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Caramelised Cornflake Chocolate Chip Cookies (Marshmallow Stuffed)

The best brown butter chocolate chip cookies, jam packed full of caramelised cornflake clusters, molten chocolate and toasted marshmallows.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time14 minutes
Total Time44 minutes
Course: Baking, Snack
Cuisine: American, British
Servings: 13 Cookies
Author: Ben Racey

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer
  • Large Saucepan
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Large Round Cookie Cutter
  • Baking Trays

Ingredients

Caramelised Cornflakes

  • 75 g Cornflakes
  • 175 g Caster
  • Sea Salt

Cookie Dough

  • 200 g Unsalted Butter
  • 125 g Dark Brown Sugar
  • 100 g Caster Sugar
  • 50 g Golden Syrup
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 2 Egg Yolks
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 260 g Plain Flour
  • 15 g Cornflour (Cornstarch)
  • ¾ tsp Baking Powder
  • ¾ tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
  • ½ tsp Table Salt
  • 150 g Chocolate (Milk, Dark or White - See Notes)
  • 100 g Marshmallows (See Notes)

For On Top

  • 75 g Dark Chocolate

Instructions

Caramelised Cornflakes

  • Weigh the cornflakes into a mixing bowl then set to one side. Line a baking tray with baking parchment now as well.
  • Next, add the sugar into a large saucepan then set over a medium heat.
  • Cook the sugar, stirring occasionally until it turns into a deep golden, amber coloured caramel. This will only take 5 minutes or so.
    The caramel should be a deep copper colour. Be careful not to burn it though!
  • As soon as the caramel is ready, take the pan off the heat, add in the cornflakes then stir gently to combine. Each cornflake should be coated in the caramel.
  • Transfer the cornflake mix onto the lined tray, spreading it out into an even layer. Then sprinkle lightly with sea salt and leave to cool completely.
  • Once cool, roughly chop/break up the cornflake brittle. Reserve 13 of the neatest clusters for placing on top of the cookies.
    I like to do this step once the cookie dough is mixed. The cornflake brittle will be quite sharp, so be careful if you're breaking it up by hand. I like to give it a whack with a rolling pin.

Cookie Dough

  • Start by browning 125g of the butter. To do this, chop the butter into evenly sized pieces then place into a medium saucepan. Place over a medium heat & allow to melt, stirring regularly with a spatula. Keep cooking, until the butter starts to foam, smells nutty & you can see that the milk solids in the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown.
  • As soon as the brown butter is cooked, transfer it to a bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, chop the remaining 75g of butter into small pieces & leave to soften at room temperature.
    The brown butter should take around 30 minutes to cool.
  • Next, add the cooled brown butter, softened butter, both sugars and the golden syrup into the bowl of a stand mixer then using the paddle attachment, mix on a medium-low speed until just combined. This will only take 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the egg, yolks & vanilla into a jug then lightly beat together with a fork. Then slowly pour into the butter, with the mixer running on medium speed. Stop mixing once the eggs are just incorporated.
  • Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a separate mixing bowl, add in the salt then whisk to combine.
  • Add the dry ingredients into the cookie dough then mix on a low speed until just combined. A few dry streaks is fine at this point.
  • Next, roughly chop the chocolate and cut the marshmallows into pieces no bigger than 2 cm. Add both of these into the cookie dough along with the chopped cornflake brittle then fold gently by hand, to combine.
  • Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes - 1 hour, to let it firm up slightly. In the meantime, chop the dark chocolate (for on top) into 13 equally sized chunks.

Rolling & Topping

  • Once the cookie dough has firmed up slightly, use a cookie scoop (or a spoon), to portion it into 13 equally sized portions. Each should weigh around 85 grams.
  • With your hands, roll a portion of cookie dough into a ball then press a chocolate chunk and a cornflake cluster into the top. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing them onto a lined baking tray as you roll.
  • Cover the tray with clingfilm then chill the cookie dough in the fridge overnight.

Baking

  • The next day, preheat an oven to 180°c/160°c fan (356°f/320°f).
  • Place 3-4 balls of cookie dough onto a lined baking tray, making sure that there’s plenty of room between them.
  • Bake the cookies for 10 minutes then open your oven door, lift up the baking tray inside the oven by a few inches then let it drop down against the oven rack. Use enough force so that the cookie starts to deflate. (This is the “Pan Banging” method.)
  • Bake for a further 2 minutes then repeat the pan banging process.
  • Bake for another 2 minutes (bringing the total bake time to 14 minutes) then remove from the oven.
    Once baked, the cookies' edges will be golden brown but the middles will still be soft.
  • As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use a large, round cookie cutter, to gently scoot each cookie into a perfect round shape. Lightly sprinkle each cookie with sea salt then leave to cool completely on the tray.
  • Repeat the cooking process with the remaining cookies, baking 3-4 cookies at a time.

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Notes

1. To Bake In An Aga - Bake the cookies in the baking oven, on the bottom set of runners. Or on a grid shelf placed onto the floor of the roasting oven, with a cold plain shelf slid onto the bottom set of runners. Use the boiling plate to brown the butter.
2. Storage - These cookies are best served on the day they're baked but will keep for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container.
3. Chocolate - You can use dark, milk or white chocolate for these cookies - I used a mix of milk and dark. Using a good quality bar of chocolate works best (not chips!), as this will melt better.
4. Golden Syrup - I added golden syrup to the cookie dough to add a rich buttery flavour (like a cornflake treat!). If you wanted a deeper, slightly bitter flavour, you could use black treacle instead.
5. Marshmallows - It's best to use larger marshmallows then chop them into chunks as appose to using mini marshmallows.
6. Overnight Chill – The cookie dough requires an overnight chill in the fridge before being baked. Don’t be tempted to skip this step otherwise the cookies will spread out too much when baked.
7. The Pan Banging Method – The way we bake these cookies, is by using a technique called “Pan Banging”. This was created by Sarah Kieffer (The Vanilla Bean Blog) & is used in this recipe to create pools of melted chocolate & to give the cookies a crinkled texture.

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