These soft & chewy hot chocolate cookies have all of the flavors you’d expect to find in a warm, soothing mug of hot chocolate.
Each large chocolatey cookie is packed with a ton of flavor and contains 10 grams of protein to boot.
These chocolate cookies taste like a rich cup of hot chocolate, and the mini marshmallows help to compliment that richness perfectly.
I love making cookies that are on the larger side (as evidenced by my half-pound cookie recipe) so these hot chocolate cookies are pretty big! Even though they are large, each cookie still only contains 150 calories, making it an amazing dessert this winter.
And just because these hot chocolate cookies are low-calorie, high-protein, gluten-free, AND egg-free, don’t think for one second that they aren’t as soft and chewy as cookies you’ve come to know and love.
I know, protein cookies have gotten a really bad rap, and rightfully so. Most of the protein cookies you find on shelves are really dry, chalky, and straight-up terrible.
But these hot chocolate protein cookies are the complete opposite. Bring these to a Christmas cookie swap and nobody would ever know that they were healthy cookies.
Soft, chewy, chocolatey, AND secretly healthy?
You don’t want to skip this one.
The secret ingredient for healthy hot chocolate cookies
In order to achieve cookies that actually taste like hot chocolate, we need to use ingredients that complement that flavor.
Instead of using cocoa powder like in a regular chocolate cookie recipe, we’re using actual hot chocolate instead.
For this recipe, I went with fat-free hot chocolate to keep the calories down, but you can use any hot chocolate you already have in your pantry! The richer the hot chocolate you use, the richer the final flavor will be.
Other than using a hot chocolate packet, the other necessary ingredient here is using PEScience Chocolate Truffle protein powder.
If you’re new around here, I use PEScience in all of my recipes. I happen to have an affiliate code with them now, but I used their protein long before that was the case.
PEScience is a blend of whey & casein protein, which I’ve found to be superior when it comes to baking (you can see a full experiment I did with different types of protein powder here).
Specifically for this recipe, I used the chocolate truffle protein powder, which tastes just like hot chocolate. So much so, in fact, that I’ll mix it with hot water and drink it as a cup of protein hot chocolate!
I highly recommend grabbing yourself a tub of this protein powder for these cookies, and any other chocolate recipes on this site. You can certainly use a different brand of protein powder, but I can’t promise that the flavor will be quite as good.
You can use my code “matt” to save 10% on any PEScience order if you ever decide to stock up!
How to make protein hot chocolate cookies
To make these hot chocolate cookies, we start by melting down some butter in the microwave. I use full-fat butter in these cookies (versus light butter that I use for many others) in order to achieve the proper soft & chewy consistency.
If you were to swap the butter for a lower-fat alternative, these cookies would end up on the dry side.
Once the butter is melted, you’ll mix in all of the ingredients for these hot chocolate cookies except the protein powder.
The protein powder absorbs a lot of the liquid and acts as a thickener, so by adding it last, it helps to form a workable cookie dough.
Fold in some mini marshmallows, then chill the hot chocolate cookie dough for one hour.
Chilling cookie dough almost always enhances your final cookies, and that is no exception here. By chilling the dough, the cookies end up having the perfect texture. If you skip the chilling process, you run the risk of these cookies being cakey.
Once the dough has chilled, separate it into 4 separate balls.
You can make smaller cookies if you prefer, but I love the way these cookies turn out as 4 larger cookies.
Bake your healthy hot chocolate cookies at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes, then remove them from the oven to them cool.
When you remove these cookies from the oven, they’ll be a little bit puffier than you’d like. As the cookies cool, they’ll sink down and firm up inside, so it’s absolutely vital you let them completely cool.
To be safe, I always let my cookies cool for one hour after baking.
All of the ingredients in this recipe are safe to eat raw, so you can certainly eat underbaked cookies, but the cookies improve significantly as the interior firms up. The hot chocolate cookies will remain soft & chewy, but they’ll have the firmness that you’d expect from a cookie.
Enjoy these healthy hot chocolate cookies right away, or store them in an airtight container and enjoy them for up to one week after baking.
More recipes for chocolate lovers
Since you’re checking out these hot chocolate cookies, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you love chocolate. Well, you’re in luck! I have tons of healthy chocolate desserts on this blog for you to check out.
Here are some of my favorite healthy chocolate recipes:
Instructions
- Melt your butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then add to a large bowl with the applesauce.
- Add all of your dry ingredients to the bowl and mix up until it forms a thick batter.
- Add the protein powder in last, then mix everything up until cookie dough forms.
- Fold the mini marshmallows in at the end, then refrigerate your dough for 1 hour.
- After the cookie dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Break the dough up into 4 pieces, roll them into balls, then place them on a baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, then remove them from the oven and let them cool. For best results, let the cookies completely cool for 1 hour before eating. The cookies may seem cakey when they first come out of the oven, but they will settle and sink as they cool.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container and they will stay fresh for up to one week!
Notes
- I use light butter (or margarine) in a lot of my recipes to save some calories, but full-fat butter is a necessary ingredient in these cookies for proper texture. Without the added fat, these cookies are going to turn out very dry.
- PEScience chocolate truffle protein powder tastes very much like hot chocolate, so I can’t guarantee the same flavor if you use a different brand! I cannot recommend this flavor enough, and you can save 10% if you use my code “Matt” at checkout.
- You can bake these as 8 smaller cookies if you prefer lower calorie cookies.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Large Cookies
Serving Size 1 Cookie
Amount Per Serving
Calories 150Total Fat 7gCarbohydrates 12gProtein 10g
