These soft and chewy rocky road cookies are filled with crunchy nuts, gooey marshmallows, and melty chocolate chips. My recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make with NO mixer or chilling required! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Rocky Road Inspired Cookies
Here’s something new to add to your recipe book: rocky road cookies! These chocolatey, soft, and chewy cookies are packed full of texture and flavor. Inspired by the classic ice cream, this recipe is similar to my rocky road brownies, but in cookie form.
4 things to love about this recipe:
- Comes together so easily with no chilling or mixer needed. For those days when you don’t have the patience to wait for such things.
- Tons of texture from the add-ins (chewy-gooey mini marshmallows, crunchy almonds, and melty chocolate chips).
- Soft and chewy base with a rich, chocolatey flavor (thanks to one of my favorite tricks of blooming the cocoa powderwith the melted butter).
- Less than 30 minutes to make! Again, patience isn’t exactly my strongest virtue here.
Definitely save this recipe for your holiday cookie tray–it’s sure to be a hit! I can’t wait to hear how you like them.
What You Need
You will need quite a few ingredients to make these cookies, but none of them are complicated or hard to find. Just grab a few pantry staples and some fun add-ins, and you’re ready to go!
- Melted butter. Like my ultimate chocolate cookies, this recipe starts with melted butter. We’ll add the cocoa (and instant coffee, if you plan to use it) while the butter is still warm to help develop the flavor of the cocoa. Just make sure to let the butter cool completely before you add the sugars, or you could melt them.
- Cocoa powder. While you could technically use either natural or Dutch process cocoa since we are using both baking powder and baking soda, I prefer to stick with natural cocoa powder here. Dutch process tends to have a darker flavor which can overpower the other flavors we are trying to capture here.
- Brown sugar. You can use either light brown sugar or a mix of light and dark brown sugar. Using all dark brown sugar will give the cookies a richer, deeper flavor (due to the fact that it contains higher levels of molasses than its light counterpart). Don’t have either on hand? Make your own by following my tutorial on how to make brown sugar!
- Egg + egg yolk. Adding an extra egg yolk encourages these cookies to be soft and chewy, just like my inside out chocolate chip cookies.
- Sea salt. A sprinkle of sea salt is the perfect finishing touch to these rocky road cookies. It adds a lot of flavor, so I recommend adding it!
SAM’S TIP: Add a half teaspoon of instant coffee grounds in with the cocoa powder and melted butter! This won’t make your cookies taste like coffee, but it will give them a more chocolatey flavor.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Rocky Road Cookies
- Add the cocoa powder and instant coffee to the melted butter and stir until combined. Let this mixture sit until it is no longer warm to the touch, then proceed.
- Add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla to the cooled butter mixture and stir until the batter is uniform.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the add-ins: just 1 cup of the mini chocolate chips, all of the almonds, and all of the mini marshmallows. We’ll use the rest of the chocolate chips later.
- Roll rounded 1 ½ tablespoon scoops of cookie dough into balls, making sure to hide any exposed marshmallow bits.
- Press the tops of each dough ball into the remaining chocolate chips, then place on 2″ apart on parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes at 350F. They may not seem completely baked through, this is actually important as they’ll finish baking on the baking sheet as they cool. If you remove them from the oven completely baked they’ll actually end up dry. Within a minute or two of removing from the oven, sprinkle sea salt on top.
- Let the cookies cool completely on their baking sheets before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: Perhaps you’ll remember this tip from my s’mores cookies! When rolling the cookie dough, you may want to tuck the marshmallows into the dough so they aren’t exposed. If you don’t, the marshmallows will spread out of the cookies. This is NOT a problem except the cookies won’t look as uniform and pretty.
Frequently Asked Questions
The “correct” nuts to use in rocky road cookies is up for debate, and for this recipe it’s completely flexible. I like using almonds because I think they have the best texture, but feel free to substitute your favorite nut like peanuts, cashews, walnuts, etc.
