Chewy Molten Chocolate Fudge Cookies

If you’re a true chocolate lover, add these Molten Chocolate Fudge Cookies to your must-make list! Think: chewy chocolate cookies with a chocolate fudge sauce core, almost like a molten lava cake but in cookie form.

You’ll whip up a simple chocolatey cookie dough and stuff it with a frozen ball of chocolate fudge sauce and bake it to perfection. It’s the same base dough I use for my family’s favorite Marley’s Menu cookie: these Chocolate Caramel Cookies!

Chocolate Fudge Cookies Ingredients

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Here’s what you need for the chewy chocolate cookies:

• Unsalted butter. Make sure your butter is softened.
• Granulated sugar.
• Egg.
• Vanilla extract.
• All-purpose flour.
• Dark cocoa powder. Any unsweetened cocoa powder works, but dark cocoa gives you a richer color and flavor.
• Baking soda.
• Salt.

Chocolate Cookies with Fudge Center Tips and Tricks

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How to Make a Simple Chocolate Fudge Sauce

This fudge sauce is as simple as it gets with just 3 ingredients and is done in the microwave. Add the chocolate chips, milk, and butter to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, then whisk to combine.

Typically, 30 seconds is enough, but if you find you need a little more heat, you can give it an additional 10 seconds in the microwave.

How to Freeze Fudge Sauce to the Center of a Cookie

Line a large baking tray with parchment paper or a reusable baking mat. Use a heaping tablespoon of the fudge sauce, make 8 little dollops of chocolate to the tray.

Once you have 8, go back and add more fudge sauce to each, until it’s all used up and your left with 8 roughly even-sized fudge coins.

Then, freeze them for an hour.

How to Make Chocolate Cookie Dough

When your chocolate fudge sauce coins are almost fully frozen, start working on your cookie dough. This is a super simple cookie recipe that comes together in just one bowl. For best results, there is a particular order to which you need to add the ingredients.

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together. Be patient at this stage, to fully combine and aerate the butter and sugar, you’ll need to use your hand mixer on high for up to 5 full minutes.

Then, add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again until just combined. Finally, add the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt). Mix one final time to integrate.

If need be, use a spatula to scrape any leftover ingredients off the sides of the bowls, ensuring everything is mixed together.

How to Form Your Hot Fudge Chocolate Cookies

Once your cookie dough is ready, it’s time to form your cookies! Use a large cookie scoop or 2 heaping tablespoons of dough to form 8 cookie dough balls. You should have some leftover dough.

Now that your chocolate fudge sauce coins are frozen, you can use your hands to mold them into balls. It’s a little bit of a messy process, but essentially you just want to squeeze the frozen coin in the palm of your hand so it folds up and goes from flat to a sphere.

Then, just push the frozen fudge ball into the center of the cookie. Use a little bit of the leftover dough to cover the fudge so it’s completely encased by cookie dough.

Bake and Cool Your Molten Chocolate Cookies

Once your dough is formed, add them straight to the top rack of the oven preheated to 375°F. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are firm, and you see some cracking in the cookies.

Let the cookies cool for at least 15 minutes. They will set so you can pick them up and eat them. If you want to enjoy them immediately, you will likely need a fork or spoon!

How to Properly Store and Reheat Leftover Chocolate Cookies

These cookies will last at room temperature covered for about 2 weeks, or a month in the refrigerator.

Quick tip: Storing your cookies with a piece of bread will keep them softer and chewier. Moisture from the bread stops the cookies from drying out and keeps their texture. This is the perfect use for the end piece!

As the cookies completely cool, the fudge sauce starts to solidify. You can eat them like this, they are still absolutely delicious, but if you want that molten center, you have to reheat them.

You can do so in the microwave for 8-10 seconds or in the oven at 300°F for about 5 minutes.

You can also freeze these cookies for up to a year, but I recommend freezing the unbaked dough instead, and making them fresh!

How to Freeze Cookie Dough for Later

If you know you only want a few cookies, I recommend freezing the extra dough, so you can make these fresh whenever you want!

Shape your cookies with your fudge center and place them in the freezer for up to 1 year (or the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks).

I like to store them in a reusable storage bag with a little label.

Then, you can bake them right out of the fridge or freezer. From the freezer, bake for 10-12 minutes, from the fridge, keep it at 8-10 minutes.

Green tip: Of the billions of tons of food wasted annually, 50% of food waste happens at home. Reduce your contribution to food waste by properly storing baked goods!