Hot Chocolate Cookies
Secret Recipe Club is going through a transition period right now. So you might not see as many posts this month as you normally do for SRC. I decided I definitely wanted to participate even though it was optional in January. Once again, I was lucky enough to “meet” a new Blogger. Kate blogs over at Kitchen Trial and Error.
After browsing through her archives, I once again had a handful of recipes that looked appetizing. I chose the Hot Chocolate Cookies because they seemed fitting this time of year. They’re basically chocolate cookies, filled with a variety of chocolate chips, but instead of using cocoa powder, you use hot cocoa mix in the cookie dough. I used this Ghirardelli Double Chocolate mix, because it’s really good (not as good as Homemade Hot Cocoa, but definitely a close second).
I used a total of four different kinds of chocolate chips. I just pulled out a bunch of bags that were almost empty and finished them off. I ended up using 3/4 cup of both white chocolate and milk chocolate chips, then 1/4 cup of both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate chips. I loved how each of these cookies was jam packed with a ton of chocolate chips and every bite brought a new combination of chocolates.
I am submitting this for January’s What’s Baking, hosted by Melissa of I was Born to Cook. This month’s theme was Snowday Treats!
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Yield: 5 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups flour
4 ounces hot chocolate mix (not sugar free)
1 tsp Kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of chocolate chips - any variety
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa mix, salt, and baking soda together. set aside.
In a separate bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.
Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, a bit at a time, until incorporated.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough for one hour.
Preheat your oven to 350F. line two baking sheets with parchment paper. drop by rounded teaspoons on about 2 inches apart.
Bake them one sheet at a time, for about 10 minutes. let cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe from Kitchen Trial and Error
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Jen, I totally love your blog. You always ahve the BEST treats! I LOVE the picture with all the cookies resting on the m&ms. GREAT idea! 🙂
Looks beautiful as always!
perfect use of pink! So interesting about how the cookies reacted to the way you rolled them! Thanks for the heads up!
Your cookies look great and that’s a good tip about getting them to look their best too. My kids and all their friends love these cookies. I’ve made them a few times since I first posted them and they never last long.
thanks for the link!
~ Michelle
Those are beautiful and perfect for such a great cause
What an adorable picture! Also helps that they are for a great cause! 🙂
M&Ms are my favorite treat and I love that during this month everything is PINK! The cookies look fantastic.
I am bummed I missed your Power of Pink contest as I was utilizing October to raise awareness around breast cancer too! I made some cookies and have a post on my site: http://katskitchenplace.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-is-breast-cancer-awareness.html
I like the chocolate cookie base of your cookies! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to checking back and seeing all what people make towards your challenge 🙂
A chocolate cookie topped with chocolate candies? What could be better? Perhaps a tall, ice cold glass of milk to go with them! They look divine. I’m wondering if you might skip the rolling and flattening by creating a wide log of dough (without M&Ms), slicing to the thickness desired, then pressing candies on top? Seems like the dough might be fairly easy to shape into a log. A quick pop into the fridge before slicing would help firm it up. Just a thought! I can’t wait to try them.
Best,
Casey
http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com
P.S. Not sure if I’ve invited you before, but I’d love to publish any of your photos that FoodGawker and TasteSpotting decline! Thanks. 😀
I love the dark chocolate and pink M&M contrast. What fantastic cookies:)
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I just made your recipe for these cookies yesterday and took them to church. The kids went nuts and they’ve never turned out as pretty as they did this time. Thanks for the helpful tips because my m&m cookies have never turned out prettier! 9 minutes was also perfect timing as well.
Both pretty and I’m sure delicious! I love how you showed the comparison between batches to give better suggestions for prettier cookies. The final batch are definitely the prettiest of the bunch. I love that the pink pops w/the chocolate cookie.