Rocky Road Cookies

Rocky Road Cookies ~ Get ready for multi-textured cookie. Working your way from the outside in you will find a crisp chewy exterior around a fudge-like brownie texture and at that center of it all is a gooey marshmallow filling.

I have a bad reputation for not giving up, especially when it comes to life changing matters, like—can I make a rocky road cookie without the marshmallows melting into the dough? This was my third attempt and even though I dropped the first cookie sheet from burning my thumbs and shouted enough profanity to shame Andrew Dice Clay, I persevered.

So if you have been keeping up with my rocky road struggle then you know the timeline. For those who haven’t here’s the first attempt-fail; they looked bad and tasted gross. Second attempt, I froze the marshmallows as suggested-fail again. Although the cookies tasted good, the frozen marshmallows melted into the dough. So I decided to exact my revenge, by suspending the rocky road elements into a delicious Rocky Road Bark. Someone did suggest making rocky road thumbprints, by piping marshmallow fluff on top. But I already kind of did that with these Smores Thumbprint.

This third and final attempt involved stuffing the cookie with marshmallows. Now this was my instinct from the onset, but I pushed it aside because I had already done a few stuffed cookies. Bad decision. And that seems to be a recurring theme when I push aside my instincts. So after two failed attempts I ended up back where I initially started and also found success with a little help from a few reader suggestions by sticking to the frozen  marshmallows  and kicking up the heat and lowering the bake time.

Thank you, guys, so much for helping me to finally put the rocky road cookies to rest.

A few notes:

• Don’t forget the cookies will have fudge-like interior not a chewy texture all the way through.
• If you can’t or don’t want to use the coffee grounds, bypass it. I like the added layer of flavor, but Matt preferred the test batch without it.
• You can substitute the corn syrup with molasses, but keep in mind molasses imparts its own flavor. A better alternative would be a mild tasting honey. This portion of the recipe adds the moisture and chewiness to the cookie. Same goes for the applesauce in terms of moisture.
• Going off the cookie subject into photography, the step-by-step is in black and white because I shot the frames under flourescent lights and they had an awful yellow cast that could not be edited out-so sorry about that, but you guys get it.

Rocky Road Cookies

Makes 24-28 four inch cookies  Preparation: Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Line two bakesheets with parchment paper

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of butter, melted (not hot)
• ½ cup of granulated sugar
• ½ cup of dark brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoons of light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• ¼  teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of coffee grounds, dark roast
• 1 ½ cups of flour
• ½ cup  of cocoa powder, all natural (not Dutch processed)
• 1 ½ cups marshamallow, frozen
• 1 cup of salted almonds, finely chopped

Instructions:

1. Combine the warm butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, egg and light corn syrup in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium high for about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and add baking soda, salt and coffee grounds to mixture. Mix on medium high speed for about 1 minute. Turn off mixer.
2. Combine the flour and cocoa powder, mix to combine. Add dry (flour and cocoa) mixture to wet mixture and use a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to combine. Dough will be sticky.
3. Using a 1 inch ice cream or tablespoon, scoop out mixture and press marshmallow into center. Fold dough around marshmallow until completely covered, then roll it in crushed almonds. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined bakesheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 4-5 minutes, or until outside of cookies are fully baked. Let cookies cool on bakesheet for 3-4 minutes then move to cookies to a cooling rack.