Rocky Road Chocolate Cookie Bars
These rocky road chocolate cookie bars are loaded with chocolate chips and nuts and stippled with marshmallows. They are decadent and delicious!
You won’t even believe how delicious they are if they’re stored in the refrigerator and eaten chilled. YUM!
One-Bowl Chocolate Cookie Dough
The classic Rocky Road flavor lineup consists of: chocolate + nuts + marshmallows. And while we usually see these flavors appear in ice cream (hello, delicious), the flavors translate wonderfully well to these cookie bars, also.
The beauty of these delightful rocky road chocolate cookie bars is that the cookie dough is a one-bowl recipe and can be mixed together by hand. Say it with me: HALLELUJAH.
The recipe follows these easy steps:
- Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave until melted and smooth (don’t over heat the mixture).
- Stir in the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder and other dry ingredients.
- Stir in more chocolate chips and chopped nuts of your choice (pecans, almonds, walnuts).
Marshmallow Stippling: It’s a Thing
Now, here’s the fun part.
After the chocolate cookie dough is spread evenly in a 9X13-inch pan, the mini marshmallows are sprinkled evenly on top.
Instead of baking like this, you’re going to take your cute little fingers and lightly press the marshmallows into the cookie dough. Kind of like how you might stipple the top of focaccia bread to make little indentations.
Why are we doing this? Stippling the marshmallows into the cookie dough allows them to form gooey pockets throughout the cookie dough as well as on top. Otherwise, the marshmallows form a heavy marshmallow crust on top while baking making the bars hard and messy to cut and eliminating the tasty marshmallow effect throughout the cookie dough.
Alternately, stirring the marshmallows into the actual cookie dough batter is difficult and ends up overworking the cookie dough, which makes the baked bars less soft and chewy. TRUST ME, I TESTED THESE BARS ALL.THE.WAYS. Stippling the marshmallows is the way to go. And it’s fun. 🤓
Optimal Cutting Tips For These Gooey Bars
It can be hard to judge the doneness of chocolate cookie bars/dark-colored cookie batters, but for this recipe, err on the side of under baking just slightly, otherwise the bars may be dry.
A few clues to know if the bars are done or not:
- the marshmallows should just be starting to turn golden
- the edges will be lightly puffed and set, but the middle, when pressed with a finger, should have a little bit of “give” and softness
For optimal cutting and serving, I highly recommend letting the bars cool completely and then chilling the bars for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting. This will help the knife slice more cleanly through the marshmallows.
If you want to try them warm, just pop in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds OR abandon all worries about how the bars look and dive into them while they are still warm from the oven.
A Really Delicious Cookie Bar
And despite all that talk of serving them warm and gooey, my favorite way to eat these rocky road chocolate cookie bars is cold straight from the fridge.
The marshmallows stay soft and chewy and the rich chocolate of the bars is intensified. They are amazing! Like: obsessively opening the fridge 50 times a day to break off another corner of a bar stuffed in a ziploc bag until you realize you’ve almost eaten the whole bag kind of amazing. Consider yourself warned. 😉
So, yeah, serve them warm with or without ice cream, room temperature on a pretty serving tray, or chilled and hidden for your taste buds only. Any way you eat these delightful bars is the right way!
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Rocky Road Chocolate Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons (141 g) salted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
- ¾ cup (159 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large (100 g out of shell) eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (12 g) cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup (84 g) chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 ½ cups (142 g) mini marshmallows (half of a 10-ounce bag)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9X13-inch pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and 1 1/4 cups (213 g/7.5 oz) of the chocolate chips. Microwave for 45-second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth (don't over heat).
- Add the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine well.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir until just combined and no dry streaks remain.
- Add the pecans and remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips (128 g/4.5 oz). Stir until evenly combined.
- Press the mixture into the prepared pan and immediately (while the dough is soft) sprinkle the marshmallows over the top. Push the marshmallows lightly into the dough with your fingers (kind of like stippling the top of focaccia bread).
- Bake for 22 to 24 minutes until the marshmallows are lightly golden, the edges are set and the middle is puffed (don't over bake – if you aren't sure if the bars are done, err on the side of under baking slightly).
- Let the bars cool in the pan. Cut into squares and serve. These are delicious at room temperature, slightly warm, or chilled.
