If you love a nice mug of hot cocoa, then you are going to absolutely adore these Hot Cocoa Cookies. Made with hot cocoa mix, they truly taste like hot chocolate!
With the addition of dehydrated mini marshmallows, you have all the flavor of hot chocolate in these delicious hot cocoa cookies! These make the perfect addition to your Christmas Cookie baking and holiday cookie exchanges!
On a recent trip to Target a new product jumped into my cart…
(2020 – Update: Unfortunately it seems Mallow Bits are very hard to find in stores year. Any freeze dried marshmallows will work. They are easy to find online, though in store can be a bit harder. Check by your hot chocolate area. Also, some brands such as ChocoMaker are now selling what appear to be identical marshmallows as sprinkles, so check the sprinkle isle.
2017 – Fun update, a few months after I shared this post back in 2012, the folks at Kraft reached out to me, and a few months later after much testing on in the Kraft Kitchens, this cookie recipe appeared on the actual Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits container, as well as some of the Swiss Miss Cocoa containers. You can still find it there today!)
Kraft Marshmallow “Mallow Bits”. Clearly I had to buy some. They were available in both vanilla and peppermint, and were on the end of an isle, where all the products you can’t find seem to reside.
While I’m sure they would be great to eat out of the container for lunch, I decided I would work them into a recipe. Hot chocolate cookies sounded like fun.
Hot Cocoa Cookies
The Mallow Bits can be a bit (no pun intended) hard to find. Check both the marshmallow area and the hot cocoa/coffee isle. More often than not I find them with the hot cocoa.
But if you can’t find those, or you like to have things in mass quantities, there is always Amazon. You can get a pack of the Mallow Bits or a different brand of dehydrated marshmallows.
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular from these cookies.
I mean the only difference from a regular cookie is swapping the cocoa powder for hot chocolate mix – no biggie.
Well surprise surprise, these were GREAT.
Both my daughter and a friend of ours agreed – while they knew they’d be good, they ended up being much better than expected. Woohoo! Here’s how to make them… 
RECIPE FOR COOKIES MADE WITH HOT CHOCOLATE MIX
Hot Cocoa Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 4 packages Hot Chocolate Mix not sugar free - or 3/4 cups
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup Marshmallow Bits*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, mix butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugars and mix until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until just combined.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Add to wet ingredients and stir to combine.
- Scoop onto baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, approximately 2-3 tablespoons of dough per scoop, and bake for approximately 9-11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at least ten minutes prior to transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Carolyn says
Did you use dark chocolate chips or semi sweet?
Christi Johnstone says
Absolutely!
Chris says
Can you freeze these?
Christi Johnstone says
I haven’t tried, but they should freeze like any other chocolate chip style cookie.
Nicola says
Mine were flat and gooey and stuck together. Taste delicious but donāt look so great! How long can I store them without freezing? I made a lot!
Christi Johnstone says
Hi Nicola, it sounds like either you were short on flour, didn’t chill long enough or your oven is running hot. That is actually how I realized once that my oven was running too hot. I was getting flat cookies constantly and it was driving me nuts. Turns out it was due to high and fluctuating heat (so not ALWAYS running hot). If you don’t have an inexpensive oven thermometer, I’d really recommend getting one. Also make sure your cookie sheets aren’t hot when you put the dough on them, that too can be a factor. Hope those tips help! Oh, I personally don’t love cookies for more than a few days – there are no preservatives when we bake at home. Even if you don’t freeze them, if you need them for more than 4-5 days, I’d at least pop them in the fridge in an airtight container or ziploc bag. š
Amy Corlett says
Ours came out flat and gooey but that was intenional. I cut the baking powder to about a scant 1.5tsp, we used a 1TB scoop, baked for 8 min and then slammed the hot pan on the counter out of the oven – it flattens them out real nice. We only had regular mini marshmallows, not those hard little “bits”, so lots of oozing and melting which carmelized nicely. They’re delicious!
Kathy says
Hu,
Has anyone tried freezing these? I wonder how the marshmallow bits hold up.
Thanks!
Lesley says
I made these yesterday, mine was such a crumbly dough that I had to press together to form. They were still tasty and baked into cookies but very difficult to work with… Not sure where I went wrong
Christi Johnstone says
Lesley, how did you measure your flour? Did you spoon it into a dry measuring cup then level it off, or scoop with the measuring cup? Scooping is a common method, but often results in too much flour as it compacts the flour. But glad to hear the cookies still turned out!
Deb says
These cookies are to DIE FOR and im not a fan of hot covoa nor chocolate!
Only thing I changed is instead of 2 sticks of butter I used 1 stick of butter AND 1stick or 1/2 cup of butter flavored crisco- I just changed to that method of fats and boy our my cookies better and chewy!
Also i added 1/2 cup of crushed pepermint sticks!
WOWSA !!!!!!!
Christi Johnstone says
So happy you enjoyed these, Deb!
Jess says
Hi,
Do you use milk chocolate chips or semi sweet?
Iām so excited to try these!
Christi Johnstone says
Hi Jess, I use semi-sweet or dark, but that’s because I don’t like milk chocolate. To me the chocolate chip choice is 100% based on your tastes, so go with whichever you like and tend to use most.
Jess says
Thank you so much!??
Jill says
Delicious! These were a big hit among young and not so young folks. I couldnāt find any dehydrated marshmallows (Iām in Canada) so I bought mini marshmallows and cut them in half to avoid mess. Then I put one or two mini marshmallows on top of each cookie right out of the oven. Thank you for a great recipe.
Christi Johnstone says
Jill, so glad you enjoyed these! Great idea on the marshmallows!
Sonja says
Can you freeze these cookies after baking?
Kelly says
I tweeted your recipe. Instead of the marshmellow bits I added salted caramel chips and dark chocolate chunks, Fantastic!!!! Also used Swiss miss dark chocolate mix.