S'mores cookies are a delicious twist on your favorite campfire treat! These cookies are soft and chewy, filled with graham crackers and chocolate, then stuffed with gooey marshmallows for the ultimate s'mores dessert. Trust me, everyone will fall in love with these s'mores stuffed cookies!
The Challenge
Don't know if you've noticed, but I kind of have a deep love for cookies. I also have a fondess for challenges.
While browsing online, I came across a few recipes for cookies stuffed with marshmallows which looked out-of-this-world incredible, but every single comment on the recipe notes that unless they used vegan marshmallows, the marshmallows would disappear.
Now, I don't have any issues with vegan marshmallows. They taste okay, but the texture isn't my favorite. Every vegan marshmallow I've tried always seemed a bit tough and a little too chewy.
Personally, I prefer soft and fluffy marshmallows, but I can certainly see how they would be able to stand up against the heat without any issues. My main concern here is the fact that not everyone is going to have ready access to vegan marshmallows and not everyone will want to have to order them online or make their own.
What are s'mores cookies?
These s'mores cookies are made with my favorite chocolate chip cookie with a serious upgrade. This soft, chewy cookie with crisp, buttery edges is kicked up a notch with graham crackers, chocolate, and stuffed some marshmallows for a gooey, fun filling that will have everyone going back for more.
They're the cookie you need to make as often as possible.
Ingredients
First, you need the basic ingredients to make a deliciously chewy cookie. These are:
- Unsalted butter - We use unsalted so we can control the amount of salt. The butter adds richness, plus gives us those delicious buttery edges we can't resist.
- Sugar - We use brown and granulated sugar to give us just the right amount of sweetness and chewiness.
- Eggs - Eggs bind the cookie dough, add moisture for easier rolling, and adds richnes.
- Flour - I always use all-purpose flour. You can also substitute some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
- Salt - I prefer to use fine sea salt in my recipes. If you want to top the cookie dough with salt, I recommend a flaky sea salt like Maldon.
- Leaveners - Baking powder and baking soda give the cookies some rise and a wonderful texture.
- Ground cinnamon - Optional. I like it to emphasize the cinnamon in the graham crackers.
- Vanilla extract - I recommend using a nice pure vanilla extract. You can also use vanilla bean paste.
Then, you need the ingredients to turn them into s'mores cookies, which are:
- Chocolate - Chopped chocolate or chocolate chips work. I like to use a mix. For a real s'mores flavor, add some chopped Hershey's milk chocolate bars in the mix.
- Marshmallows - I get asked a lot why I say you need to use mini marshmallows instead of a single large marshmallow. The answer is because of the coating around the marshmallow. That coating actually helps prevent the marshmallow from disappearing too fast while baking, so mini marshmallows give us more coating than one large marshmallow.
- Graham crackers - This is probably my favorite part of s'mores. I like having my graham crackers crushed to varying degrees. Some readers also suggest sandwiching your marshmallows between two small graham cracker pieces to further protect them from disappearing.
The secret to s'mores stuffed cookies
The trick, as it turns out, is two fold:
- to get the dough as cold as possible without freezing them
- getting the s'mores cookies to cool quickly, without putting them in the refrigerator
I tried using frozen marshmallows, but they thaw as you put them in the cookie dough, so it is pointless. But cooled dough keeps the marshmallows cool enough while the cookie bakes. Cooling the cookies quickly also means the marshmallows aren't in the heat too long which is what makes them disappear.
Making your cookie dough balls
When you form the s'mores cookies, it is also important to keep the top cookie thinner than the bottom. The marshmallows will be able to stand the heat while in the oven when they are a little more exposed.
The thinner top allows the marshmallows to lower their temperature faster once they are out of the oven. Which is the critical part. You can put these cookies by a window or near a fan to help the process.
I have also noticed that there is a difference between how you bake them. These cookies bake better in a convection oven and you are almost guaranteed success if you are using a convection oven (or using "convection bake" if your oven has the option of doing that or just "bake").
Non-convection ovens tend to need a longer bake time and can dissolve the marshmallows more easily. I recommend checking on the s'mores cookies every minute past 8 minutes if your cookies still look very raw at the top.
