Hot Cocoa Cookies made with hot cocoa mix, chocolate chips, crushed candy canes and marshmallow bits. These hot chocolate cookies are simple to make and have all the flavors of a cup of your favorite hot cocoa!

I don’t like being cold at all, but one perk of winter and cold weather is hot chocolate. There is nothing better than sitting by a fire and drinking a cup of hot chocolate that is loaded with marshmallows. While reading a really good book.

HOT COCOA COOKIES

Hot Cocoa Cookies are cookies that are made with hot chocolate mix in the dough. Throw in some chocolate chips, crushed candy canes and marshmallow bits before baking and the cookies will taste just like your favorite cup of hot chocolate.

INGREDIENTS IN HOT COCOA COOKIES

Butter – You need 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) of butter. Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature. For best results, use real butter.

Sugars – You will need regular granulated sugar and light brown sugar as well. For best results, make sure the brown sugar is fresh and soft.

Eggs – Two large eggs will help bind everything together.

Vanilla extract – Just a teaspoon of vanilla adds some extra richness and flavor to the cookies. The higher the quality of vanilla, the better.

Flour – All-purpose flour works best in this cookie recipe.

Hot cocoa mix – You will need 4 packets instant hot cocoa or 1/2 cup of hot cocoa mix. You can use any brand or flavor of hot cocoa that you like best, but make sure it is NOT sugar free.

Baking soda and baking powder – Baking soda and baking powder are the leavening agents in the cookies. For best results, make sure they aren’t old or expired.

Chocolate chips – The recipe calls for a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can use milk chocolate or white chocolate or dark chocolate…or even mint chips. They all taste delicious! I like to use the holiday variety around Christmas to add some red and green color to the cookies.  

Jet-Puffed Vanilla Mallow Bits – Sometimes these dehydrated marshmallows are a little bit tricky to find, but they are perfect in the cookies. They can usually be found in a can near the hot chocolate mixes at the store.

Candy canes – You will need a cup of crushed candy canes. Sometimes you can find crushed candy canes in the baking aisle around the holidays and I love using those for the convenience factor. If you do crush your own candy canes, it’s much easier to crush the mini ones. You will need about 40 miniature candy canes to get a cup’s worth. Make sure not to crush them too finely – you will want some bigger chunks in the cookies.

HOW TO MAKE HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350°.  

Beat butter and sugars in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.  

Combine flour, hot cocoa mix, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl.

Gradually beat the dry mixture into the butter mixture until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips, Mallow Bits and crushed candy canes.

Drop onto baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Since the cookies are brown to begin with, you have to be extra careful not to cook them too long! Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

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HOT COCOA COOKIES

Hot Cocoa Cookies made with hot cocoa mix, chocolate chips, crushed candy canes and marshmallow bits. These hot chocolate cookies are simple to make and have all the flavors of a cup of your favorite hot cocoa!

Course Cookies

Cuisine American

Keyword Hot Cocoa Cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 179kcal

Author Jessica & Nellie

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3¼ cups flour
• 4 packets instant hot cocoa NOT sugar-free OR 1/2 cup hot cocoa mix
• 1¼ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips you can use the holiday variety just for fun if you’d like!
• 1 cup Jet-Puffed Vanilla Mallow Bits
• 1 cup crushed candy canes

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Beat butter and sugars in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
• Combine flour, hot cocoa mix, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl.
• Gradually beat the dry mixture into the butter mixture until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips, Mallow Bits and crushed candy canes.
• Drop onto baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Since the cookies are brown to begin with, you have to be extra careful not to cook them too long! Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition

Calories: 179kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 65mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 213IU | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg

HOW TO CRUSH CANDY CANES

It is much easier to crush candy canes if you use the tiny ones rather than full sized candy canes! The tiny ones are much more fragile and break a lot easier.

I just take them all out of their individual packages and then place them in a ziplock bag. Let all of the extra air out of the bag before sealing and then use the end of a rolling pin or a meat mallet to smash them.

You don’t want to smash them so hard that you end up with a fine powder – you definitely want larger chunks that you can actually taste in the cookies. The crunch of the candy cane pieces adds a fun texture to this hot cocoa cookie recipe.

Just this year, I have been able to find bags of crushed candy canes in the baking aisle during the holiday season, and have been taking full advantage! I love not having to take the extra step of opening all of the little candy canes and then smashing them. So make sure to look for those bags – the ones at my store were green!

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

After trying out multiple chocolate chip cookie recipes over many years, I have picked up several important tips for making the absolute BEST hot cocoa cookies.

• Make sure that you have enough flour in the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to add a little bit of flour.
• Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
• Also, spend extra time mixing once you have added the eggs and vanilla. Another 2-3 minutes is usually perfect!
• Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
• Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
• Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
• Don’t over bake the cookies – when I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly under baked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!

HOT COCOA COOKIE TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS

Over the years, I have had many cookie failures along with all of my successes and I have learned a few things along the way! You may have a favorite cookie recipe that you love, but they don’t always turn out perfectly. Why?! Here are some helpful tips for some common cookie problems!

WHY ARE MY COOKIES FLAT?

If your cookies are flat and spread out too much while baking, you may need to add a little bit more flour. Start by just adding a few tablespoons of flour to the batter and see if that is enough to help the shape of your cookies. If you are using a recipe with butter, make sure you aren’t melting the butter. There are a few cookie recipes that actually call for melted butter, but most of them just require the butter to be softened to room temperature. Which leads to the next question…

HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER TO ROOM TEMPERATURE?

The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes. My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.

I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.

WHY ARE MY COOKIES CRISPY AND HARD?

If your cookies are hard, crunchy or crispy, you probably baked them too long. Cookies will continue to bake for a couple of minutes on the hot cookie sheet even after you remove them from the oven, so you don’t want to wait until they are golden brown before taking them out! My husband really likes a few cookies to be a little more well-done so that he can dip them in milk, so I usually make half a tray of cookies for him that get cooked a couple minutes longer.

Most of my cookies are baked until barely done. I don’t even wait for the tops to start turning golden brown, but look at the edges on the bottom of the cookies. If the edges look like they are turning a little bit golden brown, they’re done! You don’t want the centers of the cookies to look doughy, but they shouldn’t be even slightly brown on top either.

WHY DO MY COOKIES BURN ON THE BOTTOM BUT AREN’T DONE IN THE MIDDLE?

If your cookies are always burning on the bottom, it is probably a cookie sheet issue! If you are using really dark cookie sheets, the bottoms of your baked goods will tend to burn before they are actually cooked all the way through. If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored non-stick pans so that I don’t have to use cooking spray at all. As mentioned above, I have been converted to silicone baking mats over the last couple of years and I love how easy it is for cookies to come off the tray – no sticking ever!

More winter treat recipes that are perfect for cold weather!

• Peppermint Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
• Gingerbread House Cookies
• Peppermint Meltaways
• Linzer Cookies
• Iced Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Frosted Eggnog Cookies
• Best Gingerbread Cutout Cookies
• Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
• Peppermint Cookie Bars
• Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
• Christmas Sugar Cookies
• Hot Chocolate Christmas Cookie Cups

Hot Cocoa Cookies made with hot cocoa mix, chocolate chips, crushed candy canes and marshmallow bits. These hot chocolate cookies are simple to make and have all the flavors of a cup of your favorite hot cocoa!

I took this oldest girl of mine on early graduation trip to see Harry Styles in LA. He’s not really my favorite, but I will admit that the concert was so much fun and it was amazing to get to spend some time with this girl. And to see how excited she was about seeing Harry live. 😉

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