If you like Hostess cupcakes you’ll love our cookie version! A soft and chewy chocolate cookie topped with marshmallow buttercream and then dipped in a chocolate glaze. Inspired by everyone’s favorite cupcake. YUM!
You might also like some of our other treats like our brown butter chocolate chip cookies or our chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies!
Watch our step by step video!
Why make Hostess-inspired cupcake cookies when I already have a recipe for the real deal? Because these are different! Our cookie version has everything we love about the cupcake but starts with a chewy cookie base (which I might even like better), a creamy center, and a coating of chocolate glaze. Let’s not forget the cute squiggle across the top!
Hostess Cupcake Cookies
When you have a favorite cookie dough base you’ll want to find ways to use it over and over. The chocolate cookies that I use for this recipe are a variation of the ones that I use for our rocky road cookies and our Texas sheet cake cookies! They are so delicious and easy to make. Soft, chewy, and full of chocolate flavor.
The filling and the chocolate glaze are a variation of the ones used in our copycat Hostess cupcakes recipe. If you let the cookies stand 10-15 minutes, the top will begin to set like a ganache. It’ll remain soft, but you can pick up the cookies without your fingers getting covered in chocolate. It’s the perfect glaze!
Hostess Cupcake Cookies Ingredients
Cookies
- butter (I always use salted butter)
- baking cocoa (I use a 50/50 mix of regular baking cocoa and Hershey’s Special Dark baking cocoa, but you can use whatever you’d like)
- brown sugar
- white granulated sugar
- eggs
- vanilla
- salt
- baking soda
- flour
Marshmallow Filling
- butter
- powdered sugar
- milk
- vanilla
- marshmallow creme (a 7 oz. jar)
Chocolate Glaze/ICING
- semisweet chocolate chips (can use milk chocolate if preferred)
- milk or heavy cream
- honey (or corn syrup)
- butter
How To Make Hostess Cupcake Inspired Cookies
I use my stand mixer for making cookies, but an electric hand mixer or Danish dough whisk works as well.
Combine melted butter and cocoa powder in a large bowl and mix. Add sugars and mix until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients.
Allow dough to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. The melted butter makes for a chewy chocolate cookie, but if you bake the cookies right away they will spread and be very thin, so take the extra time to chill. You want a nice sturdy cookie to hold the frosting and glaze.
Use a medium cookie scoop (2 Tbsp. size) to drop cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes (DO NOT OVERBAKE!) Leave cookies on a baking sheet instead of moving to a cooling rack. They will set up slightly as they stay on the hot sheet.
While the cookies bake, make the marshmallow buttercream. Beat butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk with an electric mixer. Stir marshmallow cream into the frosting. Reserve 1/2 a cup of frosting to use later for the squiggle on each cookie.
Fill a large plastic bag or pastry bag with the filling.
Cut the corner off of the pastry bag.
Pipe or spread frosting over cookies.
It’s easiest to dip chilled cookies into the chocolate glaze so place cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Heat glaze ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat an additional 20-30 seconds then stir until smooth and creamy (if additional time is needed do it in 10-second increments).
Dip the top of each cookie in the chocolate icing (just enough to cover the frosting) and place it on a wire rack or baking sheet. Let stand for 10-15 minutes (until you can touch the top of the cookie without your finger getting sticky). Placing the tray of cookies in the fridge will speed this step up.
Fill a small plastic bag or piping bag with reserved filling/frosting. Cut a tiny tip off the corner of the bag (or use a #5 or #7 frosting tip) and pipe white squiggles across the top of each cupcake cookie.
This recipe makes about 3 dozen chewy, chocolatey, creamy cookies.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap once the glaze has set up.
Hostess Cupcake Full Cookie Recipe
Hostess Cupcake Cookies
Ingredients
COOKIES
- 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups flour
FROSTING
- 3/4 cup butter softened (1 1/2 sticks)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 7 oz. marshmallow creme (1 jar marshmallow fluff)
Chocolate Glaze
- 12 oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 Tablespoons softened butter (1/2 stick)
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons honey (or corn syrup)
Instructions
Cookies
- Melt two sticks of butter (1 cup) in the microwave. Combine melted butter and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Stir until smooth.
- Mix brown sugar and white sugar with the butter/cocoa mixture.
- Add eggs and vanilla.
- Mix in salt, baking soda, and flour.
- Chill dough for 45 minutes- 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Scoop dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets using a medium cookie scoop (2 Tbsp. size).
- Bake cookies for 9 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet.
Marshmallow Frosting
- Mix butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk with electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Stir in marshmallow creme.Reserve 1/2 cup of frosting for the white squiggly detail on cookies.Fill a pastry bag or plastic bag with marshmallow frosting and cut off the corner of the bag.Swirl frosting over cooled cookies. Refrigerate frosted cookies 10-15 minutes, until frosting is set.
Glaze
- Heat glaze ingredients in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat an additional 20-30 seconds. Stir until smooth and creamy. If additional time is needed do it in 10 second increments. Note: You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate and glaze instead of a microwave if you want. It’s easier to not over heat the chocolate in an double boiler. Dip top of frosted cookies in glaze, just enough to cover the marshmallow frosting.Place cookies on a rack or cookie sheet and let stand 10-15 minutes.
- Place reserved frosting a small pastry bag or plastic bag and cut a tiny tip off the corner (or use a #5 or #7 frosting tip).Swirl frosting over cookies in a loopy loop design.
Notes
Nutrition
Can you make Hostess cupcake cookies with a cake mix?
You sure can. Follow your favorite cake mix cookie recipe to make the cookies then frost as directed in my recipe.
Made last year for my Christmas trays. They were a huge hit. Just got done making them again for this Christmas
Yay! I’m so glad they made the cut again this year!
These cookies are absolutely delicious, however, they came out very flat. I’m unable to figure out why
So glad! Might need to chill them a little longer? You can also add a couple extra tablespoons of flour next time. They are thin, but shouldn’t be too flat. Glad you liked them!
These look yummy. I tried the cupcakes last yr and it had a terrible chemical taste so not buying them again. Can’t wait to try these , Thanks for sharing.
Love this recipe but just notice in the blog part “Combine melted butter and cocoa powder in a large bowl and mix. Add sugars and mix until smooth. Add eggs, milk and vanilla.” Where does milk come in , in the cookie part ? Thanks
Looks like I got a little ambitious when typing things out, haha. There isn’t any milk in the cookie dough. I just updated the post to fix it, thanks!!
Sounds wonderful! How long can you store cookies at room temperature?
Hi Patsy! I’ve stored them at room temperature up to 3 days—-they were all eaten by then. 🙂
enjoying this recipe, trying to think of the best way to dip the cookies in the chocolate glaze without making a huge mess and ideas would be greatly appreciated. this is a wonderful recipe and easy to pull together thanks so much
So glad you liked it! So for dipping: I just dipped the tops of the cookies (enough to cover the frosting) but not the sides of the cookie. The tips of my fingers sometimes touched the frosting so they got a little sticky, but that’s about it.
Everything went great until I tried microwaving the glaze. It totally seized up. I think I’ll look for a recipe for ganache and try again. Need more chocolate though.
Bummer! Sounds like they were heated a little too long? You can also use a double boiler. Hope that helps!
These are perfection! Thank you so much for sharing!
Yummy!! Can these be frozen?
Hi Karen! I haven’t tried freezing these. I’ll freeze a few next time and update the post with how they did!