Assuming you aren’t referring to the marshmallows leaking out (this is fine but can be avoided by making sure they are tucked in before baking), then it’s possible that your butter melted the sugars. This will happen if you don’t let your butter cool down before adding the sugars. Unfortunately, no amount of chilling can fix this 😞
This dough becomes more dry and firm as it sits so I recommend using it right away. However, you may refrigerate it (cover tightly first!) for up to 3 days, just expect you will likely need to let it sit at room temperature a bit before you’ll be able to scoop it and the dough may be more difficult to work with and may not spread as much.
If you love all things rocky road, try my rocky road peanut clusters or Mississippi mud cake next (and stay tuned, I have more ice cream cookies coming)!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Rocky Road Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee optional
- 1 ¼ cups (250 g) light or dark brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (340 g) mini chocolate chips divided
- 1 cup (112 g) chopped almonds
- 1 ½ cups mini marshmallows
- Sea salt to sprinkle on top optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter,cocoa powder and coffee (if using) and stir until combined. Make sure the butter has cooled/is no longer warm to the touch before proceeding.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon instant coffee
- Add sugars, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.1 ¼ cups (250 g) light or dark brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 ¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Stir in 1 cup (170g) of mini chocolate chips, chopped almonds, and mini marshmallows until combined.2 cups (340 g) mini chocolate chips, 1 cup (112 g) chopped almonds, 1 ½ cups mini marshmallows
- Scoop dough by rounded 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoop and roll gently between your palms to form a ball. If there is any marshmallows peeking through the dough, you may wish to tuck it into the dough, as any exposed marshmallow will leak out when cooking (not a problem or a taste issue, but cookies just aren’t as pretty this way).
- Pour the remaining 1 cup (170g of mini chocolate chips into a small dish and press the top of each cookie dough ball inot the chips. Place on baking sheet, spacing at least 2” (5cm) apart, and bake at 350F (175C) for 8-10 minutes.
- If desired, sprinkle sea salt on top of cookies within a minute or two after removing from oven.Sea salt to sprinkle on top
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying (they will be fragile when warm).
Notes
Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Nancy
Do these cookies freeze well?
Sam
Hi Nancy! I haven’t tried freezing them, but I think it could work. 🙂
Ray Reilly
Hi Sam, may I add cherries to the mix, if so what changes should I concider,,, cheers R
Sam
Hi Ray! I have never personally tried it with fruit. Dried cherries could work no problem, but fresh cherries may change things a bit. It’s definitely worth an experimentation, but without having tried it I can’t say for sure what would need to be done. 🙂
Martha
Delicious chocolate cookie! I didn’t have time to bake all the cookies, so put them in the fridge overnight. To my surprise, they were easier to roll into balls, baked up tall and chewy (like brownies), and tasted even better😋 Great recipe either way, and my new go-to for a chocolate base cookie recipe.
PS: the added chips before baking made the cookies messy to handle and transport, so I think I’ll just stir in half a cup while mixing next time.
arleen a giarla
can you use expresso powder instead of instant coffee
Sam
Yes, enjoy!
Crystal B.
I want to half this recipe. how do I half the eggs?
Sam
Hi Crystal! I think I would just use 1 egg if cutting the recipe in half. 🙂
Laurie R
I’m confused. You say using Dutch processed cocoa could overpower the other flavors you are trying to capture in this cookie. Isn’t chocolate the basic flavor you are trying to develop here?
Sam
I suppose I phrased that poorly. Dutch cocoa has a subtly different flavor profile and the flavor of natural cocoa just works better here, after trying the cookies both ways. It complements the other flavors in the cookie better and lets the marshmallow, chips, and almonds also shine, whereas with Dutch cocoa you sort of just focus on the flavors of the chocolate and the other flavors are almost an afterthought. I prefer the balance when the cookies are made with natural cocoa (though in a pinch, they’ll still be tasty with Dutch). I hope that makes more sense 🙂
Laurie R
Thank you for clearing up my confusion with your explanation, Sam. I’ll try this recipe once using natural cocoa and again using the Dutched cocoa and see which one I prefer. By the way…I love your recipes. They are always a hit with my family and friends!!