Marshmallow Clouds

The trick to these unusual chocolate cookies is the frozen marshmallow center. Each cookie wraps a heaping tablespoon of stiff chocolate-pecan dough completely around four frozen miniature marshmallows, hiding the sweet pillow inside until you bite in. Freezing the marshmallows is the move that prevents complete meltdown during baking. Without that step, the marshmallows liquefy and ooze out before the dough sets, leaving you with flat, marshmallow-puddled disasters. The frozen marshmallows give the cookie dough time to bake and seal around them, preserving a soft, gooey, chewy center that stays warm long after the cookie itself has cooled. The chocolate dough is loaded with cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and chopped pecans for layered chocolate-and-nut depth. Each cookie eats almost like a s’more without the campfire. Eight to ten minutes in a hot oven and you have warm, pillowy clouds with surprise centers.

Pro Tips

• Freeze the mini marshmallows solid before assembling. A quick 30 minutes at most. Soft marshmallows melt instantly and ruin the technique.
• Wrap the dough completely around the marshmallows with no gaps. Even a tiny crack lets the marshmallows leak out during baking.
• Work quickly once the marshmallows come out of the freezer. They thaw fast and the assembly window is short.
• Bake on parchment or a silicone mat. Any leaked marshmallow burns hard onto a bare cookie sheet.

Variations

• Use white chocolate chips and dried cranberries in place of chocolate chips and pecans for a holiday twist.
• Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough for a Mexican hot chocolate-style spice note.
• Roll each filled dough ball in graham cracker crumbs before baking for s’mores cookies.