Spiced Hot Cocoa Cookies

It’s becoming harder and harder to choose recipes on the web, as so many things that I come across are made with AI. I suppose that some AI recipes will work, but I’m not really interested in that. Now when I look online, I choose recipes that are a couple of years old or come from a blog that I am familiar with. I also have been using recipes from well-known companies, such as this one from King Arthur Baking.

They sent out a “top recipes” email recently and there were quite a few that looked great! While I believe some cookies were meant as Christmas cookies, they didn’t necessarily scream the holidays. This recipe is certainly wintery, but it certainly is winter! I had some large marshmallows on hand and wanted to use them before they went stale.

I followed this recipe exactly, using both the whisk and beater attachment for my mixer. I had a bit of chocolate hodge podge, but it measured 170 grams, so all was good. The dough is very similar to brownie batter when I put it in the refrigerator, and I was glad to refrigerate it overnight. It was still soft but workable at that point. Partially baking them, topping them with marshmallows, and finishing the baking was easy. I toasted the marshmallows with my kitchen torch and that worked, but I had to be careful not to set the cookies on fire. These cookies are soft and gooey, and so very tasty.

Spiced Hot Cocoa Cookies
170 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
85 grams butter, cut in pieces
90 grams flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
132 grams sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla 
10 marshmallows, halved crosswise

Melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl, heating in 30 second increments, stirring frequently. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  

Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs. Whip at medium speed about 5-6 minutes, until the mixture is pale and ribbons into the bowl when the whisk is lifted. Add the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla and whisk until combined, about 1 minute.

Change to the mixer’s flat beater and stir in the flour mixture, about 30 seconds. Use a spatula to stir in any remaining bits. Cover the dough and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape dough into 1-1/2 tablespoon balls (each about 28 grams) and place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 8-9 minutes. The cookies will puff but will be soft and underbaked. Remove the cookies from the oven and press 1/2 a marshmallow into each cookie, flattening and slightly cracking the cookie.

Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the cookies are set and the marshmallows are puffed. Broil the marshmallows with a kitchen torch.

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

Candy Cane Marshmallow Oreo Fudge

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! As the designated fudge maker, this was a recipe that I longed to make! This is a milk chocolate fudge, but then you throw in marshmallows, chopped up Oreos, peppermint baking chips, and candy cane pieces. It seems like this fudge contains too many things and is difficult to name, but the fudge comes together beautifully.

My fudge looks a little bit different than the original recipe that Peabody made for her blog. This, I discovered, was based on the type of peppermint baking chips that you used. I had a few types on hand- from minty chocolate chips to chips that resembled peppermint bark. While I thought these were purely white chocolate with peppermint, but there were some regular chocolate chips mixed in. I suppose I could have sorted out the non-white chocolate, but I didn’t. That layer of fudge was lighter brown rather than white.

When I cut the fudge, the candy cane pieces I had on top had melted somewhat, but I was able to top the fudge with additional crushed peppermint. This didn’t use very many Oreos, so we had many left to eat! I cut this fudge in fairly large pieces, I’m not exactly sure why. This fudge is fairly heavy and does cut better with a warm knife. I also brought mine out of the refrigerator before cutting, which also helped. I would like to make this again, maybe with the correct type of peppermint chips and I would also chop the Oreos into smaller pieces.

Candy Cane Marshmallow Oreo Fudge

12 ounces milk chocolate

15 ounces sweetened condensed milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 tablespoon butter, divided
 1 cup Oreos, crushed into pieces
8 ounces white chocolate
4 ounces Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/3 cup peppermint/candy cane pieces

Line an 8” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Melt the milk chocolate in the top of a double boileror in a microwave, stirring until melted and smooth. Add half of the sweetened condensed milk, the vanilla, and half a tablespoon of butter. Remove from the heat and fold in the crushed Oreos. Spread evenly in the prepared pan and freeze for 30 minutes. 

In a (clean) double boiler or microwaveable bowl, add the white chocolate and Peppermint Crunch chips. Stirring frequently, melt until smooth. Stir in the remaining sweetened condensed milk and ½ tablespoon butter. Fold in the mini marshmallows. 

