Irresistible Gooey Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies: An Easy One-Bowl Recipe
Prepare to fall in love with these extraordinary chocolate marshmallow cookies! Each bite promises a symphony of textures: delightfully crisp edges, an incredibly soft and fudgy middle, all encasing a pocket of wonderfully gooey, melted marshmallow. As these beauties bake, the marshmallow inside gently peaks through the rich chocolate cookie dough, creating an enticing visual and an even more satisfying taste. This isn’t just any cookie dough; it’s an incredibly easy, one-bowl recipe that requires absolutely no electric mixer, making it perfect for bakers of all skill levels. For an ultimate indulgence, these marshmallow-stuffed cookies are generously topped with a blend of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips, elevating both their flavor profile and their irresistible “goo factor.” Get ready to bake the most epic chocolate marshmallow cookies you’ve ever tasted!
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✨ Why You’ll Adore This Gooey Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Recipe
These chocolate marshmallow cookies aren’t just a dessert; they’re an experience waiting to happen. Here’s why this recipe will quickly become a cherished favorite in your baking repertoire:
- Effortless, One-Bowl Wonder: Say goodbye to stacks of dirty dishes! This recipe streamlines the baking process into a single bowl, making cleanup a breeze. The best part? You won’t even need an electric mixer. A simple whisk and a spatula are all you require, making it incredibly accessible for novice bakers and a quick fix for seasoned pros. This minimalist approach ensures that nothing stands between you and fresh, warm cookies.
- Unbelievably Gooey Marshmallow Core: The true magic of these cookies lies in their soft, stretchy, and delightfully gooey marshmallow filling. Each cookie dough ball is lovingly stuffed with marshmallows, which melt into a glorious, molten center as they bake. When you pull a warm cookie apart, you’re greeted with an irresistible marshmallow pull that’s pure joy. It’s a delightful surprise that elevates the entire cookie experience.
- Decadent Double Chocolate Flavor: Indulge your chocolate cravings with a truly rich, almost brownie-like cookie base. We don’t stop there; the dough is generously studded with chocolate chips, and then even more chocolate chips are pressed onto the outside before baking. This double dose of chocolate ensures a deep, complex cocoa flavor in every bite, perfectly complementing the sweet marshmallow.
- The Perfect Texture Combination: Achieving that coveted balance of textures is key, and these cookies deliver! Thanks to the use of melted butter in the dough, you’ll get those desirable crisp, slightly chewy edges, beautifully contrasting with a wonderfully soft and fudgy interior. This unique texture profile sets them apart from typical cookies, making them truly special.
📝 Essential Ingredients for Your Marshmallow Cookie Masterpiece
Crafting these delectable marshmallow cookies relies on a few core ingredients that come together to create that signature rich chocolate flavor and gooey texture. While we’re focusing on the stuffed marshmallow version today, remember that you can also explore simpler alternatives like these rocky road cookies if you prefer a no-stuffing approach. Regardless, always aim for quality ingredients for the best results!
The complete list of ingredients and the detailed recipe can be found in the recipe card below.
Before diving in, take a moment to read through this section for invaluable ingredient substitution tips and expert baking advice!
- Melted Butter: For a truly superior flavor and the signature crisp-chewy texture of these cookies, always opt for high-quality real butter. It’s crucial that the butter is completely melted, then allowed to cool slightly. It doesn’t need to be cold, a gentle warmth is perfectly fine. Melted butter is the secret behind those sought-after crisp edges and fudgy centers, distinguishing these from cookies made with creamed butter.
- All-Purpose Flour: Accuracy in measuring flour is paramount for achieving the perfect cookie texture. The most precise method is to weigh your flour using a digital kitchen scale. If you don’t have a scale, use the “spoon and level” method: gently stir the flour in its bag, then spoon it lightly into your measuring cup. Level off the excess with the flat edge of a knife, being careful not to pack the flour down. This prevents a dense, dry cookie.
