Best Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies (Gluten Free + Fudgy)

If you like your hot chocolate with cinnamon and a little heat, these Mexican hot chocolate cookies are that mug in cookie form. They’re dark and fudgy in the middle, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and gluten-free thanks to homemade oat flour. And there’s a pocket of melty marshmallow tucked inside each one!

I love Mexican hot chocolate, and the first cup I ever had was one I made at home. So when I planned this year’s Christmas cookie tray, I wanted a cookie that tasted like it, and one my child could eat too, since they’re gluten-free.

Because the oat flour is homemade, you don’t need a store-bought gluten-free blend. The two parts that need a little care are measuring the oat flour and wrapping the marshmallows, so I’ve covered both, plus a heat guide so you can make them mild or properly spicy. You can also bake Mexican hot chocolate cookies two ways: with a marshmallow center or plain.

What makes Mexican hot chocolate cookies taste like the drink?

Mexican hot chocolate is made with table chocolate (chocolate de mesa), which is cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon. Lots of newer recipes add a little dried chili too, for warmth. That’s the flavor these cookies borrow: cocoa, a good amount of cinnamon, and a small pinch of cayenne.

I should be honest, though. This isn’t a traditional Mexican cookie. It’s a chocolate cookie inspired by the drink. Cinnamon is the main spice, and the cayenne shows up a second after the chocolate as a warm finish, not a burn (unless you want it to, in which case see the heat guide below).

Why oat flour works for gluten free Mexican hot chocolate cookies

This dough has more brown sugar than flour, plus cocoa and butter, so the flour isn’t doing the heavy lifting. That’s why oat flour works so well in Mexican hot chocolate cookies. It has no gluten, but the egg holds everything together, and the oats keep the centers soft and tender. Cocoa and cinnamon are strong flavors, so the mild oat taste stays in the background.

The one thing to watch is how you measure. I used 1 1/2 cups, and my Mexican hot chocolate cookies baked up with no trouble. Oat flour is much lighter than all-purpose flour and most gluten-free blends: about 92 grams a cup, compared with 120 for all-purpose, according to King Arthur Baking’s ingredient weight chart. So don’t swap in a regular gluten-free flour blend cup for cup, because you’d be adding a lot more flour by weight. You don’t want packed oat flour either. Spoon it into the cup and level it off with a knife. Scooping straight from the bag presses it down and can give you dry, crumbly cookies.

To make your own, blend certified gluten-free rolled oats until they look like fine powder, 30 to 60 seconds in most blenders. Start with about 2 cups of oats, then measure out the 1 1/2 cups after blending (any extra keeps in a jar). Give the blender a shake once or twice so no whole flakes hide at the bottom.

Please use oats labeled gluten-free. Regular oats are often grown and processed next to wheat and barley, and they pick up gluten along the way. Also, a small number of people with celiac disease react to oats themselves, even certified gluten-free ones. If you’re baking for someone with celiac disease, check that they eat oats first.

For more on oats and other flours, see my guide to gluten-free grains. And if you like baking with oats, my gluten-free oatmeal cookies are another good one to try.

Ingredient notes

These are Mexican hot chocolate cookies with cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate, so you don’t need any special chocolate.

• Oat flour: Finely ground, spooned into the cup and leveled (see above). If yours looks coarse, blend it a bit longer. Coarse oat flour makes a gritty cookie.
• Cocoa powder: Use Dutch-process cocoa. It’s what gives these their deep, dark color and smooth chocolate flavor. Natural cocoa should work too, but expect a lighter-colored cookie.
• Cayenne: Plain ground cayenne pepper. Don’t grab the chili powder you’d use in a pot of chili! That’s a savory blend, usually with cumin and garlic (and often salt), and it tastes all wrong in a cookie.
• Cinnamon: 3 teaspoons in total, 2 in the dough and 1 in the coating. If you can find Ceylon cinnamon (sold as canela in Mexican grocery stores), it’s softer and a little floral, closer to the cinnamon in Mexican table chocolate. Regular cinnamon is fine, though.
• Brown sugar: Light brown, packed. It keeps the cookies moist and chewy, and that matters here because oat flour can dry baked goods out.
• Butter: Unsalted, and soft enough that your finger leaves a dent.
• Egg: One large egg at room temperature. With no gluten in the dough, it’s the main thing holding these Mexican hot chocolate cookies together.
• Vanilla: 2 teaspoons.
• Salt: 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Using fine salt? Use half as much.
• Mini marshmallows: Freeze them until solid before you start wrapping. Frozen marshmallows hold their shape in the oven a little longer, so they melt into gooey pockets instead of disappearing into the dough. Check the bag for a gluten-free label.

How spicy are they?

With 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne (the amount in the recipe card), these Mexican hot chocolate cookies have a gentle kick. You taste chocolate and cinnamon first, then a little warmth at the end. Call it medium heat.

It’s easy to change:

• No heat: Leave the cayenne out. You’ll get a cinnamon chocolate cookie.
• Mild: 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, for just a hint of warmth.
• Medium: 1/2 teaspoon, as written.
• Hot: 1/2 teaspoon in the dough plus 1/8 teaspoon stirred into the cinnamon sugar. The coating puts the heat right on the outside, so you feel it from the first bite.

Cayenne loses strength as it sits in the cupboard, so an old jar will give you a milder cookie. I’ve only made these with cayenne. If you feel like experimenting, chipotle powder adds a smoky note, and ancho chile powder is milder and fruitier.