Remove the fudge from the freezer and top with the white chocolate fudge, spreading as evenly as possible. Top with the peppermint pieces. Refrigerate for several hours. 

Remove the fudge from the pan and cut with a sharp knife; the fudge will cut more easily with a warm, dry knife.

Recipe from Sweet Recipeas

Crunchy Nut Bars

I often go through recipes looking for items that contain a certain ingredient. I may have a stock of a certain type of chips or a type of cereal, and I want to find recipes that will use those items. While I am pretty good at checking to make sure that I haven’t made a recipe previously, it’s not a perfect science. Names of recipes change, as well as some of the ingredients, and I’m none the wiser that I have made the item before.

This recipe is one that I have basically made before, but enough things changed, so I didn’t recognize it right away. This is a classic Pillsbury Bake Off recipe, which is very tasty, but I did want to make this different. This recipe uses a cake mix base, which is good now that it’s summer and the house is warm. It’s a short-cut I use from time to time. I also changed the nuts; the original called for roasted peanuts, and I ended up using the butter toffee mixed nuts that I had on hand. Ok, it’s a bit of a sweet cookie adding more things that are sweet, but life goes on.

Using the cake mix did save a couple of minutes, so that is an option when you are pressed for time. I don’t struggle that much when making dough, but others have different experiences. Puffing the marshmallows really adds to these bars, giving them that soft but melty texture. I did worry that using butter toffee nuts would be over the top. They are sweet, but not overly so. It’s hard to think of peanut butter chips as a “savory” option, but they do help balance these bars.

Crunchy Nut Bars
1 yellow cake mix
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
3 cups mini marshmallows

10 ounces peanut butter chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups butter toffee nuts (or roasted peanuts)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the cake mix, 1/3 cup butter, and egg. Stir on low until the mixture becomes crumbly and the dough starts to come together. Press the dough into the prepared pan.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, until golden.

Immediately top the bars with 3 cups of mini marshmallows, distributing evenly. Return the pan to the oven to puff the marshmallows, for about 90 seconds. Remove the bars from the oven.

Make the topping: in a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla. Heat on low, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the Rice Krispies and the nuts.

Spoon the topping over the puffed marshmallows as evenly as possible. This can be a bit fussy, so don’t try to rush. Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

Recipe from It’s a Keeper

Rocky Road Fudge

I have to say that when I started making fudge recipes, I was worried that they would be complex, or they wouldn’t quite turn out right. As I have started to make fudge, I realize that most recipes are fairly easy and flexible, which is nice. That leaves me to explore different flavors and not have to worry too much about the technical aspects of fudge making. I will admit that some recipes are quite different (I have one of those coming up), do use a candy thermometer, but overall, I have been very pleased with the fudge I have made.

This fudge is flavored with rocky road, a favorite of mine. You probably have had rocky road ice cream, but in a fudge I thought it sounded so good. I sometimes have mini marshmallows on hand, but they get stale very quickly so you can’t buy those too far in advance. Other than that, this fudge calls for the classic flavors, just peanuts and marshmallows. You need one cup of peanuts for this fudge, and even with snacking through part of the jar of peanuts I had enough for this recipe.

With the addition of the marshmallows, this fudge does remain fairly soft. It sets up ok, but the marshmallows add an inherent soft and sweetness that is nice. I made mine completely in the microwave, which was great but I perhaps could have used a larger bowl. That last mix of all the ingredients was a challenge! Overall, this is another wonderful, simple fudge recipe that you can add to your holiday baking plans.

Rocky Road Fudge
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup salted peanuts

Line an 8” square pan with parchment and spray the parchment with nonstick cooking spray

In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and the butter. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds. Stir, and continue heating and stirring in 15 second increments until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla, mixing until smooth. With a spatula, fold in the miniature marshmallows and salted peanuts.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Refrigerate until set, overnight.