- Natural Cocoa Powder: This is key to developing the rich, deep chocolate flavor that gives these cookies their brownie-like quality. Natural cocoa powder is acidic and reacts with the baking soda in the recipe, providing the necessary lift and a tender crumb. Avoid using Dutch-processed cocoa powder for this recipe, as it’s been neutralized and won’t react properly with the baking soda, which can negatively impact the cookie’s texture and rise.
- Marshmallows: I personally find mini marshmallows easiest to work with for stuffing, as they melt beautifully into that perfectly gooey center. However, you can certainly use larger or jumbo marshmallows if you prefer. Just be mindful of the quantity you use per cookie to ensure proper sealing. For an extra gooey experience, fresh marshmallows are always best!
- Chocolate Chips: We’re going for a double chocolate delight here! I recommend a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips to add layers of flavor and even more molten pockets throughout the cookies. You can also experiment with dark chocolate chips for a more intense chocolate experience. These chips contribute both to the texture and the overall decadence, especially when pressed on top before baking.
👩🍳 Step-by-Step Guide: Crafting Your Delicious Marshmallow Cookies
Follow these simple steps to create batches of these incredible gooey chocolate marshmallow cookies. Remember, attention to detail in each stage will ensure the best results!
Step 1: Wet Ingredients Base. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooled melted butter, both brown and granulated sugars, and a pinch of sea salt. Whisk these ingredients together vigorously until the mixture is smooth and well-incorporated. The melted butter ensures easy blending and sets the stage for the cookie’s unique texture.
Step 2: Incorporate Egg and Vanilla. To the butter and sugar mixture, add the large egg and the pure vanilla extract. Continue to whisk by hand (no need for an electric mixer!) until the mixture thickens noticeably and falls off the whisk in distinct, luscious ribbons. This aeration is crucial for a light and tender crumb.
Step 3: Add Dry Ingredients. Sift the all-purpose flour, natural cocoa powder, and baking soda directly into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Sifting helps prevent lumps and ensures even distribution. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture using a spatula, mixing just until you no longer see any visible streaks of dry flour. Be careful not to overmix, as this can lead to tough cookies.
Step 4: Fold in Chocolate Chips. Add approximately half of your chosen chocolate chips into the cookie dough. Gently fold them in until they are evenly distributed throughout the rich chocolate base. This initial batch of chips will ensure chocolatey goodness throughout the cookie, not just on top.
Pro Tip: If your cookie dough feels too soft or sticky to handle, pop it into the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes. This quick chill will help it firm up, making it much easier to scoop and shape.
Step 5: Stuff and Shape. Using a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop or by hand, form the dough into balls. Flatten each dough ball into a disk in your palm. Place about 9 mini marshmallows (or one large marshmallow) right into the center of the disk. Carefully gather the edges of the dough around the marshmallows, sealing them completely to form a neat ball. Once sealed, gently press the remaining chocolate chips onto the top surface of each dough ball. This ensures those beautiful melted chocolate pools after baking!
Step 6: Chill and Bake. Arrange the stuffed marshmallow cookie dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, ensuring ample space between each. Chill them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 45 minutes, or ideally, overnight. While chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or just until the edges are lightly set and the centers still look slightly soft. Do not overbake! This is crucial for keeping the marshmallows gooey and the cookie fudgy. Let the baked cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. For an extra touch, sprinkle with flaky sea salt (optional, but highly recommended!).
Important Baking Tip: Overbaking is the enemy of gooey marshmallows and fudgy cookies! It will cause your cookies to spread too thin and the marshmallows to dissolve into a sugary, sticky mess rather than remain soft and stretchy. Keep a close eye on them!
✔️ The Magic of Melted Butter in Achieving Perfect Cookie Texture
Forgetting to soften butter for a recipe is a common baking mishap, but with recipes like these chocolate marshmallow cookies, it’s actually a secret weapon! Melted butter cookie recipes are not only a time-saver, eliminating the need to wait for butter to reach room temperature, but they also contribute uniquely to the cookie’s final texture and flavor.
