Rocky Road Cookies
Soft and chewy rocky road cookies will hit the spot and remind you of your favorite rocky road ice cream. These chocolate cookies are packed with almonds, chocolate chips and marshmallows! You don’t have to chill the dough, this rocky road cookie recipe is ready in 30 minutes!
What’s In Rocky Road Cookies?
Our rocky road cookies follow the classic flavors of rocky road ice cream. Our recipe starts with a chocolate cookie base, then you add in almonds, chocolate chips and marshmallows. Extra marshmallows in mine, please!
Nuts for Rocky Road Cookies
Our nut recommendation would be to use either almonds (chopped or sliced), peanuts (whole or chopped), or walnuts (chopped).
But these are your cookies! If you want to use pecans, cashews, etc, I say go for it!
Can I Use Mallow Bits in Place of the Marshmallows?
Yes, you definitely can. I would suggest using 1 cup of Mallow Bits and mixing those into the batter. If you’re not sure what mallow bits are, they are basically like lucky charm marshmallows shaped into tiny marshmallow shapes. They won’t give you the same gooey texture of mini marshmallows, but they are still fun (and delicious) to use in this rocky road cookie recipe.
Gluten Free Rocky Road Cookies
I’ve made this recipe with both regular and gluten free flour with awesome results on multiple occasions. I recommend King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. Use it as a one for one substitute for regular flour.
How to Make Cookies That LOOK AWESOME
Okay, so cookies taste great, but we want them to look great too. Making cookies look awesome takes 1 extra step in the baking process.
Here’s the key: to make delicious, drool-worthy cookies, always add additional toppings to the outside of your dough balls. That way when your cookies are done baking, they’ll have all these delicious looking pieces of almonds, chocolate chips, and marshmallows on the surface of the cookie.
Don’t be afraid to load them with toppings!
Best Cookie Sheets for Baking Cookies
These are my favorite cookie sheets. I recommend using shiny, heavy cookie sheets that have very low or no sides. Avoid dark aluminum sheets because they can cause overcooking.
Pro Tip: To ensure even baking, place only 1 cookie sheet in the oven at a time.
I highly suggest you bake cookies on a cookie sheet that’s lined with a silicone baking mat.
Total Time Required
- 10 minutes to make the cookie dough
- 10-13 minutes to bake the cookies
- 15 minutes to cool the cookies
Serving Rocky Road Cookies
You can eat them warm right off the cookie sheet, let them completely cool and eat or, microwave them for 5 seconds before eating if they are stored in a tupperware container.
Tips for Making Cookies
- Properly measure the all purpose flour using the spoon and sweep method.
- Use room temperature butter for easier creaming of the butter and sugar.
- Use a cookie scoop to form uniform balls.
- Press chocolate chips, almonds and marshmallows on the outside of the dough balls before baking for a loaded cookie presentation like the photos!
More Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
- Maraschino Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Classic Monster Cookies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
Rocky Road Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened, 1/2 cup
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup sliced almonds, broken into smaller pieces
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
To top the cookies:
- 1 cup mini marshmallows, extra sliced almonds and chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and 1/2 cup chocolate chips,
- In a separate mixing bowl cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer on low.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract, mix again on low. Gently add in the dry ingredients, chocolate chips and sliced almonds, mixing on low or by hand just until combined.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop dough balls on a silicone mat lined baking sheet. Press 3-4 mini marshmallows into each cookie and add additional almond pieces and chocolate chips to the outside of the dough balls.
- Place the cookies 3 inches apart on a silicone lined baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Bake one cookie sheet at a time.
I want to be fat and eat this
HAHA! You can enjoy some cookies!
Hi
I can’t eat nuts (any kind). Would it be possible to make these without the nuts? Maybe replace the nuts with more marshmallows or choc chips (or both!)?
Thanks
Donna x
Yes! I would say to try more chocolate chips to replace the nuts!
I would think it’s okay but I just wanted to make sure. Can we do cashews instead of almonds? It’s the only one I have on hand ?
Ok I try making this twice now. The marshmallow completely melted. How could I fix it . I want my cookies to look just like the pictures.
Hi Rocio! Some of my marshmallows melted too! Were your marshmallows surrounded by dough? (see the photo in the post of the dough balls)
Hi, I don’t have electric mixer, can I just mix them by hand? Thank you.
I recommend an electric hand mixer if possible! You can mix it by hand, but it will take longer.
Hi Beth, I don’t have cocoa powder, how much more flour should I add if I want to do it without the coca powder? Thank you.
Hi Veronica! Without the cocoa powder, they won’t be chocolate-y! I haven’t tried substituting that.
Cookies didn’t flatten and stayed round. Is it suppose to be a stick of butter? Or half the stick?
Hi Susan! Thanks for asking about the butter – the video is correct and I have updated the recipe card, the recipe calls for 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter.
I only have mini multi colored marshmallows at home. Will those work?