Remove the fudge from the pan and cut into 1” squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen

Black Forest Fudge

 As part of holiday baking, I have started making fudge as well, to honor my Dad who had been the family fudge maker. While Dad usually made 20 types of fudge and lots of each type, my offerings are more modest and will fit in my 12 Days of Holiday Baking. I had selected four different fudges to make this year, plus I will inevitably make some of the favorites from before, like Irish Cream Fudge. Yum!

I love cherries and Black Forest Cake is a favorite of mine, so when I came across this recipe I was very excited. I have found that fudge recipes are often very easy to make, and this was true for this recipe as well. My only challenge is that I had the heat too high when I was bringing the butter, sugar, and sweetened condensed milk to a boil, requiring me to start over. I had to use a smaller saucepan, so I put the chocolate chips in a separate bowl and poured the butter/condensed milk mixture over them, then added the cherry preserves, marshmallow fluff, and dried cherries. It worked great.

I let mine chill for quite a while, and got back to it a few days later. Fudge is good to work with as it assembles fairly quickly and then it is happy to chill in the refrigerator. It is best that it’s very cold when you cut it, so time in the refrigerator is good. This fudge is substantial, and takes some energy to cut, but you are rewarded with chocolate fudge dotted with dried cherries and a subtle swirl of marshmallow.


Black Forest Fudge
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup cherry preserves
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup dried tart cherries

Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil then spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and salt. Continue to heat over medium, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Off of the heat, stir the chocolate chips, cherry preserves, marshmallow fluff, and dried cherries to the saucepan. Stir until the chocolate chips melt and the other ingredients are incorporated. You may have slight streaks of marshmallow fluff, but that looks interesting.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared 8-inch pan. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours.

Once the fudge is set, remove from the pan and cut into squares. Store the fudge in the refrigerator.

Recipe from bell’alimento via Dixie Crystals

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies

From time to time, in an effort to make something resembling a chocolate chip cookie in order to appease my husband, I try to find something that is close to chocolate chip cookies. When I first came across this recipe, I wasn’t sure how close it would be, with the peanut butter in the dough and the mini marshmallows, but in the end, these were a very interesting take on chocolate chip cookies.

There isn’t anything unusual in these cookies, and the combination of peanut butter and marshmallow is becoming more common. I was sure that I had all of the ingredients for these, and I went to bake them and realized that I didn’t have mini marshmallows. I did have freeze-dried marshmallow bits, which are significantly smaller than mini marshmallows, but I figured they would work. I used all the marshmallow bits I had and now I have to find those again. Oh well!

These cookies come together like a traditional peanut butter cookie, but then you shape them before chilling. I have come across this in a handful of recipes and I think it helps cookies keep their shape, but I honestly haven’t done any sort of real testing to be sure. Chilling the dough did keep these cookies together very well, and I didn’t have an issue with them spreading. The combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallows was really interesting, and I really liked these cookies. It didn’t make a huge number of cookies, so I guess I will have to make them again!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies    
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium until creamy. Add the egg, stirring to combine, and then the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. When the dough is almost together, add the mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows and stir with a spatula to incorporate.

Shape the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Place 6-8 cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between the cookies as they may spread.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies start to brown slightly along the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Parsley and Icing

Hot Chocolate Cookies

After I looked and looked and couldn’t fine marshmallow bits, once I did find them I had enough to use in a couple of recipes. There aren’t a lot of recipes out these, but honestly, these sounded good. They are nearly the same recipe that is on the package, but I read a little more about that and I found something interesting. The cookies on the blog came first, then the manufacturer asked to use her recipe. I hadn’t heard of that but it was a very positive sign for me.

Looking at this recipe, I figured that I would likely cut it down or make half a recipe. When I look at a recipe I look at the quantity of flour and similar ingredients to guess at how many cookies the recipe will make. This recipe calls for over three cups of flour, which is a lot. I made a half recipe (which is what is written below) and it still made about 30 cookies. The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons per cookie, which is a lot. I made mine smaller, and they are still plenty substantial.

