Elevate the classic chocolate chip cookie with gooey, toasty marshmallows and the rich, nutty flavor of browned butter. With crispy edges, chewy centers, and melty chocolate, these brown butter chocolate chip marshmallow cookies are the upgrade you didn't know you needed.
I'm all about taking the ordinary and elevating it to the next level. These chewy marshmallow chocolate chip cookies take the beloved combination of marshmallows and chocolate and combine them into a cookie that's melt-in-your-mouth perfection. Bonus - no campfire needed!
Whether you're craving s'mores but don't have a campfire or you want to cozy up and reminisce of summer during the colder months, these chocolate chip and marshmallow cookies are your answer.
After TEN rounds of recipe testing, this marshmallow chocolate chip cookie recipe is truly ooey gooey perfection. I wasn't just setting out to make the best chocolate chip marshmallow cookies with perfect marshmallow details, but I was also perfecting the brown butter chocolate chip cookie base.
Anyways, let's get into the delicious details of these ultra-gooey marshmallow cookies.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Watch How to Make Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
- Ingredients
- All You Need to Know About Brown Butter for This Cookie Recipe
- All You Need to Know About Marshmallows for This Cookie Recipe
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Expert Baking Tips
- Storage & Freezing
- Variations & Substitutions
- FAQs & Troubleshooting
- More Irresistible Cookie Recipes
- Did you make this? I want to know!
- Recipe
- Comments
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Brown Butter: The star of the show! Brown butter adds a rich, nutty, toffee-like flavor that's utterly delicious in these chocolate chip cookies.
- Extra Chewy Texture: The higher ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar make these cookies extra chewy in the center. Make sure you don't overbake your cookies!
- No Special Equipment: Since the butter is already melted, there's no need to cream the butter and sugar, which means no electric mixer needed! All you need are a couple bowls, a balloon whisk, and a silicone spatula. A trusty kitchen scale and cookie scoop are also your best friends.
- Meticulously Tested: Perfected through ten rounds of testing, you're guaranteed a flawless recipe every time. It's truly the best chocolate chip marshmallow cookies recipe.
Watch How to Make Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
Ingredients
You only need a few simple, everyday ingredients for these easy chocolate chip marshmallow cookies.
- Browned Butter: Adds a rich, nutty flavor. This is what really sets these cookies apart!
- All-Purpose Flour: Serves as the primary structure of the cookies.
- Baking Soda: Leavening agent, creating the desired rise and crackle on top.
- Salt: Enhances the flavor and balances sweetness.
- Light Brown Sugar: The higher percentage of brown sugar to white sugar draws out the rich flavor of the brown butter and keeps the cookies soft and chewy.
- Granulated Sugar: Provides sweetness and gives your cookie the perfect amount of crunch on the edges.
- Eggs: Provides structure and stability, contributing to the soft and chewy interior.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Enhances and complements the other flavors.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Provides the perfect balance of sweetness and rich chocolate flavor.
- Mini Marshmallows: Create pockets of gooey, caramelized sweetness in the middle and toasty, fluffy touches on top. Who can resist chocolate chip cookies with marshmallows?
See recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities.
All You Need to Know About Brown Butter for This Cookie Recipe
What Is Brown Butter?
Brown butter, also known as beurre noisette in French, is butter that's been melted and cooked until it reaches a golden brown color. Noisette is French for "hazelnut," and the French names reflects the appealing nutty aroma and flavor and rich color of hazelnut that develop during the browning process. It makes these chocolate chip marshmallow cookies absolutely irresistible.
How to Make Brown Butter
Making brown butter is a simple yet next-level addition to these marshmallow cookies, adding a deep, rich, nutty flavor. To brown butter, heat it in a frying pan, sauté pan, or saucepan over medium heat until the water evaporates and the butter has a golden brown color.
Don't use a dark-colored and/or nonstick pan (like I did when I was first learning about the deliciousness of brown butter). It's too difficult to tell when the butter is browned to the correct level.
Once the butter has melted, it will begin to bubble, foam, and eventually brown. Stir constantly to ensure the milk solids don't stick to the bottom of the saucepan and burn throughout the browning process.
The trickiest part is choosing just the right time to remove the butter from heat. Too early and it'll be pale and lack the extra flavor boost. Too late and it'll become burnt and taste bitter (this happens very quickly!). As soon as you notice a golden brown color and nutty aroma, remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a heatproof bowl. I recommend erring on the side of caution if you're new to the process. You can always put it back on the stove!
