Rich chocolate sandwich cookies filled with a silky chocolate filling — these homemade fudge rounds are far better than storebought!
This is the easy recipe that wasn’t. The cookies that I remade… 7? 8? 9? times. Only for me to decide that the first recipe was actually the best and what was I even thinking trying to improve upon it.
Hundreds (literally) of chocolate cookies have made their way through my kitchen in the past few weeks, only for me to decide that the very first one I tried was perfect (of course, I then had to re-make that 2 more times, just to be sure it really was perfect).
They are everything Fudge Rounds should be — soft, chocolaty cookies sandwiched around a fudgy but smooth and silky filling, and without any overbearing synthetic or processed taste.
I’d actually never tried store-bought Little Debbie Fudge Rounds until a few weeks ago. Zach specifically requested that I make them for him (and he hardly ever makes recipe requests) so I bought a box to do some investigating. I wanted to make sure that these homemade fudge rounds shared key features with the boxed version — distinctly chocolaty super soft cookies with a creamy chocolate filling (and of course, the signature stripes).
These cookies spread very thin while they bake in the oven — that’s a good thing! They’ll be very soft and a little fragile when warm, so take care when handling them out of the oven, make sure you allow the cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets before you even think about moving them, let alone sandwiching them with the filling.
Enjoy!
Homemade Fudge Rounds
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons butter melted (142g)
- 2/3 cup natural cocoa powder (60g)
- 1 2/3 cup sugar (365g)
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk room temperature
- 1.5 Tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5ml)
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose four (170g)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Frosting Filling
- 3/4 cup butter softened (1 1/2 sticks, or 170g)
- 3 cups powdered sugar divided (375g)
- 4.5 Tablespoons natural cocoa powder (25g)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons heavy cream divided (88 ml)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Stripes
- 1 cup milk chocolate melting wafers (150g) or you may substitute 1 cup milk chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cut butter into Tablespoon-sized pieces and place in a large microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave in 15-second increments (stirring between) until butter is completely melted.
- Stir in cocoa powder until completely combined.
- Add sugar and stir well.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, and water. Stir well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Scoop cookie dough by 1.5 Tbsp-sized scoops and drop by rounded spoonful onto prepared cookie sheet, placing cookie dough scoops at least 2" apart.
- Bake on 350F for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before filling.
Frosting
- In a stand mixer, beat butter until well-creamed.
- Add 1 cup of sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle in salt. Stir until combined.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream, stir well.
- Add another cup of sugar and stir, followed by 2 more Tablespoons of cream. Repeat with remaining sugar and cream, and then stir in vanilla extract.
- Pair off your cooled cookies into sandwich pairs, and then generously spread or pipe frosting/filling onto the bottom of one cookie, sandwiching with the bottom of another, until all cookie pairs are filled.
- Melt chocolate melting wafers according to package instructions (or, if using milk chocolate chips and shortening, microwave chips and shortening at 15-second increments, stirring well in-between), until chocolate is completely melted.
- Pour chocolate into small Ziploc bag and snip a small piece out of the corner.
- Pipe melted chocolate over cookies. Allow chocolate to harden before serving (melting wafers chocolate will harden much faster than chocolate chip/shortening chocolate).
Nutrition
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Michael says
I’m sorry, I am generally have good luck with your recipes, but I have to give this one two emphatic thumbs down. The “dough” was more like brownie batter, the cookies spread paper thin, and then somehow managed to glue themselves to the parchment paper. I measure all ingredients by weight and did not make any substitutions. The parchment paper-fused cookies went straight into the trash.
Sam says
Oh no, I’m so disappointed to hear this! Is it at all possible that the butter was still quite hot when the other ingredients were added? It sounds to me like that might have been what happened, I’m going to add a note to others to make sure their butter is cooled before adding the sugar.
jill says
Could gluten free flour be used instead of All Purpose? Will there be a flavor difference?
Sam says
Hi Jill! I haven’t tried it with gluten free flour so I am not quite sure how it would go. I don’t think it will really change the flavor but it may change the texture. Please let me know if you try it. 🙂
Jennifer says
I was randomly searching for something to bake today and typed in “fudge rounds”, not really expecting to find anything good. But then I found your recipe and the photo just drew me in. I whipped up a batch and let me tell you – they are super easy to make and they are sooo delicious! My kids and husband lived them, too. One question though – the filling instructions say to add vanilla, but it’s not listed as an ingredient. Do we add vanilla and if so, how much? Thanks!
Sam says
Hi Jennifer! I am so glad you enjoyed them! The vanilla extract is listed between the flour and the water. You need 1 teaspoon. 🙂
Jennifer says
Thanks for replying so quickly! I did see the vanilla listed in the cookie ingredients but not in the filling. The filling directions say “ Add another cup of sugar and stir, followed by 2 more Tablespoons of cream. Repeat with remaining sugar and cream, and then stir in vanilla extract”. 🤔
Sam says
Whoops, I see what you are saying! It is a half teaspoon of vanilla extract in the filling and I have updated the recipe accordingly. Thank you for catching that, I’m not sure how it went so long without me realizing!
Erin says
I have made theses cookies several times and they come out so good each and every time! Thank you so much for this recipe it’s always a hit. I now add different mix ins and the recipe is still perfect!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoy them, Erin! 🙂
Marhia says
I just tried these. I made a few mistakes like using cold cream with the filling but they still turned out good. My husband (who loves fudge rounds) says they taste just as good if not better than the store bought thing 😁
Misty says
Do I need to refrigerate the left overs?
Sam says
I didn’t refrigerate mine, but if you plan on keeping them longer than 2 days I would.
Erin says
These fudge rounds came out perfect. Will never buy a fudge round again, no need! Thank you.
Sam says
Yay! I’m so glad that you liked them, Erin! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how they turned out!!
Eva Dankers says
Do you think that it would be easier to spread the filling if the cookies were cooled in the refrigerator after they are baked? Maybe make them a little less fragile?
Sam says
That could certainly help, though I haven’t tried it that way. I would put them in an airtight container before chilling and proceed with caution in case the coldness makes them more crumbly.
Once they cool completely, they are sturdy enough, just soft. Piping the chocolate on and then gently sandwiching worked pretty well and easily for me.
If you mean you would like to immediately put the cookies into the fridge to accelerate the cooling process, I’m not sure if that would work unless you put the whole pan in the fridge, which I wouldn’t recommend. If you try something and it works I definitely would love to hear it, though! 🙂
Thank you for commenting, Eva!
Amanda says
Oh my goodness! I used to love fudge rounds. And these look a billion time better! They sound absolutely delicious!
Sam says
Thank you, Amanda! I think you would love these!!
Sues says
I’ve never even heard of Fudge Rounds before, but now I must have them!! These look glorious!
Sam says
I’d never heard of them either before Zach told me about them (even though I walk past them every week at the grocery store). SO good, though! 🙂
Cody says
Hello! I grew up on fudge rounds and love them… except the “processed” aftertaste.
I very much look forward to trying this recipe that I just found (while eating a fudge round, haha)
Sugar Spun Run says
Too funny, Cody! I hope that you enjoy eating your fudge rounds. Let me know how your homemade ones turn out. I hope that you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Medha says
These fudge rounds look fabulous! Love the chocolatey goodness here 🙂
Sam says
Thank you, Medha! 🙂