I have hot chocolate mix on hand, so that wasn’t hard. We buy the container of it and measure it out, which is cheaper in the long run. We do but the name brand as we find that the store brand just doesn’t blend as well. If you have a favorite that you use, it will be perfect for this recipe. The dough isn’t too sticky, but the marshmallow bits are stubborn to work with. I flattened my cookies, but they become fairly flat as they cool, so perhaps that isn’t necessary. They have a wonderful chocolate taste, but with a little something special!

Hot Chocolate Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
6 tablespoons or 2 packages Hot Chocolate Mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Marshmallow Bits

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter for 1 minute. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, hot chocolate mix, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and Marshmallow Bits.

Scoop the dough into the prepared baking sheets, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons dough per cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Love From The Oven

Smores Cookies

I often go through a bunch of recipes and identify needed ingredients for the things that I want to bake. While I don’t necessarily plan to make these recipes right away, I want to stock up so that I have options when deciding what to bake. Most ingredients are easy to find, and I can pick them up right away. I have found that other ingredients are seasonal, or otherwise hard to find. I stop looking actively for the item because that is usually when I find it. That was the case for the marshmallow bits used in this recipe.

I am fairly sure that I have used marshmallow bits before. These aren’t mini marshmallows; they are even smaller and are similar to the marshmallow bits you find in breakfast cereal. I could find them online, but you have to buy a large quantity. When I figured I would get them if I saw them, they started to become more common place. I suppose it was hot cocoa time of year, so that makes sense.

These smores cookies are very much chocolate chip cookies (which my husband loves) with a few additional ingredients. It uses graham cracker flour, which I keep on hand, and I topped the cookies with bits of Hershey bars that I had on hand. You could also top them with marshmallows or pieces of graham cracker, but I didn’t think it needed it. Although the dough was a touch crumbly, the cookies came together and were just excellent! They taste like smores but aren’t quite as messy as the original.

Smores Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2½ cups flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs,
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup mini Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Bits
Pieces of chocolate bar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. With a spatula, stir in the milk chocolate chips, mini chips, and marshmallow bits.

Scoop the cookies onto the baking sheet, using about 1-1/4 tablespoons dough for each cookie. Garnish the top of each cookie with a piece of a chocolate bar. (You can also garnish with pieces of graham crackers or marshmallow bits, but I did not.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden around the edges. The cookies might look slightly under cooked, but will set as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from Bakerita

Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars

While I know that not everyone is back in the full swing of baking and that sort of thing, it’s been cold here and that just makes me want to bake! I was basically housebound for a couple of days, and I asked my husband which of several recipes I should make. He chose these, and I agreed!

These cookies are quite different from anything I had made before. I looked through the ingredients and realized that I had most of the needed ingredients, but not in the quantity that I needed. That’s always a problem that I face when I bake! I had mini marshmallows and caramel bits, and they don’t last forever, so I was eager to use them as soon as I could. I ended up making a half quantity of these bars. I made this in an 8” square pan, which was very close to half of the size of the 9” x 13” pan. The main difference is the baking time might vary by a minute or two, so if you decided to use a different pan, please keep that in mind.

The dough came together with little issue, although it looks a little lumpy in the beginning. You bake the bars and the top them and broil. I didn’t need all of the mini marshmallows I had, so just use what you need. These bars are extremely sticky, so a knife that you warm up is very helpful. These bars taste a lot like smores, because of the toasted marshmallow, even though they contain no chocolate. These bars are very tasty but they dry out quickly, so make sure you eat them right away!

Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
11 ounces caramel bits
10 ounces mini marshmallows

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix on low until almost incorporated. Add the 1 cup of caramel bits and 1 cup of marshmallows and stir with a spatula until the dough is fully together and the caramel and marshmallows are evenly distributed.

Spread the dough into the prepared pan, making sure that the mixture is even.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until set and beginning to turn golden brown.

As soon as the pan comes out of the oven, turn the oven off and turn on the broiler.