Words of advice: Be patient and stir constantly. The process takes about 6-8 minutes in total for this recipe.
Cooling Brown Butter
For this marshmallow chocolate chip cookie recipe, you need to allow time for the brown butter to cool completely before mixing it with other ingredients. This usually takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature. If you're really in a pinch for time, you can stick the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.
Do not skip this step! Using hot butter will make the dough greasy, making it extra hard to handle (especially if you don't chill the cookie dough!). Hot butter will also cause the chocolate chips to start melting while mixing and contribute to the cookies spreading too much while baking.
All You Need to Know About Marshmallows for This Cookie Recipe
Do you ever wonder why people love toasted marshmallows? We love to roast marshmallows for multiple reasons: the contrast of the crispy exterior with a soft and gooey center, the caramelization of the sugar adding a rich, sweet flavor, and the social activity of toasting marshmallows around a campfire with family and friends.
Overall, toasting marshmallows transforms the texture and flavor of the marshmallow, creating a unique and deliciously nostalgic experience. You're sure to love marshmallow in cookies!
What Kind of Marshmallows You Should Use
This simple chocolate chip marshmallow cookies recipe uses mini marshmallows. I found that when using regular marshmallows, the cookies became too large. In order for the cookie dough to entirely cover a regular-sized marshmallow, the cookie was too big. I prefer mid-size cookies so I can have a few without feeling too guilty.
I only recommend putting two mini marshmallows in the center of the cookie to limit gaps (more on that below!). The marshmallows in the center of the cookies will dissolve to create an extra chewy texture and caramelized flavor, further enhancing and complementing the brown-butter flavor.
To add more gooey goodness to the cookie, I rip the mini marshmallows in half and add three halves to the top of each cookie dough ball before baking. These become lightly browned and toasted just like the campfire ones!
How to Keep Marshmallows from Melting When Baking
Baking with marshmallows can be quite precarious. Because marshmallows are basically air and sugar, they melt and dissolve from the heat of the oven.
This chocolate chip marshmallow cookie recipe has the best of both worlds: chewy, caramelized flavor from the melted marshmallows in the center and toasty, gooey texture from the roasted marshmallows on top.
To keep the marshmallows from creating puddles of crystallized sugar on your baking sheet, make sure the cookie dough entirely covers the mini marshmallows inside. If there are gaps or marshmallows on the outside (besides on the very top), the marshmallow will leak into a melty mess.
Refrigerating & Freezing Marshmallows
If you want to chill or refrigerate this chocolate chip cookie dough, you can absolutely refrigerate the mini marshmallows as well. When marshmallows are refrigerated, temperature affects their gelatin structure. This means that their soft and fluffy texture can become firmer.
But don't worry! The marshmallows should gain back most of their soft and gooey texture once brought back to room temperature and baked.
You can also freeze cookie dough with marshmallows. Similar to refrigerating, freezing can affect the texture of marshmallows, making them more firm. Again, this can be reversed when the marshmallows are brought back to a warmer temperature and baked.
If you plan to keep your cookie dough with marshmallows in the fridge for more than a few hours or freeze them, I recommend first scooping and shaping the cookie dough balls with the mini marshmallows in the center. This will make it much easier to bake once you're ready!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Follow these step-by-step instructions to make flawless, gooey chocolate chip marshmallow cookies every time.
Step 1: Brown the butter. Melt the unsalted butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. The butter will bubble, foam, and eventually brown. As soon as you notice a golden brown color and nutty aroma, remove the pan from heat and pour the browned butter into a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Let the butter cool completely – do not skip this step!
Step 2: Mise en place. While the brown butter is cooling, prepare and measure all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 3: Prepare the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 4: Mix the wet ingredients. Once the brown butter has cooled completely, add the sugars, and whisk until combined. Next, add the eggs and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined and smooth.
Step 5: Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, folding with a spatula until a rough dough forms. Lastly, add the chocolate chips, carefully folding until combined. Be careful not to overmix!
Step 6: Chill the cookie dough (optional, but highly recommended): Because the cookie dough will be greasy, soft, and a bit sticky, it's tough to work with right away. Even just 15 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the fridge makes the cookie dough so much easier to work with. Plus, you can take this time to get ahead on cleaning up!
Step 7: Scoop & shape the cookies. Scoop the dough into medium-sized balls and place them on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I use this #40 cookie scoop to ensure perfectly uniform size. I put 6 on each sheet to allow room for reshaping after baking.
