Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
Updated Feb. 3, 2025
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus 2 hours chilling
- Prep Time
- 30 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour, plus 2 hours chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½cups/192 grams all-purpose flour
- ½cup/51 grams cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- ½teaspoon ground cayenne
- 3teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1½cups/305 grams light brown sugar
- 1large egg, at room temperature
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- Mini marshmallows, frozen solid
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cayenne and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.
- Step 2
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, or a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until creamy, 2 more minutes. Add flour mixture. Beat on low until no dry spots remain, about 1 minute.
- Step 3
With a 2-tablespoon (1-ounce) cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, scoop dough into mounds on a baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight. Freeze marshmallows, if you haven’t already.
- Step 4
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Add granulated sugar and remaining teaspoon cinnamon to a small bowl.
- Step 5
Remove half of the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes if the dough is very stiff. Take a mound of dough and flatten slightly in the palm of your hand. Pile 5 frozen mini marshmallows on top of the flattened dough, then bring the outer edges over the marshmallows to envelop them. Roll into a ball and then roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place on the baking sheet, 3 inches apart.
- Step 6
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through, until cookies puff slightly and bits of molten marshmallow peek through the surface. Cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough and marshmallows. Cookies will keep for about 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Balls of dough (not coated in cinnamon sugar) can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. To bake, thaw for 5 minutes at room temperature, roll in cinnamon sugar and bake for 13 to 15 minutes.
Private Notes
Comments
Holiday cookie baking pals, please note the 3 teaspoons of cinnamon in the recipe are *divided* - 2 teaspoons for the cookie dough, and 1 teaspoon for the cinnamon sugar rolling mixture. I’m not sure why the NYT Cooking house style doesn’t always indicate dividing within their lists of ingredients, but I wouldn’t want anyone feeling Scrooge-y over cinnamon confusion!
Better assembly approach: portion out the just-mixed dough and form it around the frozen marshmallows. Bake directly from the freezer, adding 1-2 minutes to the baking time. Easier, simpler, & better shaped cookie. As others said, the cold dough is frustrating to work. It cracks, and if you don't seal the cracks over the marshmallows, the cookie unravels and becomes a blob shape (instead of roughly circular) and the marshmallows end up on top as they bake.
I divided the room-temperature dough into 35-gram round portions, flattened them to fill with the room temperature marshmallows, then chilled them in the fridge, before rolling them in the cinnamon sugar and putting them into the oven. They came out looking identical to the recipe photo. I just didn’t want to frustrate myself with attempting to wrap cold dough around quick thawing mini marshmallows. I’m loving all of these unique cookie recipes that add some variety to the usual cookie lineup.
I made these for a Mexican food themed potluck at work. They turned out really good! The flavor was excellent. I used about 3/4 of the recommended amount of cayenne and it was plenty for my taste. I formed the dough over the marshmallows at room temp then chilled in freezer for about 40 minutes before rolling in sugar and baking. The cookies spread nicely and had a gooey middle with crunchy exterior. Most of the cookies did not have the white marshmallow peeking through. However, I noticed that the cookies that had been sitting out on the counter for a few minutes before baking (rather than going to the oven straight from the freezer) had more of the marshmallow peeking through and looked more like the photo.
I did what some recommended and didn't freeze anything. I did chill the batter so it would be easier to handle. This worked fine and saved some time. At the end, had a little batter left and didn't add marshmallows, just balls coated in sugar and cinnamon. I like these better. The marshmallow gets sticky when the cookies cool. Without marshmallow, I was able to taste the rich chocolate and spices. Very good either way but if you don't have marshmallows on hand, make anyway.
Used 260g of sugar for dough. Demerara sugar for rolling. Wrapped marshmallow in dough before chilling. Gochugaru for heat.