How to make Mexican hot chocolate cookies

Start with the dry ingredients: oat flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cayenne and 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon. Whisk them really well. Oat flour and cocoa both like to clump, and a pocket of dry cocoa in a finished cookie is no fun.

Then beat the butter and brown sugar for about 2 minutes, until it looks fluffy and a shade lighter. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes, until it’s creamy like frosting.

Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed, just until you can’t see any dry streaks. The dough will feel softer and stickier than a regular cookie dough. Don’t add more flour! The chill takes care of it.

Chill the dough (don’t skip this)

Scoop 2-tablespoon mounds onto a plate or small tray, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight. This does two jobs. It firms up the butter so the cookies don’t spread flat, and it gives the oat flour time to soak up moisture, so the dough is much easier to wrap. Put the marshmallows in the freezer at the same time.

Filling Mexican hot chocolate cookies with marshmallows

Work with half the dough at a time and leave the rest in the fridge. Flatten a mound into a small disk in your palm, pile 5 frozen mini marshmallows in the middle, then fold the edges up and pinch them closed. Roll it into a ball, then roll it through the cinnamon sugar until it’s well coated.

If a marshmallow pokes through, patch the spot with a pinch of dough from the edge. A little marshmallow peeking out after baking is fine (it looks kind of pretty, actually), but a big gap lets it leak onto the pan. If the dough turns sticky while you work, give it 10 minutes back in the fridge.

Baking

Bake at 350°F (175°C), 3 inches apart, for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Mexican hot chocolate cookies are done when they’ve puffed a little, the tops have cracked, and you can see bits of marshmallow in the cracks. The centers will still look soft. That’s what you want, because they set as they cool and stay fudgy.

Leave them on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before you move them. Oat flour cookies are very tender while they’re hot and firm up as they cool, so moving them too early can break them. Then slide them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Troubleshooting

My batch baked up without any trouble, but most problems with gluten free Mexican hot chocolate cookies come down to two things: dough temperature and how much oat flour went in.

Why didn’t my cookies crinkle?

The cracks form when the sugar-coated outside sets in the oven while the middle keeps puffing. No crinkles usually means the cookies didn’t puff enough. Check that your baking soda is fresh (it loses power once it’s been open for months), roll the balls generously in the cinnamon sugar, and bake them straight from the fridge.

My cookies spread flat

The dough was too warm, or there wasn’t enough flour. Chill it the full 2 hours, keep the second half in the fridge while the first tray bakes, and make sure you used the full 1 1/2 cups of oat flour. An oven that runs cool can cause it too, so an oven thermometer is worth having.

They’re dry or crumbly

This is usually packed oat flour (from scooping it straight out of the bag) or a couple of extra minutes in the oven. Pull them while the centers still look soft. And if they seem crumbly while warm, wait! They firm up as they cool.

The marshmallows leaked out

Either the marshmallows weren’t frozen hard or the seam didn’t seal. Pinch the seam well and put each ball on the tray seam side down. If one leaks anyway, that’s okay. Once it’s cool, trim the extra marshmallow off with a knife and nobody will know.

Substitutions

I’ve only tested this Mexican hot chocolate cookie recipe as written, so treat these as starting points.

Without marshmallows

For plain Mexican hot chocolate cookies, skip the wrapping and roll the dough balls in cinnamon sugar. Start checking them at 9 minutes, since there’s no frozen center to slow them down.

Can you use Abuelita or other Mexican chocolate?

You can add it, but don’t swap it in for the cocoa. Mexican table chocolate has sugar ground right into it, so it’s sweet and a little grainy, and it won’t blend into the dough as smoothly as cocoa powder. Try folding in about 1/2 cup of finely chopped table chocolate instead, and cut the cinnamon in the dough down to 1 teaspoon, because the chocolate brings its own. Check the label to make sure it’s gluten-free.

Dairy-free

Use a dairy-free butter that comes in sticks or a block. Tub spreads have more water and can make the cookies spread. Most mini marshmallows don’t contain dairy, but check the bag. If you want a cookie that’s dairy-free from the start, try my gluten-free dairy-free cookies.

Vegan

This one’s harder. The egg is what holds the oat flour together, so an egg replacer will probably give you a more fragile cookie. Regular marshmallows aren’t vegan either, because they’re made with gelatin. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it goes.

Storage and make-ahead

Keep Mexican hot chocolate cookies in an airtight container at room temperature and eat them within about 3 days. The marshmallow keeps the middles soft. Want that gooey center back? Warm a cookie in the microwave for 5 to 8 seconds.

If Mexican hot chocolate cookies are going on your Christmas cookie tray, you can get ahead in two ways. Scoop the dough mounds the night before and leave them in the fridge, or bake the day before and keep the cookies in a tin.

To freeze, wrap the marshmallows into the dough balls but don’t roll them in cinnamon sugar yet. Freeze them on a tray until firm, then move them to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. When you want fresh cookies, let the balls sit out for 5 minutes, roll them in cinnamon sugar, and bake for 13 to 15 minutes.

Mexican hot chocolate cookies FAQ

More cookies for your tray

Mexican hot chocolate cookies sit nicely next to my gluten-free gingerbread cookies on a Christmas cookie tray. If you want even more chocolate, my gluten-free brownies are fudgy and made in one bowl. You’ll find the rest in my gluten-free cookies collection.

If you bake these hot cocoa cookies, please leave a rating in the recipe card and tell me in the comments how spicy you made them. I’m curious who goes for the hot version!

Gluten Free Mexican hot chocolate cookie recipe

Soft oat flour chocolate cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar, with a little cayenne heat and a melty marshmallow center.