, salt and hot cocoa mix in a large mixing bowl.
- In another large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter until well combined and fluffy. I like to use my electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment for this step.
- Next, add the egg and vanilla extract, beating 'til well combined.
- Then gradually add the dry mixture a little bit at a time, beating 'til well combined in between each addition.
- Finally, use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallow bits 'til they're evenly dispersed all throughout the cookie dough.
- Now that your cookie dough is all mixed up, use a tablespoon or cookie dough scoop to scoop the dough out evenly onto the baking sheets that you prepared in the first step.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or 'til firm and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cookies comes out clean. The middle should also be soft and puffy, and it should spring back when lightly pressed into.
- That's it! Serve and enjoy!
Hold shape well. All my taste testers were very positive. Using this for our town’s Cookie Crawl in December.