Flatten each dough ball in your hand and add 2 mini marshmallows inside. Shape the dough back into a ball, paying attention to make sure there aren't any marshmallows showing on the outside.
Optionally (but definitely do this!), place additional chocolate chips and mini marshmallows to the top of each cookie dough ball before baking, just lightly pushing them in. I like to load up my cookie dough balls with 5 chocolate chips. For the mini marshmallows, I rip them in half and use 3 halves per cookie. This creates the perfect flavor AND presentation!
Step 8: Bake. Bake one pan at a time for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are just set but the centers are still gooey. Be careful not to overbake! The key is to remove the cookies from the oven when they still look undercooked. Check early and often – every oven is different! I recommend using an oven thermometer to be sure your oven is at the correct internal temperature.
Step 8: Reshape & cool the cookies. Once you remove the pan from the oven, immediately "scoot" the cookies back into perfect circles. Use a large round cookie cutter or cup to swirl the cookie edges into a perfectly round cookie. If your cookies are too large, gently push in the edges using a fork.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack. I know waiting is hard (especially when they look so yummy, but they'll be too soft and gooey to move any sooner).
Expert Baking Tips
- Plan ahead! The best things take time, including these marshmallow and chocolate chip cookies. The brown butter will need time to cool, and the cookie dough tastes best when chilled.
- Let the brown butter cool completely. It's crucial to let the butter cool for 30 minutes before adding in the other wet ingredients. When I tested this recipe with still-warm, melted butter, the chocolate chips started to melt while mixing the dough, and the dough was very greasy. This made the cookies difficult to shape and spread too much when baked. To speed things up, you can place the brown butter in the fridge or freezer until it's cooled, but keep an eye on it!
- Chill the cookie dough. I know, I know. We want cookies NOW! But seriously, do not skip this step. If you're in a pinch for time, I understand. These cookies will still keep their shape and be delicious baked right away. However, chilling the dough for even 30 minutes results in cookies that better maintain their shape and texture. Chilling the dough for 2 hours or more will significantly enhance the flavor, making a much richer cookie. It's worth it, I promise!
- Pay attention to marshmallow placement. Be sure to seal the edges of the dough so the mini marshmallows inside aren't peeking out or touching the baking sheet. Otherwise, they'll create melted pools of sugar during baking.
- Bake in grams! Grams provide a more precise and consistent approach than volume measurements. Use a kitchen scale to ensure accurate proportions and perfectly textured cookies every time. Bonus: less cleanup! If you're not convinced, I've also provided volume measurements in the recipe card. This is the best conversion chart for all of your ingredients conversion needs.
Storage & Freezing
You probably won't need to worry too much about storage instructions, as these chocolate marshmallow cookies don't last long when other people are around. However, they're very simple to store and also freeze for a later date.
Room Temperature: Store these chocolate chip marshmallow cookies in an airtight container at room temperature in a cool, dry place for 3-5 days.
Freezing: This cookie recipe yields 25 cookies (2 dozen plus one more as an extra treat!). If you end up with some uneaten cookies (highly unlikely), the baked cookies can be stored in the freezer.
If you don't want to bake all of the cookies immediately, instead of halving this recipe, you should freeze half of the cookie dough instead. This way, you'll have a dozen cookies ready to go whenever the craving arises!
After shaping the cookie dough into individual portions, place the cookies on a cookie-sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes or until they're no longer sticky.
Once the dough is firm, transfer them to an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag, removing as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn. Be sure to label the container with the date and type of cookie dough! These cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
When ready to bake, remove the cookies from the freezer and bake according to the recipe. Increase the bake time by 2-3 minutes.
Variations & Substitutions
- S'mores Cookies: Who says you need a campfire for s'mores? Turn these into a classic s'mores flavor by roughly crushing 4 graham crackers and folding them into the dough with the chocolate chips. Even more?! Use a chopped bar of Hersheys Chocolate to top the cookies before baking for the ultimate graham cracker chocolate chip marshmallow cookies.
- Peanut Butter Twist: Swirl in some peanut butter into the cookie dough for an epic peanut butter-chocolate-marshmallow combination.
- Mint Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies: Add ¼ teaspoon of mint extract to the dough and substitute mint chocolate chips for the semi-sweet chocolate chips for a refreshingly minty taste.
- Nutty Crunch: Chopped nuts like walnuts, pecans, or almonds can add a nice crunchy texture and further nutty flavor that pairs well with the chocolate, marshmallow, and brown butter.