Please also note that, in general, s'mores stuffed cookies will look underbaked. This is normal. We want them underbaked, because that's what makes them soft and chewy. They continue to bake while on the baking sheet.
S'mores stuffed cookies take a little extra time and love to make, but they're worth it.
Trust me, they are worth it.
Want more s'mores recipes?
If you love these s'mores cookies you must try these other recipes. Try my boozy s'mores milkshake (you can make it non-boozy too!), or my s'mores ice cream. These s'mores brownies are irresistible, as is my s'mores cheesecake and s'mores pudding.
Stuffed cookies your jam? Try these salted caramel stuffed chocolate chip cookies, these brownie stuffed cookies, or these Nutella stuffed red velvet cookies. Remember to also check the cookies archive cause there are so many more cookies you need to try! You can also check out the s'mores cookie story here.
Don't have time to make these delicious cookies now? Pin it for later!
S’Mores Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups 320 grams all-purpose flour
- ½ 2.5 grams teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon 5 grams baking soda
- ½ teaspoon 2.5 grams baking powder
- 1 cup 90 grams crushed cinnamon graham crackers
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1 cup 227 grams butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup 165 grams brown sugar
- ½ cup 100 grams granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon 5 grams vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup 117 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup 88 grams roughly chopped milk chocolate
- 1 cup 50 grams mini marshmallows, for dough
- 2 cups 100 grams mini marshmallows, for filling
Instructions
- Mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
- Break up the graham crackers into small pieces. Be careful to not let it get too powdery, but some graham cracker powder is okay. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy.
- Slowly add the egg and yolk one at a time, then the vanilla. Beat well, then slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
- Fold in the graham crackers, chocolate, and mini marshmallows.
- Take a tablespoon of the cookie and create a small indentation.
- Stuff 4 - 5- mini marshmallows into the indentation. Make sure they are TIGHTLY packed in. Top with another 2 teaspoons of cookie dough and press together until the dough completely covers the marshmallows. Repeat with the remaining dough and marshmallows. Top the finished cookies with additional chocolate and/or marshmallows to make them prettier, if desired!
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet and cover. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably overnight, up to three days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Uncover the cookies and bake for 8 - 9 minutes or until a light golden brown.
- Use a spatula to remove the cookies to cool on a wire rack. For the best results, place the cookies near a fan to cool them quickly.
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container and enjoy within 24 hours.
- If you want to learn how to cheat this recipe, take a look at the note below this recipe!
Video
Notes
- Cheat the recipe: Roll the cookie dough without the marshmallows into balls 2 tablespoons big. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Once cooled, toast marshmallows and use the cookies to sandwich them.
- Some readers said they prefer sandwiching a large marshmallow with two small squares of graham crackers to help prevent the marshmallow from disappearing.
el says
i really love marshmallows in my cookies to be soft and gooey but everytime i bake it, the marshmallows tend to harden especially if i put extra additional marshmallows on top, why is that?
Amanda Powell says
So the outside will toast from the heat and the cornstarch in the marshmallow mix they use to coat marshmallows so you can easily handle them will aid in the outside hardening. I've recently found that I like working with marshmallow fluff. It is a lot more sticky and SO messy, but it does a good job of staying pretty gooey. If you want to try it in this recipe, I'd try tossing the marshmallows you put in the center in some fluff. Alternatively, you can also try swirling in fluff into the dough. You won't have a gooey center, but instead swirls of marshmallow all throughout that stays relatively gooey and sticky.
Ash says
After removing from the oven and allowing to cool/finish baking, how long would these keep on the counter? How does the texture and consumption experience change as a result of waiting an arbitrary amount of time before eating?
Amanda Powell says
Technically, they can keep on the counter for several days. The texture and consumption experience changes due to the heat continuing to cook and break down the marshmallow filling which can end up dissolving into the cookie and therefore changing both the end texture (no more gooey filling) and consumption experience (assuming you wanted that gooey filling)
Josh The Baker says
Would marshmallow fluff in place of the mini marshmallows work or would it dissolve too fast into the cookie?
Amanda Powell says
Apologies for the delayed response. I only recently started experimenting with fluff in cookies (see the fluffernutter cookies and hot chocolate cookies). The fluff holds up well in cookies!