Surprise Cookies

Hi friends! Can you believe it's the LAST full week of May?! It's a bit difficult for me to believe... June is almost upon us!!! As I like to say, wowzers. ;-)

Anyway, enough babbling about how time flies. Onto more important matters like delicious, soft chocolate cookies topped with a toasty marshmallow and to-die-for chocolate frosting...

About a week ago, I baked a batch of these "surprise" cookies with my landlord's daughter (who is in 4th grade and is developing a love for baking! :)). Lilia and I had so much fun making these cookies together. She chose the recipe from my Martha Stewart Cookies book, and my, what a great choice it was!

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

-1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

-1 cup granulated sugar

-1 large egg

-1/2 cup whole milk

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-about 15 large marshmallows, halved crosswise

For the frosting:

-3 cups confectioners' sugar

-6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

-1/4 cup plus 1 and 1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

-1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. whole milk

-3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl (we forgot to sift the dry ingredients, and the cookies turned out just fine!). Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla. Mix in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Prepare the marshmallows by cutting them each in half.

Drop cookie dough by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake, until slightly firm, about 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will look slightly "crackled" when they're done. Immediately after removing them from the oven, press a marshmallow half on top of each cookie (tip - press the sticky half of the marshmallow down onto the cookie! it'll nicely stick on the cookie that way). Bake again until the marshmallows begin to melt, about 2 minutes more. Remove from cookie sheets, and let cool completely on wire racks.

Make the frosting; put confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Melt butter with the cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add butter mixture to the confectioners' sugar. Whisk in the milk and vanilla. Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting on top of each cookie to cover the marshmallow. Let stand until the frosting's set.

I stored my cookies in the fridge, but the cookbook says you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Here are the cookies right after they were removed from the oven and the marshmallows were slightly toasted. Mmmm.

The marshmallows quickly deflated though as they cooled...

But not to worry, they were then topped with a decadent chocolate frosting.

Lilia and I each enjoyed a cookie as a reward for our hard work. :)

Are you drooling yet?

I gave a couple cookies to Mike too, and he said he enjoyed one of them after warming it up in the microwave a bit to make it all ooey and gooey. Great idea!

I'm always sad when I'm down to my last bite of a tasty treat. :(  

Guess I'll just have to make another batch!