Welcome to GMA 25 Days of Cookies. For 25 days, we are featuring cookie recipes that are perfect to make for the holiday season. Our celeb BFFs are sharing their cookie recipes with us and we’ve gathered some seasonal standouts that are sure to dazzle on your Instagram feed and Pinterest board.
Head to our full guide here all month long for the most beautiful, fun, seasonal, delicious holiday cookies worthy of your new Christmas traditions.
Tonia Larson, creator of The Gunny Sack, came up with these delicious and delightfully inventive hot chocolate cookie treats.
Check out the full recipe with step-by-step instructions below.
Ingredients
1 package Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons hot cocoa mix
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
12 mini pretzels
1 cup Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits
*optional - granulated sugar
Makes 24 servings
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Put 1 tablespoon of the sugar cookie dough into 24 greased mini muffin tins.
An optional step would be to roll the sugar cookie dough balls in granulated sugar before putting them into the mini muffin tins to help prevent sticking.
Bake for 12-14 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow the cookies to cool completely in the pan before gently removing them.
Make the chocolate ganache by bringing the whipping cream to a boil.
Stir in the hot cocoa mix.
Pour the hot cream over the semi-sweet chocolate chips and let it sit for 3 minutes. Then, stir until the chocolate chips are melted and the ganache is smooth.
Break off the loops on some mini pretzels to use as handles.
Melt the white chocolate and use it to attach the pretzel handles to the cookie cups.
Spoon the chocolate ganache into the cookie cups and top with mini marshmallows.
For best results, store the hot chocolate cookie cups in the refrigerator.
The Gunny Sack's baking tips
To form the cookie cups, leave the dough as a ball and it will puff up while baking and sink when removed from the oven, leaving a “dip” for the ganache. This is the EASIEST method and it is how I made my Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups.
If you make an indentation in the sugar cookie dough ball before baking, it will still puff up while baking and sink when removed from the oven, leaving a “dip” for the ganache. The straighter the sides of the mini muffin pan, the straighter the side of the cookie cups will be.
To make a bigger “cup” to fill with ganache, you can use a small cup (like a medicine cup) to make an indentation in each cookie, after removing them from the oven. WARNING – when you press the cup into the soft cookie dough it can pull away or tear the cookie dough on the sides of the cup leaving small gaps.
You may need to make additional ganache if using the method.
To prevent the cookies from overflowing and spreading, use a small cookie cutter (mine is 2 inches in diameter) to cut away the extra cookie immediately after taking them out of the oven. Try using less cookie dough in each of the cups.
To prevent the cookies from sticking in the pan, roll the sugar cookie dough in a granulated sugar before placing it in the cups. If the cookie cups are only a little bit stuck, try using a thin knife to gently pry up the edges. Remember, mini muffin pans vary by brand, materials used to make the pans and the age of the pan.
I now use this Grazia Silicone Mini Muffin Pan to make my Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups and it works great! If you want to try a new pan, I would definitely recommend that one.
This recipe for hot chocolate cookie cups is reprinted with permission from TheGunnySack.com.
Head to our full guide here all month long for the most beautiful, fun and delicious holiday cookies that are sure to become a new tradition.
Tell us which cookies you're baking! Tweet @GMA using #25daysofcookies with your #25daysofcookies pictures and we may feature you on our GMA Facebook page or in our morning GMA newsletter! Deck the halls with lots of cookies, fa la la la la, la la la la!
Editor's note: This was originally published on Dec. 13, 2018.