Top the bars with the remaining caramel bits and mini marshmallows. Return the pan to the broiler and broil until the marshmallows look toasted. This might be 30 seconds or up to 2 minutes. Keep watch on the marshmallows to ensure that they don’t burn. Once the marshmallows are toasted, remove the pan from the broiler.

Allow the bars to cool before cutting into squares.

Recipe from Will Cook for Smiles

S’mores Cookie Bars

I had purchased graham crackers for a different recipe, and I had hoped that there would be enough left for me to also make some s’mores bars. Well, there probably would have been if the extra graham crackers hadn’t been eaten (hey-they’re tasty!) I bought another box of graham crackers and thankfully I had all of the other ingredients on hand. I often keep marshmallow fluff around as it is very useful in recipes and also if I make fudge.

This recipe calls for a lot of ingredients in an 8” square pan. I followed the original recipe exactly, and in the end, I do think I would change some of the ingredient quantities. I think you could decrease the amount of graham crackers and chocolate, maybe using ¾ cup for the dough and ¼ cup of each for the topping. I had hoped that I had dark chocolate chunks, but I didn’t so I chopped the chocolate by hand. It makes a mess, and I don’t get the chocolate as evenly chopped as I’d like, but it works. Any type of chocolate (milk or semisweet) would work in this recipe.

The biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to get all of the chopped graham crackers and chocolate on top of the bars! With so many elements topping the bars, it is really difficult to tell when the bars are done baking. Thankfully, s’mores are usually gooey and that was true for these bars as well. I baked them for a longer time and that seemed ok. You do want the bars to be very cold when you cut them, and mine did better when I stored them in the refrigerator. If you are looking for something that tastes exactly like a s’more, these bars are about as close to the real thing as possible!

S’mores Cookie Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1egg + 1 yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 cups chopped graham crackers, divided
1-1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate, divided
About 7 ounces marshmallow fluff

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until the mixture almost comes together. Add 1 cup of chopped graham crackers and 1 cup of chopped chocolate and turn the mixer on for a moment to bring everything together.

Press half of the dough into the prepared pan. Top with dollops of marshmallow fluff. With a hot knife, spread the marshmallow fluff into an even layer. It won’t be perfect but do the best you can do. Break the remaining dough into pieces and top the marshmallow fluff. Sprinkle the remaining graham crackers and chocolate on top of the bars. This top layer will not fully cover the marshmallow fluff and that is what you want.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are browned, and the marshmallow has puffed. Cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before cutting into bars.

Recipe from The Scran Line

Peppermint Chocolate Bites

Christmas Cookie #11! I had originally planned a different peppermint cookie for today, a very beautiful thumbprint cookie, with swirled dough and peppermint sprinkles. But let’s be honest, this close to the actual holiday you are likely super busy and if you want to bake something, it needs to be quick. When we were at the store doing our general Christmas grocery shopping, I came across this bag of Morsels & More, which contained pieces of peppermint bark, chocolate chips, and marshmallows.

I figured that mixture would be a good combination, and looked a little for recipes. When the products are so new, it can be difficult to find many recipe options. I noticed that the recipe on the back of the package was for brownie bites, made in mini muffin pans, and I love making those!

This recipe starts with melting together ingredients which eventually become brownie batter. My chocolate was a little slow to melt, but with patience it came together. You add in part of the Morsels & More and then save the rest to top the brownie bites. I probably could have baked mine another minute or so, which made them a bit tricky to remove from the pan, but they sure look good! If you are looking for a quick recipe that is super tasty, this is the one for you!

Peppermint Chocolate Bites
1-1/3 cups chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tablespoons water
2 eggs
¾ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounce package Peppermint Hot Chocolate Morsels & More, divided

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate chips, sugar, butter, and water. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth. Cool slightly and then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the flour and salt and mix on low to combine. Stir in one cup of the peppermint hot chocolate morsels. Divide the dough between the 24 mini muffin cups. Top each cup with the remaining peppermint chocolate morsels.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until done around the edges but still slightly sticky in the middle. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from Nestle

Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

In my month of peanut butter, I have already posted Fluffernutter Cookies- a combination of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Those were cookies though and I thought that making a bar cookie with similar flavors was sufficiently different. This made a small batch, which is great, but I may need to reevaluate this as school is starting soon. While things aren’t completely back to normal, it sure feels like there is going to be a lot more people around.

