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These Hot Chocolate Cookies are soft and chewy with crispy edges and four kinds of chocolate! An easy, delicious cookie recipe perfect for holiday baking.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I have to admit, chocolate isn’t usually my first choice when it comes to dessert. Give me something lemon flavored and I’m a happy girl! But these Hot Chocolate Cookies might just change my mind. They’re packed with four kinds of chocolate: hot chocolate mix, white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. You might think that’s a lot of chocolate, but trust me, it’s just the right amount! The hot chocolate mix gives the cookie dough a delicious, mild chocolate flavor that really does remind you of a warm mug of hot chocolate. Add in the crispy edges, soft and chewy centers, and plenty of melty chocolate chips, and you’ve got a cookie that’s pretty hard to resist. They’re especially delicious warm from the oven!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter, salted
- Sugar, granulated and brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- All Purpose Flour
- Hot Chocolate Mix. I like Swiss Miss.
- Salt
- Baking Soda
- Chocolate Chips, white chocolate, milk chocolate and semi sweet
How to Make Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Mix dry ingredients to butter mixture and stir until just combined.
- Add chocolate chips and mix by hand.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Scoop dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Top with additional white chocolate chips.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 9-11 minutes.
- Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing.
Tips from leigh Anne
- This cookie dough needs to be chilled before baking to prevent the cookies from spreading. if you chill it longer than 30 minutes it will get hard and you will need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to make it soft enough to scoop.
- Use a cookie scoop to get evenly sized cookies. This insures they will bake evenly.
- Use your favorite hot chocolate mix. The hot chocolate mix is what gives these cookies their signature flavor. Use a brand you enjoy drinking for the best results. Be sure to use hot chocolate mix rather than unsweetened cocoa powder, as they are not interchangeable.
- Measure your flour correctly. Too much flour can make your cookies dry or cakey instead of soft and chewy. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly from the bag.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Once you add the dry ingredients, mix just until everything is combined. Overmixing can affect the texture of your cookies.
- Use all three kinds of chocolate chips. The combination of white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and milk chocolate chips gives these cookies a wonderful balance of flavors and sweetness.
- Don’t overbake. For cookies with crispy edges and chewy centers, remove them from the oven when the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft. They will continue to firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Make them look bakery-worthy. Save a few chocolate chips to press into the tops of the cookie dough balls before baking. This gives the finished cookies a pretty, chocolate-filled appearance.
- Enjoy them warm. These cookies are especially delicious while the chocolate chips are still soft and melty. A few seconds in the microwave will give leftover cookies that fresh-from-the-oven taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make cookie dough ahead of time?
This dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days before baking.
How should I store hot chocolate cookies?
After baking, the cookies will keep in an air tight container for 3-5 days.
Can I freeze cookies?
These cookies freeze really well. Freeze the raw dough formed into balls, ready to pull out and bake when that chocolate craving hits. Or you can bake the cookies and then freeze them. You can find all my tips for freezing cookies here.
Can I use cocoa powder instead of hot chocolate mix?
I don’t recommend substituting unsweetened cocoa powder directly for hot chocolate mix. Hot chocolate mix contains sugar and often milk powder and other ingredients, so using cocoa powder will change the sweetness, flavor and texture of the cookies.
What kind of hot chocolate mix works best?
Use your favorite regular hot chocolate mix. A classic milk chocolate hot cocoa mix works well and gives the cookies that familiar hot chocolate flavor. Avoid sugar-free mixes unless the recipe has been specifically tested with them.
If you love a warm mug of hot chocolate, you’re going to love these Hot Chocolate Cookies! With four kinds of chocolate, crispy edges and soft, chewy centers, they’re everything a homemade chocolate cookie should be. They’re perfect for Christmas cookie exchanges, holiday cookie trays or enjoying with a glass of cold milk on a chilly afternoon. Just be sure to save a few to eat warm from the oven. That’s when they’re at their very best!
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Hot Chocolate Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cups butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 1
- 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips reserve 1/2 cup to top cookies with
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cream butter and sugars together
- Add in eggs and vanilla.
- Combine dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Add dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
- Stir chips in by hand, reserving 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips to top cookie with
- Scoop dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Top with additional white chocolate chips.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes
- Cool for 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet.
Tips & Notes:
- This cookie dough needs to be chilled before baking to prevent the cookies from spreading. if you chill it longer than 30 minutes it will get hard and you will need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to make it soft enough to scoop.
- Use a cookie scoop to get evenly sized cookies. This insures they will bake evenly.
- Use your favorite hot chocolate mix. The hot chocolate mix is what gives these cookies their signature flavor. Use a brand you enjoy drinking for the best results. Be sure to use hot chocolate mix rather than unsweetened cocoa powder, as they are not interchangeable.
- Measure your flour correctly. Too much flour can make your cookies dry or cakey instead of soft and chewy. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly from the bag.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Once you add the dry ingredients, mix just until everything is combined. Overmixing can affect the texture of your cookies.
- Use all three kinds of chocolate chips. The combination of white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and milk chocolate chips gives these cookies a wonderful balance of flavors and sweetness.
- Don’t overbake. For cookies with crispy edges and chewy centers, remove them from the oven when the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft. They will continue to firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Make them look bakery-worthy. Save a few chocolate chips to press into the tops of the cookie dough balls before baking. This gives the finished cookies a pretty, chocolate-filled appearance.
- Enjoy them warm. These cookies are especially delicious while the chocolate chips are still soft and melty. A few seconds in the microwave will give leftover cookies that fresh-from-the-oven taste.
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Nutrition Facts:
Megan says
These may be my family’s new favorite cookies! I’ve made them 3 times now — once for book club where they were a big hit. This last time I used peanut butter chips and white chips instead of the chocolate chips, and they were really good that way, too! =) Thanks for another great recipe!!
Susan says
Leigh Anne – The whole house smelled like hot chocolate while these were baking and after. These cookies are absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe. Would like to know about the marshmallows, did not try though.
Leigh Anne says
Colleen,
Not a silly question because I had the same one! I am assuming she added them before baking. but maybe she’ll read the comment and let us know for sure!
Colleen says
These sound delicious and I love the idea of adding marshmallows. This may sound like a silly question, but would you add the marshmallows before or after you bake? I assume before, but not sure if the oven would burn them…
Elizabeth S. says
Leigh Anne,
My favorite cookie for my holiday cookie trays are gingersnaps. The recipe was featured over at My First Kitchen you can read it here: http://www.myfirstkitchen.net/blog/2010/12/7/elizabeths-story-reporting-for-oven-duty.html
I hope you like the recipe.