Yes! The cookies will taste fruity!
Isn’t one stuck of butter a quarter cup??
Hi Carol! One stick of butter is equal to 1/2 cup.
Worst recipe I ever made. Marshmallows melted, became hard. Tried to adjust baking time to no avail. Sugar content is way too low. Tried using dark chocolate because it healthier. Horrible. Main problem is however the cookies taste either over or under baked. And not moist and cakey. I use premium ingredients and these still did not come out acceptable. I also am a seasoned baker.
Hi Tad! The marshmallows will harden once the cookies are cooled. Everyone’s taste preferences are different. Some people prefer cakey cookies and others prefer chewy cookies. Please remember that I am a real person on the other side of this screen!
Tad, if you are a seasoned baker then you should know that adding dark chocolate will reduce the perceived sweetness.
Hello! I made these as muffins and they turned out amazing! I was just wondering how do you store them?
In an air tight container on the counter!
Would it be a bad idea to mix some marshmallows into the batter itself?
I actually just did that Tami. I put marshmallows inside of a cookie dough ball and some on top. The marshmallow melted and hardened entirely to the pan. It was a mess to get off and I ended up having to throw over half of them away. I also made some of them by just putting small marshmallows on top (the way the recipe instructs) and it did the same thing. I even froze the dough prior to see if that helped. I don’t recommend this recipe. Marshmallows are better to add to dense, cake like cookies. These are not. The taste was okay but I definitely feel like it was a waste of ingredients and time.
Hi Audrey! Did you bake the cookies on a silicone mat or parchment paper? The marshmallows won’t stick to those. The marshmallows will naturally puff up and spread out.
Yum…yum…yum!!!! My go to recipe from here on out!!!
These look amazing! I have been wanting to find a recipe for Rocky Road cookies, this one is great. I really love the red jelly part in Rocky Road, what do you suggest using, raspberry jelly candies or something like that?
I’m not familiar with the red jelly part in rocky road..
Hi! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It looks so yummy! But I’m concerned with some of the comments about the marshmallows (it’s the most special part in this cookie!). Do you think it would work if I stuck two or three inside the cookie and three more outside, like your recipe?
Thank you in advance!!
Hi Nadia! You can definitely place some cookies inside the dough, but be aware that the marshmallows will expand while baking.
Hi Beth!
I’m using this recipe for some cookies I’m making for a school project, and I just have two questions. 1. Would it be alright if I didn’t use a cookie scoop and just used my hands to make the cookie balls? and 2. One of the requirements in my assignment is that I use wattleseed somewhere in my recipe, so if I substitute softened wattleseed instead of almonds would that still work? Thank you so much for this recipe it looks really good!
Hi Ara! You can definitely use your hands instead of a cookie scoop to form the dough balls. I’m not familiar with wattleseed.. but yes, you can substitute.
Their so good! Can’t wait to make them again! :)
Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe! I baked these for my crew at work, and they’ve been raving about these cookies all day — one of them even said they’re the best cookies he’s ever had!! I especially appreciate the tips — these were so helpful to get the cookies to turn out well, and mine were great from the first batch. My only question: I used dark brown sugar + cocoa powder, but my cookies were not nearly as dark as the ones in your photos. Any suggestions?
Hi Tomoko! Different types of cocoa powder are different in color – some have a really deep color and others are lighter so I’m guessing that’s what resulted in a different color!
I used macadamia nuts and placed three mini marshmallows on top before cooking..turned out perfect. The marshmallows stayed on the top of the cookie and just got a little soft, I would def make them again..BTW I didn’t use any choc chips didn’t have any and was too lazy to go to the store..all in all a awesome cookie recipe thank you!
Delicious ! My daughter had been nagging me to let her make cookies with marshmallows, I wanted cookies with almonds. This was a great recipe to cook with the kids. We had fun and they turned out beautifully. We used normal sized marshmallows cut in half. I didn’t put nuts or chips on the outside so they liked like nice brown boobies with pink nipples! Hi from Tasmania, Australia 👋.
Mine came out dry and crumbly and also not very sweet with the amount of sugar added. I’m not a baker but I followed your recipe to a T and wasn’t the out come I was hoping for.
Everyone commenting on the marshmallows melting.. try using dehydrated marshmallows (think the ones that come with hot cocoa packets). You can buy the Jet Puffed bits on Amazon in a small container or local grocery stores. They won’t melt all over the place and become soft! Work great! I baked mine for 7 minutes 50 seconds. I also just know how my crappy apartment oven bakes (a little on the hot side). Follow her directions on cooling and rack transfer. It is THE tried and true method. Also thank you Beth for the recipe and idea!!! Delicious.
These were a hit! Hubby even recommended them as ice cream sandwiches with vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!
I do want to mention to avoid adding marshmallows close to the bottom and waiting until you take them out of the oven to avoid that sticky crunchy texture. Then you can lightly torch them to avoid extreme expansion.