I have to say that I wasn’t sure how a bar cookie made in an 8” pan would use an entire far of marshmallow creme/fluff. Many recipes using 7 ounces of marshmallow crème are made in a 9” x 13” pan, but I will say that it make spreading the marshmallow easier. Since you spread the crème over the partially baked base, and some peanut butter chips, spreading the marshmallow is tricky. I was happy to have lots of mallow and no need for the layer to be perfect, so it was no problem at all.

I chose to use peanut butter chips in these bars, but you could use any number of ingredients. They suggest mini peanut butter cups, or chocolate chips, or something else that I haven’t though of! I wanted to keep these true to the peanut butter flavor, which is why I kept with chips of the same flavor. Piecing the top layer together is the hardest part of these bars, but I had plenty of dough for this to be successful. These bars are fantastic, with many similarities to the fluffernutter cookies I made recently. Can you ever have too much peanut butter? I don’t think so.

Peanut Butter Mallow Bars
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
7-ounce container marshmallow creme
1 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter on medium until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on low until combined.

Separate the dough into halves. Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Once the base has cooled slightly, sprinkle with peanut butter chips. Microwave the marshmallow creme briefly (20-30 seconds) and then empty container into the pan. Carefully spread the marshmallow creme in an even layer, as best you can.

With the remaining half of dough, take small portions of dough and flatten them in your hands. Place them on top of the marshmallow creme, piecing the dough together until you have a consistent top layer.

Bake for 20-25 additional minutes, until the bars begin to brown along the edges. Refrigerate before cutting into squares.

Recipe from I Dig Pinterest

Fluffernutter Cookies

Continuing my theme of  peanut butter cookies, I searched through my saved recipes to find something to meet that sounded great. I came across a couple of different options, but I wasn’t sure I had everything on hand that I needed. I saw these and they seemed perfect. The only ingredient that is a little different is marshmallow fluff, and I try to keep that on hand at all times. It’s good for fudge and you never know when you want to make fudge!

I read through this recipe, and it states that it makes about 12 cookies. When I looked at the quantity of ingredients, I thought that must be wrong! In this case, the cookies are really big, which explains the bigger quantity of ingredients. Once the dough is chilled, you divide the dough into tablespoon+ portions, and you use two portions per cookie. In the end I made 14 cookies, which is quite close to the original.

This dough is extremely soft and needs quite a bit of refrigeration before you can handle it. I also used the larger quantity of flour (1 cup rather than 2/3 cup) which was helpful. Trying to sandwich marshmallow fluff between two portions of cookie dough is nearly impossible but given enough time the cookies came together. I baked them for 10 minutes and they looked ok, although not as crinkly as the ones in the original blog. The cookies are a wonderful version of a peanut butter cookie, without too much extra. The cookies weren’t fully cooked after 10 minutes, but a gooey peanut butter cookie isn’t the worst thing in the world!

Fluffernutter Cookies
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 ⅓ cups packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Marshmallow fluff

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running low, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. The dough will be soft. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (or overnight).

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Scoop the dough into equal portions, you will be using two portions of each cookie.

Place a dollop of marshmallow fluff on half of the cookies. Top with another cookie and seal the two halves, trying to avoid any marshmallow fluff coming out. Place on the prepared baking sheets, no more than 6 cookies per sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies start to crinkle on top. Cool on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Stress Baking

Chocolate Fluffernutter Cookies

I browse online for cookie recipes fairly often, which is silly as I pretty much ignore the cookbooks that are sitting on the bookshelf! When I am looking, I look for recipes that are classic, but are somehow new or different. If a recipe uses an ingredient that I already have on hand, that’s even better. That is the case with these cookies. A chocolate marshmallow cookie isn’t super innovative but add peanut butter and that is much more interesting. The recipe also called for a small amount of marshmallow fluff, which I had already.