Melted butter is responsible for the coveted combination of crisp edges and wonderfully soft, gooey middles that define these cookies. Unlike cookies made with softened and creamed butter, which tend to be cakier and thicker, melted butter cookies spread a bit more, resulting in a delightfully chewy texture. They also boast a richer, more pronounced buttery flavor that shines through. You’ll find this technique used in many of my favorite recipes, including these heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies and small batch chocolate chip cookies, where the texture is paramount.
Expert Tip: While melting the butter on the stovetop or in the microwave is easy, allow it to cool back to room temperature before combining with other ingredients. This small step significantly improves the cookie dough’s texture, giving it better structure and preventing excessive spreading during baking.
Beyond texture, one of my favorite aspects of baking with melted butter is the sheer convenience. There’s no need for an electric mixer, which means less equipment to clean and a quicker path to delicious cookies. Melted butter blends effortlessly with sugars and other ingredients using just a simple wire whisk. This is a stark contrast to recipes requiring softened butter, which often necessitate the power of an electric mixer and a bit more elbow grease to achieve a properly creamed mixture, as seen in cookies like these biscoff cookies.
❔ Pro Tips for Achieving Bakery-Quality Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Transform your homemade cookies from good to absolutely glorious with these expert tips, ensuring every batch looks and tastes like it came from a gourmet bakery:
- The Chocolate Chip Presentation Secret: For cookies that are truly picture-perfect, there’s a simple trick: press extra chocolate chips directly onto the tops of the cookie dough balls before baking. As the cookies bake, these strategically placed chips will melt beautifully, emerging from the oven shiny and perfectly positioned, creating that inviting, professional bakery look. This technique makes a huge visual difference! Alternatively, you can roll the entire cookie dough ball in chocolate chips for an even more decadent coating, similar to these creme egg cookies.
- Precision is Key: Weigh Your Flour & Calibrate Your Oven: Baking is a science, and accuracy matters. Always weigh your flour using a digital kitchen scale for the most consistent results. Even a slight variation in flour quantity can drastically change your cookie’s texture. Equally important is knowing your oven’s true temperature. Invest in an oven thermometer. Oven temperatures can vary significantly from what the dial indicates, leading to over- or under-baked cookies. An oven that’s too hot can cause cookies to brown too quickly while remaining raw inside, while one that’s too cold can lead to excessive spreading and thin, flat cookies.
- The “Scooting” Technique for Perfectly Round Cookies: This is a game-changer for cookie aesthetics! Immediately after your marshmallow cookies come out of the oven, while they are still warm and pliable, “scoot” them into a perfect round shape. Take a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than your baked cookies (or even an upside-down bowl). Place it over a warm cookie and gently swirl it around the cookie on the baking sheet. This pushes any uneven edges back into the cookie, creating a flawlessly round, bakery-style finish every single time!
- A Pinch of Flaky Salt: While optional, a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of your warm, freshly baked cookies is highly recommended. The subtle salty crunch not only adds a sophisticated touch of texture but also dramatically enhances and brings out the deep, rich chocolate flavor, creating a delightful sweet-and-salty contrast. If you’ve enjoyed the balance in recipes like these salted toffee cookies, you’ll love it here too!
📖 Recipe FAQs: Your Questions Answered
Got questions about baking these delightful marshmallow cookies? We’ve got answers to help you achieve perfect results every time!
Scooting cookies is a clever technique used to shape your freshly baked cookies into perfectly round circles. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven and are still hot and malleable, use a round cookie cutter or a bowl that is slightly larger than your cookie. Place the cutter over the cookie on the baking sheet and gently shake or swirl it around the cookie. This pushes any uneven edges back into the main body of the cookie, giving it a beautifully uniform and professional appearance, just like those from a bakery!
For these particular cookies, we highly recommend using standard mini or jumbo marshmallows as they melt into that signature gooey, stretchy middle we’re aiming for. We do not recommend using “mallow bites” or dehydrated marshmallows often found in hot chocolate mixes, as they tend not to melt properly and won’t create the desired texture. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could potentially try marshmallow fluff, but be aware that it might be messier to work with and the texture could be more uniform rather than distinct gooey pockets.