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Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
These are so good! I normally do not make cookies/bars with nuts, not because of allergies, but because my family does not usually like them, but I did on these. They were so good! I made them the day before we ate them, so the marshmallows were set and not as hard to cut. I loved the nuts, chocolate chips, and marshmallows in them, and so did everyone else who ate them. The pan was gone very quickly! Loved the one bowl! Thanks, Mel!
Made these this weekend for a linger longer thing after church and they were the first dessert gone. So many requests for the recipe! Thanks, Mel! Oh also, I took them out of the oven right at 22 minutes bc my oven bakes hot. They were so good.
The bars were crumbly and the chocolate flavored overpowered the marshmallow and nuts.
These were delicious and loved by everyone in my family. They were literally inhaled the first day and I had to make them again later that week. I did make them gluten free by subbing equal parts of King Arthur flour G/F all-purpose blend (this contains xanthum gum, if your blend does not add 1/2 teaspoon with the salt) and the texture was perfect! I did make half without nuts to appease picky eaters. My favorite was eating them chilled.
Emily, that’s so great these worked out well made gluten-free! Thanks for the detailed comment!
Great taste, but found the texture a bit too buttery and flat.
We thought these were absolutely delicious. The recipe was easy to follow and I loved that it only used one bowl. We’ll be making these again and again!
Thanks, Sarah!
I made these twice for different occasions. The first time I forgot the cocoa powder! The second time I remembered and also used bittersweet chocolate chips instead of semi sweet. Both times they came out great and were devoured! The first version obviously wasn’t as chocolaty but still delicious.
Good to know, Melissa! Thanks for the comment and review!
These were so quick to make and as with all Mel’s recipes, absolutely delicious!
Thank you so much!
SO easy! Rich, chocolatey goodness!
These cookies bars fit the category of “if I die because I ate the entire pan, it would have been worth it.” So easy to make and so incredibly delicious. Why do you do this to me Mel?
Hahahaha, this made me laugh out loud, Kristen.
These cookie bars are amazing! I saw the recipe come through my inbox this week and I couldn’t resist making it when I realized I had all the ingredients in my pantry already! My kids loved the gooey marshmallows and pecans! So, so good and surprisingly fast & easy to make! If you’re reading these reviews to decide if you should try them, the answer is YES!
Thanks so much for the review, Catie!
Any chance you tried making these with Jet-Puffed Marshmallow bits (like your S’mores cookies)? Do you think those would work mixed in?
I haven’t tried yet BUT I think it would work great!
Perfect! I made them exactly as written and they were a hit at a group event. Thanks!
Yay, yay! Thanks for letting me know, Sam!
These are so delicious and easy and fast to make. I did not add nuts and they were perfect. My teenage boys were so happy to eat these. Mine baked in about 20 minutes, we are at a high elevation. I just kept my eye on them and when the marshmallows were golden and the top looked set, I took them out. The hardest part is letting them cool; I did cut them while warm but I used my plastic pizza cutter and it worked great.
Thanks for the note on the high elevation – helpful, Alicia! Glad they were a hit with your teenagers!
You know those days when you have a thousand things going on so of course you add in making a treat? That was today. I didn’t have marshmallows but forged ahead anyway (because pmsing and need-a-treat-now-ing) and these are GOOD. I’ll make them with marshmallows next time!
Haha, this made me laugh. I am the queen of adding in a baking project on days that have no business accepting a baking project. I’m glad you made these – even sans marshmallows. Thanks for the comment, Rikki! I appreciate all the comments you leave on recipes!
Made these today for dessert and they are yummy. I served them with ice cream after dinner and then had to chill the leftovers so I could try them that way also. They are delicious chilled also! Thanks for this great recipe!
The way I ran to the store to buy ingredients for these! They are sooo good! Love the marshmallow top. Next time I might add the whole cup of pecans. And maybe toast them first! 🤤
Yay, Jenn! Thanks for your comment! So happy you loved these!
These look so very good, but I despise nuts. Can I just leave them out, or do I need to add extra of something else?
I left the pecans out, just cause the kiddos at this don’t really care for them! They were still super good and the recipe is a keeper!
I left the pecans out, just cause the kiddos at this house don’t really care for them! They were still super good, gooey and chewy! The recipe is a keeper!
So happy to hear that…thanks, Starla!
You can leave out the nuts.
Can these be frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing them (although they stay fresh for several days if stored in the fridge). I think they should freeze ok, although the marshmallows may be a bit stickier after thawing.
How did you know we needed to upscale our FHE treats over here?? These look amazing. Can’t wait to try them. I will report back.
I hope you like the, Jenny!