I will say that for a “fluffernutter” cookie, the original recipe for this cookie contained very little peanut butter. I wanted the chocolate and peanut butter flavors to be clear, so I made some changes. Instead of using 12 ounces of chocolate chips, I used half chocolate, and half peanut butter chips. As this didn’t bring out a pronounced peanut butter flavor, I changed the chocolate glaze with a small amount of peanut butter into a purely peanut butter glaze. I figured that this would be obvious.

I did make a full recipe of these cookies, which in the end was about 30 cookies. I refrigerated the dough overnight and I was rock hard the next day. I left it on the counter for a long time and it was still quite cold when I shaped the cookies. I used up the marshmallow fluff I had, and I am glad as that’s the stickiest, most obstinate substance in the world. I found using a hot, clean spoon worked best. And it was still messy. Some of the marshmallow fluff went wild while baking, but these things happen! With the peanut butter glaze, these cookies are the perfect combination of chocolate, marshmallow, and peanut butter.

Chocolate Fluffernutter Cookies
1/2 cup butter
6 ounces chocolate chips
6 ounces peanut butter chips
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ - 2/3 cup marshmallow fluff

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons milk

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Stir frequently and remove from the heat once smooth. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, mix the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla on medium until combined. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture and stir on low to incorporate. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape 1-1/2 tablespoons dough into balls and place on the baking sheet. Flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand. Make an indentation in the top of each cookie and fill the indentation with a small amount of marshmallow fluff, keeping the fluff in the center indentation of the cookie as much as possible.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and about 2 tablespoons of milk. Add additional milk if the glaze is too thick to drizzle, or more powdered sugar if it is too thin. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. 

Recipe from Julie Blanner

S’mores Tassies

Tassies are one of my favorite types of cookies to make. They’re generally quick to make, although they do require a little bit of work to form the crust. I don’t really think about this too much, but my friend made some pecan tassies around the holidays and she texted me that they are so fussy. I suppose that is true, but I know that’s just part of the process. These are no exception, as the crust takes so patience to form it in the cup, but at least it makes a smaller batch?

Over the holidays I went through my iPad and found all the recipes that I had photographed. I often forget about those recipes, so I took the time to do a basic write up for some of the recipes. They are much less likely to be forgotten if I do that! This recipe was perfect as it used some ingredients that I had anyway: cream cheese, graham cracker crumbs, and chocolate. The original recipe called for rectangles from a Hershey bar, but I used the chocolate I had on hand. The only ingredient I needed was marshmallow crème.

Gosh, I forget how sticky and how difficult marshmallow crème is to work with! It is nearly impossible to measure accurately, so do the best that you can. It wasn’t too bad in the filling, but when you dollop a bit on top of each tassie it is just so messy! I think the only change I would make is that I would put the marshmallow crème and chocolate under the broiler to toast rather than baking it for a couple of minutes. These are good, pop in your mouth bits of s’mores, and they are really hard to beat.

S’mores Tassies
8 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup flour
½ cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
About 1 cup marshmallow crème
24 small chocolate rectangles

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 24 mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat half of the cream cheese and 1/3 cup butter on medium until combined. Stir in the flour and graham cracker crumbs. Divide the dough into 24 pieces and press onto the bottom and up the sides of the prepared mini muffin cups. Bake for 5 minutes.

Make the filling: in a separate bowl, beat the sugar and the remaining half of the cream cheese on medium until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla, and then add ½ cup of marshmallow crème and mix on low until combined. Fill each partially baked tassie with 2 teaspoons of the marshmallow filling.

Bake for 15 minutes, until light brown and the filling is puffed.

As soon as the tassies come out of the oven, top each with about ½ teaspoon marshmallow crème and a piece of chocolate. Bake for an additional minute or two to soften the chocolate. Or brown under the broiler.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and allow the tassies to cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from Christmas Cookies, 2019

Hot Cocoa Cookies

While I haven’t categorized chocolate as one of the main flavors of Christmas, it would seem wrong to not have chocolate of some form during the holidays. I made these cookies: chocolate cookies topped with a lightly toasted marshmallow, chocolate glaze, and festive sprinkles. You could use any sprinkles that you’d like, and I ended up using Christmas jimmies and then Christmas balls of two different sizes.

