The Best Part of a S’more and a Brownie All in One Bite

Some recipes quietly become the family favorite.
These are those cookies.

Rich chocolate cookies with crackly tops, soft marshmallow centers, and warm chocolate glaze drizzled over the top. They’re nostalgic, messy in the best way, and somehow disappear faster than anything else on the dessert table.

But what really takes these cookies to another level?
Chocolate vanilla extract.

Not just vanilla. Chocolate vanilla extract.

It deepens the cocoa flavor, adds warmth, and gives these cookies an even fudgier, brownie-like richness that regular vanilla just can’t quite reach. It’s subtle… but once you taste the difference, you notice it every single time.

Skip the s’mores and the brownies.
Make these instead.
Your people will thank you.

Fudgy Marshmallow Cookies

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp chocolate vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup cocoa

Topping

• Big marshmallows, halved

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix the shortening, sugar, eggs, milk, and chocolate vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Mix until fully combined.
4. Drop dough (about 1½ Tbsp or a medium cookie scoop) onto a parchment-lined or baking mat-lined cookie sheet. We like using a medium cookie scoop so every bite gets that ooey gooey marshmallow center.
5. Bake for 9 minutes.
6. Remove cookies from the oven and gently press half a marshmallow onto the top of each cookie.
7. Return cookies to oven for 1 additional minute.
8. Let cookies cool completely.
9. Top with chocolate vanilla glaze.
10. Try not to eat four standing at the counter.

Chocolate Vanilla Glaze

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 (1 oz) packages unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 tbsp chocolate vanilla extract
• 3½ cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Bring butter and milk to a gentle boil.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in melted chocolate and chocolate vanilla extract.
4. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing until smooth and thick enough to squeeze or dollop over the top of each cookie. This helps avoid lumps.
5. Spoon, spread, or drizzle over cooled cookies.

Tip: Warm frosting drizzles beautifully. You can place it in a squeeze bottle or spoon it into a zip-top bag and snip the corner off for easy bakery-style lines across the marshmallows. 

Why Chocolate Vanilla Extract Matters Here

Chocolate cookies already bring richness.
But chocolate vanilla extract gives them depth.

It smooths out the cocoa, softens the sweetness, and creates that warm bakery-style flavor that makes these cookies taste homemade in the best possible way.

It’s the best part of a s’more and a brownie all in one bite.

The marshmallow stays soft and gooey, the cookies are rich and fudgy, and that chocolate vanilla frosting melts right into every crackly bite.

The chocolate tastes deeper.
The marshmallow feels toastier.
And the whole cookie becomes softer, richer, and somehow even more decadent thanks to the chocolate vanilla extract.

The kind of cookie people remember.