While I haven’t personally tested it for this specific recipe, marshmallow fluff *should* work as a substitute for the solid marshmallows. However, it might be more challenging to enclose within the cookie dough, and the resulting texture will likely be a more integrated, soft center rather than distinct, stretchy marshmallow pockets. If you try it, be sure to chill the dough balls well to prevent the fluff from oozing out during baking.
Absolutely! To make these chocolate marshmallow cookies gluten-free, simply substitute the all-purpose flour with a high-quality 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. Ensure that your chosen blend already contains xanthan gum, or add ¼ teaspoon per cup of flour if it doesn’t. The rest of the recipe should remain the same, yielding delicious gluten-free results.
Several factors can contribute to thin, overly spread cookies. The most common culprits include an oven that isn’t hot enough (always use an oven thermometer!), overbaking the cookies, or insufficient chilling time for the dough. Make sure your oven is accurately preheated to the correct temperature. Bake only until the edges are lightly set, leaving the centers slightly soft. Most importantly, ensure you chill the cookie dough balls for at least 45 minutes, or ideally overnight, before baking. Chilling solidifies the butter in the dough, preventing excessive spreading and promoting a thicker, chewier cookie.
The primary reason marshmallows might disappear or completely dissolve is overbaking. When exposed to heat for too long, marshmallows can turn into a sugar syrup and get absorbed into the cookie or vanish entirely. To prevent this, ensure you are using fresh, soft marshmallows, and strictly adhere to the baking time, removing the cookies from the oven when the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underbaked. Also, make sure the marshmallows are fully enclosed within the cookie dough before baking.
🍪 Discover More Delicious Cookie Recipes
If you loved these gooey chocolate marshmallow cookies, you’re in for a treat! Explore some of our other favorite cookie creations:
- Cookie Butter Cookies
- Slice and Bake Peppermint Shortbread Cookies
- Dulce de Leche Cookies [Alfajores]
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Did you make these incredible gooey chocolate marshmallow cookies? We’d love to see your creations! Share your photos on Instagram and tag @flouringkitchen. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest for more delightful recipe ideas and to save your favorites!
📖 Recipe
Marshmallow Cookies
Mary
Pin Recipe
Shop Ingredients
Equipment
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Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted butter cooled to room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour 210 g
- ½ cup natural cocoa powder 50 g
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup mini marshmallows or 12 jumbo marshmallows
- 1 cup chocolate chips semisweet and/or milk
- ½ teaspoon flaky salt optional
Shop Ingredients on Jupiter
Instructions
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Combine melted butter, sugars, and salt in a large bowl, whisk until smooth.1 cup melted butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
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Add egg and vanilla and whisk until thickened and falls off the whisk in ribbons.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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Sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda into the bowl. Fold just until you stop seeing any ribbons of dry flour. Add half the chocolate chips into the dough and fold. If needed, let the dough set in the freezer for 5 minutes so that it firms up enough to scoop.1 ¾ cup all purpose flour, ½ cup natural cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup chocolate chips
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Scoop or roll the dough into 3 tablespoon balls and place onto a baking sheet. Flatten each ball in your hand into a disk and place 9 mini marshmallows or a large marshmallow into the middle. Close the dough around the marshmallows and press remaining chocolate chips onto the top of each dough ball.1 cup mini marshmallows, 1 cup chocolate chips
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Chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes or overnight. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
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Arrange cookie dough balls on baking sheet lined with parchment paper with at least 4” in between each cookie. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are slightly set on the edges. Don’t overbake or the cookies will flatten too much and the marshmallows will dissolve.
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Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack. Sprinkle with flaky salt (optional).½ teaspoon flaky salt
Notes
You can also freeze unbaked cookie dough balls in an airtight container or freezer bag. Add an extra minute or two to the baking time and bake from frozen.
The key to making perfectly round cookies each time is to scoot the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. You can use a round cookie cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookie or a bowl. Place the cookie cutter on top of the cookie and shake it around the cookie sheet over the cookie to push the uneven edges back into the cookie. This gives you a perfectly round cookie each time!