This recipe isn’t complex, and it only took about 10 minutes to put together. Since you melt the butter and chocolate chips, the mixture ends up being very soft. With cookies, I always say that you make a dough. Dough is for cookies as batter is for cake. I will say that this recipe made more of a batter, so refrigerating the mixture is critical. Do let the mixture come back to room temperature after refrigeration and before baking.

You bake the cookies, and then top with half a marshmallow. When you place the cookies back in the oven to toast the marshmallows, watch carefully as it is a moment between a toasted marshmallow and a burnt one. The glaze, in my case, was nearly liquid, so I let the glaze drip down the sides of the cookie. These cookies look picture perfect, and they would be a great addition to any holiday cookie tray. My glaze remained soft for quite some time, but that just makes them gooey!

Hot Cocoa Cookies
1/2 cup butter
2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
About 25 large marshmallows

2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Christmas sprinkles

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate chips, stirring frequently, until smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla on medium until combined. Add the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into teaspoon-sized balls and place the balls on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 12 minutes. While the cookies bake, slice the marshmallows in half crosswise. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press one marshmallow, cut side down, onto the top of each cookies. Bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, to slightly toast the marshmallow. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter, cocoa powder, hot water, and vanilla until smooth. Spoon the icing over each cookie/marshmallow and allow to drip down the sides. Top with sprinkles before the icing sets. Allow to set completely before serving.

Recipe from Glorious Treats

Smores Cookie Bars

I have made a couple of different recipes containing the flavors of smores, and they are always a favorite. I have made a couple of different cookie recipes, a pie, and a cake. It’s really amazing how many variations there are with three simple ingredients of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. I don’t have a fire pit at home, so these recipes are as close as I ever get to a smore, so I enjoy trying new recipes.

This recipe, in trying to keep with smaller batch baking, has been cut in half and I baked this is an 8” pan rather than a 9” x 13” pan. The volume is close enough to half of the original that it works with no problem. Perhaps the cookies bake for a minute or two less, but that always varies a little anyway. I had thought about using graham cracker crumbs rather than the actual graham crackers, but I didn’t have a good measurement and I had the crackers on hand, so I followed the original recipe.

This is a very quick and easy recipe. The dough is made quickly in the food processor, and then the chocolate and marshmallow toppings take just a few minutes to add. When I broiled the marshmallows, they tend to brown very quickly so it is critical to not look away! I broiled mine for 2 minutes and kept moving the pan around so that they would brown evenly. Regardless, they are very sticky and once they are cool it is best to cut them with a knife that has been heated. These bars are the most straightforward smores recipe I have made, and they are so good. The milk chocolate is perfect, and since I don’t have my own fire pit, these bars are a close second. 

Smores Cookie Bars
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
9 graham cracker squares
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5-1/2 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
12 ounces milk chocolate chips
About 20 large marshmallows

Heat the oven to 359 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, graham crackers, baking powder and salt. Pulse until there are no pieces of graham crackers left in the mixture. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture looks sandy. Add the vanilla and egg yolk and pulse the food processor until the dough comes together. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown. Prepare the remaining ingredients while the base is baking. Place the milk chocolate chips in a bowl and cut the marshmallows vertically into 40 pieces.

Once the cookie base comes out of the oven, turn the oven’s broiler on to high.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot cookie base and allow to set for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, smooth the chocolate into an even layer. Top with the halved marshmallows, placing the marshmallows cut side down on top of the chocolate layer.

To brown the top of the marshmallows, place the pan on the middle rack under the broiler. This takes about 2 minutes and it is best to leave the oven door open so that you can watch the marshmallows and ensure that they don’t brown too much.

Once the marshmallows are toasted, allow the bars to cool completely before cutting. The bars cut best with a hot knife.

Recipe from Simple and Sweet Food