Lava cakes are one of the most common desserts seen on menus across the U.S., but they have one major issue. They’re just too much! By the time I’m done with dinner — especially the nonsense-huge portions in restaurants these days — I don’t have any room left for a big heavy dessert. And you know me (or you’ve looked at my blog); I love my desserts.
So, I decided to try something out. Using the same sort of technique for a stuffed cookie as my Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies, I made a simple chocolate cookie with hot fudge inside, for lava cookies!
Lava cakes usually get their gooey “lava” center by leaving the cake a little under-cooked. With my cookies here, the hot fudge stays gooey when it heats up, while the cookie bakes around it. You end up with a soft-yet-crisp cookie with a gooey, messy center, all wonderfully chocolatey.
There’s one hurdle you’ll have to overcome with these cookies, and that’s baking time. They only take 6-8 minutes to bake, but if you bake them even just a little bit too long, the cookie crumbles and the hot fudge leaks out. Then you don’t have a lava cookie anymore, just a delicious chocolate mess.
To avoid that, I recommend baking a single test cookie and watching it to see how long before it bursts. With that information in hand, you can then bake your full batch to just before that point, and they should turn out beautifully.
Assembling the cookies is fairly simple. You make balls of dough, flatted them out by hand (a rolling pin tears them up too much) and add a dollop of hot fudge. Fold the dough around the fudge and pinch the seam closed, roll it smooth, and roll in sugar for a crystal coating. Easy!
Let them cool for a couple of minutes before serving, either alone or with a dollop of ice cream. Cookies that cool down can be reheated in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to melt the hot fudge again. If any survive!
Want to know how to make these tasty treats? Here’s how.
Chocolate Lava Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Rubber Spatula
- Mixing Bowl
- Silicone Baking Mats
- Cooling Racks
- Cookie Sheets
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Flour
- 1¼ Cup White Sugar
- 1 Cup Shortening
- ⅔ Cup Cocoa Powder
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Water
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- ½ Tsp Salt
- 6 Oz Hot Fudge
Instructions
- Make sure your hot fudge is chilled so it's easy to work with.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda, and set aside.
- In your mixer, cream together 1 cup of white sugar, the brown sugar, and shortening, until fluffy.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, and water, and beat until the mixture is smooth.
- Ass the flour/cocoa mix and beat to combine well.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces, roll into balls, and chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Flatten each dough ball into a thick disk. Add about 1 teaspoon of hot fudge to the center of each.
- Carefully wrap the dough around the fudge, lightly pinch to seal, and re-roll into a ball.
- Roll each dough ball in the remaining white sugar to coat the outside.
- Place on cookie sheets lined with silicone baking mats (or parchment paper), spaced at least three inches apart to allow for spreading as they bake.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top.
- Let cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling, or simply enjoy as they are.