Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder

**Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.**

## Ingredients:

* 1 cup white **(granulated)** sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar **(pack it down when you measure it)**
* 1 cup salted butter **(2 sticks, 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)**, softened to room temperature
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup **(4 ounces)** hot chocolate, cooled to room temperature ***(I used one envelope of Swiss Miss and only a half-cup of water to make my hot chocolate)***
* 2 teaspoons cocoa powder ***(I used Hershey's)***
* 2 additional teaspoons white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 2 cups milk chocolate chips ***(I used Nestle)***
* Approximately 50 to 60 white miniature marshmallows ***(1 per cookie)***

## Directions:

* **Prepare** your baking pans by spraying 2 cookie sheets with **Pam** or another nonstick cooking spray. **Alternatively**, you can line them with parchment paper, and spray that with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

**Hannah's 1st Note: Mixing up this cookie dough is easier with an electric mixer, but you can do it by hand if you wish.**

**Hannah's 2nd Note: When my nieces, Tracey and Bethie, help me bake, I always mix up this dough by hand because I let them give each stage a final stir with my great-grandmother Elsa's wooden spoon.**

* Place the **white *(granulated)* sugar** in the bowl of an electric mixer.
* Add the **brown sugar** and beat them together on LOW speed until they are thoroughly combined.
* Add the **softened butter** and mix it in on MEDIUM speed. Beat it until the mixture is light and fluffy.
* Crack the **eggs** and add them one at a time, beating after each addition.
* Add the **vanilla** extract and mix it in.
* **Feel** the mug you made of **hot chocolate**. If it is at room temperature, drizzle it in, beating all the while. Mix until the liquid is well incorporated.

**Hannah's 3rd Note: Again, if I'm baking with my nieces, I always make 2 extra cups of hot chocolate so that they can each drink one, while we're waiting for the other half-cup to cool to room temperature.**

* Measure out the 2 teaspoons of **cocoa powder** and place them in a small bowl.
* Measure out the 2 teaspoons of **white *(granulated)* sugar** and mix them in with the cocoa powder. Stir them together until they are combine.
* Add the **salt** and the **baking powder** to the small bowl and mix them in. You can do this with a fork from your silverware drawer.
* Once everything in the small bowl is blended together, **sprinkle** it into your large mixing bowl and beat everything up together at **LOW speed**. Mix well.
* **Mix in** the **flour** a half-cup at a time, beating after each addition. The reason you add the flour by increments is to keep the flour from spilling out of the bowl as you mix it in.

**Hannah's 4th Note: This will take a while if you have 2 nieces like Tracey and Bethie measuring out the flour. Bethie doesn't like to measure, but she does enjoy packing the flour down in the cup. This will necessitate a bit of cleaning up before you can continue mixing your cookie dough.**

* If you used an **electric mixer**, take the bowl out of the mixer and set it on a counter. If you didn't, the mixing bowl is already there.
* Measure out the **milk chocolate chips** and add them to your bowl. **Stir** them in by hand. (A 12-ounce or 11-ounce package of chips will do just fine.)

**Hannah's 5th Note: I'm not sure we had 2 cups of milk chocolate chips in our Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies because Tracey and I let Bethie measure out the chips. Both of us suspect that she ate at least 2 ounces of chips, perhaps more!**

* This cookie dough will end up being **quite stiff**, very much like chocolate chip cookie dough.
* **Drop** spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheets, 12 mounds of dough to a standard-size sheet. Use your incredibly clean, moistened fingers to **round the dough mounds**.
* **Press** your impeccably clean thumb into the center of each dough mound. **Fill** the resulting indentation with one **white miniature marshmallow**. **Press** it down slightly so that it will stay in place.
* **Bake** your Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies at 350 degrees F. for **10 to 12 minutes** or until they look slightly firm around the edges. (mine took 11 minutes.)
* **Cool** the cookies on the cookie sheets for **2 minutes**, and then remove them to a wire rack to complete cooling.

**Hannah's 6th Note: If you used parchment paper on your cookie sheets, let them cool on the cookie sheets for a minute or two and then carry them over to a wire rack, and pull the parchment paper, cookies and all, onto the wire rack.**

**Yield:** Approximately 4 to 5 dozen rich and tasty cookies, depending on cookie size.