Hot chocolate... but not for drinking!

We decided to choose another recipe from that latest Holiday magazine we bought last weekend. Jeff is still adamant that we pick a recipe to make for the Wednesday Treat Day out of this one for awhile! The recipe we chose this week for these Hot Chocolate Cookies sounded way too fun to pass up - bonus points for giving us a chance to try out those chocolate marshmallows we picked up a few weeks ago!

What initially caught my eye about this recipe was the inclusion of hot chocolate cocoa mix in the dough. It has not been cold enough that we have really wanted a steaming cup of hot chocolate, so I thought it would be a good way to use up that lonely canister we had in the pantry. The kind I used was a milk chocolate variety. The cookie dough is more like a thick batter, so I would highly suggest using a cookie scoop to easily get the portions onto the baking sheet.

The chocolate cookies are baked until they are just set in the center - they are then taken out and topped with a halved marshmallow in the center of each hot cookie. The cookies then go back into the oven and cook for just a minute or two more until the marshmallow begins to look expand and look puffy. This will soften them just a bit and even out their shape. Now, we have 2 layers of chocolate... but that is not enough of course! The cookies are taken over the top with a third chocolate layer in the form of a rich glaze. You certainly can't go wrong with all this chocolate!

The glaze is kind of like a cooked frosting - you need to work somewhat quickly or it will begin to thicken and set up. However, if you notice that it is starting to get too thick to drizzle nicely, you can add another teaspoon or two of milk as you go along. You can use either natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder in the glaze - I used Dutch-process as I like the smooth rich flavor it has. I was ready for a super-sweet cookie with the milk chocolate cocoa powder and all, but it actually was quite mild with different degrees of chocolate flavor in each bite.

As I said earlier, I used the chocolate marshmallows since we already had them on hand, but I would probably use white next time for a more striking contrast of colors - as is, the cookies are just a few shades of brown.

I asked Jeff if he wanted anything specific for dinner at all when I was planning out the meals this week and he suggested some sort of burger since we just made our favorite burger buns. Instead of just burger simply seasoned with salt and pepper (which is always perfectly good), we decided to spice things up and make a recipe for Korean Barbecue Burgers.

Adding some zip to the ground sirloin is a mixture of green onions, brown sugar, fresh ginger, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and a couple garlic cloves. When you add this to the meat mixture, try and use a light hand to mix them together - while you do want to completely incorporate the ingredients, you don't want to end up with a tough product. We cooked our burgers to around medium, but I think these would still be juicy enough if you feel more comfortable taking them to well done. If you want a more snappy bite to the burgers, add some thinly sliced radishes with the crisp romaine lettuce on top of the patties - if you want to stay more authentic or be a little more adventurous, add a generous portion of kimchi instead. Served on our toasted homemade buns, these well-seasoned burgers were just the ticket we were looking for to change up the ordinary burger.

Recipes
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Korean Barbecue Burgers