Hot cocoa cookies

Happy Halloween everyone!

Are you going out with your kids to load up on some treats?

Are you staying in to give out treats (and maybe a few tricks) of your own?

or Are you going out to a spooky Halloween party?

To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of Halloween. Why? Because I’m a scaredy cat…that’s why!

Grayson thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous that I can’t even walk into Halloween stores without getting spooked and holding onto his arm so tight that I’m probably cutting off his circulation in one way or another.

Which is why instead of making a spooktacular treat, I decided to make these yummy ooey gooey hot cocoa cookies instead! I know hot cocoa is more of a seasonal Christmas drink but I always had a big cup of hot cocoa when I came home after a whole night of trick-or-treating  so this drink speaks Halloween to me.

I mean how could you not like a cup of liquid gold in the form of chocolate topped with JUMBO marshmallows?!

But, not to worry all you Halloween lovers alike, because I did a twist on these cookies to make them Halloween friendly by adding a marshamallow pretzel skeleton on top! You can also add cookie crumbs on top of your cookies before you bake them so it looks like your skeletons are coming out of dirt or put the skeleton on top of chocolate mousse instead !

And in case you missed it, I recently did a post on 3 healthy pumpkin based breakfast ideas (pumpkin pancakes, oatmeal, and breakfast cookies) so if you’re seeing this the day after Halloween and are suffering from a major candy-hangover, head on over there to get yourself back on track!

Hot cocoa cookies recipe

Ingredients (makes 12)

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips melted
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (or butter/margarine)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg (or 1 tablespoon ground flax/chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water)
• 1/4 cup milk of choice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour (I used 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 GIANT marshmallows cut in half

For skeletons, you will also need either an edible marker, melted chocolate or black icing for drawing their faces as well as 18 yogurt covered pretzels.

Method

1. In a medium bowl, cream the coconut oil/butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Add in the egg, milk, vanilla and melted chocolate. Whisk the mixture together until smooth.  
2. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Stir the ingredients together until a batter forms.
3. Divide the dough into 12 golf ball sized cookies and place them onto a lined or greased cookie sheet. Flatten your cookies slightly.
4. Bake your cookies at 350F for 10 – 12 minute until they are slightly golden brown at the bottom.
5. Meanwhile, cut your marshmallows in half so that you end up with 12 halves.
6. When your cookies are done baking (DO NOT DO THIS STEP IF YOU ARE MAKING THE SKELETONS.), top them with half a marshmallow (sticky side down) and bake them in the oven for another 5 minutes so that the marshmallows get gooey.
7. If you are making the skeleton topping, you will need to let your cookies cool for 8 minutes. Then, draw faces on the marshmallow using an edible marker pen, icing or melted chocolate. When you are done, place the marshmallow half, sticky side down, on a stack of 3 yogurt pretzels. Place your skeleton toppers on top of your cookies.

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