Hot Chocolate Cookies

So what is better than a cup of hot chocolate in your favorite mug on a cold, snowy winter day watching a movie or reading your favorite book? How about hot chocolate cookies!? Today is another one of my coworker's birthdays. She's a great and wonderful friend and showed me the ropes when I first got hired at the paper. She has been there through thick and thin and listens to my problems and I do the same for her. She's getting married late next year in May and I am lucky enough to get to be her maid-of-honor. [Though I'm turning into Katherine Heigel from "27 Dresses" because that will be my third wedding in the past two years, with another one coming up in July but I don't think I'm going to be part of that one. Depends.]

Anyway, besides getting a bit distracted on the wedding tangent... When hanging out with a friend of my yesterday, we went to Barnes & Noble to get some coffee. As we were leaving, I noticed they had a box with entry sheets on it. Curious, I went over to look and see what it was about. Apparently, Barnes and Noble is doing "The Barnes & Noble Cookie Bake-Off!"

It seems pretty exciting do I decided that I wanted to enter. I have until Jan. 1 to submit a recipe. Here is the deal: 75 recipe winners will each have their submission published in a book tentatively titled "The Barnes & Noble Customer Cookie Book," to be published on or about Nov. 1, 2015 and will receive one complimentary copy of the book. In addition to the above, three finalists will receive a trip to New York City and be paired with a chef for the presentation phase on or about Feb. 9. [That means transportation to and from a hotel of their choosing to the presentation site, two night standard hotel accommodations and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. One grand prize winner will also receive a check for $2,500 and have a version of their cookie sold at Barnes & Noble's cafes nationwide during the next holiday season.

I want to win. That would be amazing. Even to just get my cookie recipe published in the book would be fantastic. It would be a great recognition of my baking skills. I've been bouncing between these and raspberry or strawberry cheesecake cookies. I took a poll on Facebook and most of my friends said they would like hot chocolate cookies.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup hot cocoa mix [4 packages]

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chocolate chunks

1 cup marshmallows [you can use marshmallow bits too]

Instructions:

Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Combine the flour, hot cocoa mix, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually beat into butter mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks and marshmallows. Cover and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Drop to a tablespoon of dough, two inches apart onto a baking sheet. Bake nine to 11 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

They didn't work out completely how I would like because I used real marshmallows and not the freeze dried bits or whatever they are. Next time, I'm going to do that and tweak the recipe a bit more. That was way too much flour and it wasn't really cookie batter. Maybe that kind of dough would make a better cake. Back to the drawing board and raspberry [or strawberry] cheesecake cookies are next!