Last week I wrote from the comfort of an airplane. The good news was on the trip home the kids only woke up one sleeping couple in front of us instead of the whole section of our plane this time. We're making progress.
(She may look sweet and innocent but LOVES to fight with her brother on the plane. And take multiple trips to the bathroom. You do NOT want to sit in front of her).
The bad news is I got the kids back to school, I started working with my research students who went back to school and I went back to working at the elementary school I work at, but I didn't get time to get back to blogging.
Which was a shame, because it was FREEZING cold last week and it's the middle of winter so these dairy free hot cocoa cookies are just what was needed to dunk into a cup of hot cocoa after a trip outside.
That and I ran my first long run outside in several weeks (goodbye dreadmill!) and upon returning home was reminded of why I was so happy I had these waiting for me. They were perfect!
A few notes when making these dairy free hot cocoa cookies:
Since I still can't have dairy, I love this hot cocoa recipe from Elana's Pantry. I omit the spices and use almond milk instead of coconut milk. I keep my mix stocked in a mason jar. If you're looking for a better marshmallow alternative, the cookies pictured were made with Dandies Marshmallows. They are vegan too. The hats were found at an after Christmas sale from Hobby Lobby. As soon as I drizzled the chocolate on, I put a hat on them. You can omit the hat, but they were a fun way to dress up the cookie since I was giving them away as gifts.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (for dairy free, use Earth Balance)
- 2 cups sugar (we used coconut sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, white whole wheat or whole wheat flour, or gluten free baking mix
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 package marshmallows (we used Dandies vegan marshmallows)
- 1 cup chocolate chips (we used Enjoy Life dairy free chocolate chunks)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet then set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium speed until mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Turn mixer to low, add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing until combined. Add in the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt mixing just until blended.
- Turn off mixer, roll dough into a log, wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. Remove wrap, take one tablespoon of dough and press the dough into a disk in the palm of your hand. Place two marshmallows in the middle of the dough, than wrap dough completely around the marshmallow to form a ball. (Note, you can also omit this part if you are in a hurry. You can just drop the dough by tablespoons onto the cookie sheet without chilling dough first).Drop the dough onto a cookie sheet, leaving several inches of space between cookies to allow for spreading.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies have a cracked appearance. Remove from oven, allow to cool on cookie sheet for several minutes, then move cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Decorate cookies once cool.
- To decorate: Melt the chocolate chips, stirring until chocolate is smooth. Place chocolate in a plastic ziploc bag (snip a small corner off one end of the bag) or frosting bag. Pipe a small dot on the center of the cookie and then a marshmallow (we did three marshmallows on the top of each cookie). Drizzle additional chocolate over the marshmallow and cookie.
- Allow chocolate to set on cookies for approximately one hour.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to one week or frozen in an airtight container or freezer bag up to one month.
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