- Regular Chocolate Chip Cookies: Just looking for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe? Omit the mini marshmallows and there you go!
FAQs & Troubleshooting
Do I need to chill the cookie dough?
Yes and no. Giving the cookie dough time to rest and chill allows for two things. First, it allows the fats to cool, which means the cookies expand more slowly. This helps cookies hold onto their shape and texture. Second, chilling the cookie dough allows the flavors to develop and meld together, creating a much richer flavor profile.
The cookies will still hold their shape and taste delicious if you bake them right away, but they'll be so much better if you give them even just 30 minutes to 2 hours to chill. Or prep ahead for a party by letting them chill overnight!
Can I use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar?
In general, you can substitute dark brown sugar for light brown sugar in cookie recipes. However, dark brown sugar has a higher molasses content leading to a more robust taste. Additionally, dark brown sugar is a bit more moist and dark in color.
I typically only use light brown sugar in my recipes, as it's easily accessible and creates the chewy texture I love. I found that when testing these with dark brown sugar, they spread too much and darkened too quickly.
Can I use another type of chocolate chips or chocolate?
Definitely! I prefer semi-sweet, but you can also use dark chocolate chips to counterbalance the sweet marshmallows. Milk chocolate chips may be a bit too sweet, but you won't hear me complaining.
You could also try mixing types or adding extra chocolate chips for double chocolate chip marshmallow cookies. For an elevated, luxurious taste, use chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips.
What makes a cookie chewy vs crispy?
Multiple factors contribute to a chewy or crispy cookie. In this recipe, the brown sugar, brown butter, and eggs contribute to the ultimate chewy chocolate chip marshmallow cookies.
Brown sugar gives you a chewier cookie, whereas white granulated sugar gives you a crispier cookie. This recipe uses both, creating the perfect mix of crispy edges and soft, chewy insides. Brown butter enhances chewiness in a cookie, and more eggs can also lead to a chewier texture.
Lastly, baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is used more for light and airy cookies. This cookie recipe uses only baking soda with no baking powder, lending to its chewy texture.
More Irresistible Cookie Recipes
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Recipe
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 grams) unsalted butter (1.5 sticks, browned and cooled)
- 2 ¼ cups (270 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (213 grams) light brown sugar (packed)
- ⅓ cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (128 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips (plus ½ cup (85g) for topping)
- 1 ¼ cups (54 grams) mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Brown the butter. In a medium frying pan or saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter has melted, it will begin to bubble, foam, and eventually brown. (Stir constantly, and be patient! This takes about 6-8 minutes in total.) As soon as you notice a golden brown color and nutty aroma, remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a large heatproof mixing bowl. Let it cool completely for 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature. Do not skip this step! To speed things up, I sometimes stick the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
- Mise en place. Meanwhile, measure and prepare all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Prepare the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Once the brown butter has cooled completely, add the light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Whisk until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, folding with a spatula until a dough forms and the flour is just combined. The dough will be greasy, soft, and a bit sticky. Add the chocolate chips, carefully folding until just combined.
- Chill the cookie dough (optional, but recommended). The cookie dough will be very sticky and tough to work with right away. See the recipe notes for more details on the benefits of chilling the dough. Take this time to clean up!Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to overnight. To speed things up, I sometimes place the covered bowl in the freezer for 15-30 minutes maximum.
- Portion and shape the cookies. Using a medium-sized cookie scoop (I used #40 ~2 Tablespoons), scoop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Place the cookies ~3 inches apart (they will spread quite a bit). I like to do 6 on each sheet to leave room for reshaping after baking.In your hand, flatten each dough ball and add 2 mini marshmallows in the middle. Shape the dough back into a ball, ensuring the mini marshmallows aren't showing on the outside (otherwise they will create melted pools of sugar during baking). If you bake the cookies immediately, lightly wet your hands before this step. This will make dealing with the sticky dough a bit easier.Place the cookie dough balls back on the baking sheet. Add a couple of chocolate chips (I load them up with ~5 per cookie) and mini marshmallows (I like to rip them in half and use 3 halves per cookie) to the top of each before baking, just lightly pushing them in.
- Bake. Bake one pan at a time for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are just set but the centers are still gooey and look underbaked. Be careful not to overbake! This will keep your cookies super soft.
- Reshape and cool. Remove the pan from the oven. Immediately "scoot" the cookies, reshaping them into perfect circles. Check out the recipe notes and video for tips on how to do this! Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, as they'll be very soft and gooey before firming up. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
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