Mini hot cocoa cookie mugs are almost too cute to eat

These adorable mugs of hot cocoa are completely edible. Made with sugar cookies and candy canes and filled with a rich chocolate ganache, this might be the sweetest cup of cocoa you have this season.

They also make a wonderfully unique edible gift for friends and family this Christmas.

While they may look complicated, you can actually make these cookie mugs without any special cookie cutters. They’re simply sugar cookie rings stacked on one another to form the cup shape.

Make and chill your sugar cookie dough, then roll it out. You need a circle about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in diameter to cut out your circles. This could be a cookie cutter, a tall shot glass or the opening of a bottle. Cut out 4 circles for each cookie. You might need to chill your dough again before rerolling it.

Now you need to cut 3 of every 4 circles into a ring, using something half the width of your original circle. I used a frosting tip. Add the center circles you remove back to your dough ball to cut out more cookies.

After baking the cookies and letting them cool, flip the rings over, and pipe icing on the bottoms, around the inner holes.

Stack the frosted rings on top of a complete circle, making a cup out of 4 cookies.

While the icing holding your mugs together firms up, cut out the mug handles. If you’re having trouble with the crook of the candy cane breaking, then try cutting off the long end first to even out the candy cane, then cutting both ends shorter.

Use some icing to attach the handles to each cookie mug, and let them dry while you make your chocolate ganache.

I made my ganache in a glass measuring cup so I could easily pour it into the cookie mugs. Fill each mug to the top. A little overflow can be OK — I love overflowing hot chocolate!

Pipe a dollop of icing in the center of the ganache for your “whipped cream” topping. I suggest letting the cookies sit for a couple of hours before packaging them to let the ganache set.

Hot cocoa cookie mugs recipe

While this recipe has a lot of pieces, the actual assembling goes pretty quickly, so it’s really quite easy. Feel free to substitute a favorite extract for the vanilla in the cookies; just make sure it’s one that will go well with the chocolate ganache.

Yields 36

Prep time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Inactive time: 15 minutes | Bake time: 7 minutes (per batch) | Total time: 2 hours 7 minutes

Ingredients:

For the cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 36 mini candy canes (plus extra to make up for broken ones) 

For the icing

• 3 pasteurized egg whites
• 3 cups powdered sugar

For the chocolate ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
2. In a large bowl (I used a stand mixer), beat the butter and granulated sugar.
3. Mix the egg and vanilla extract into the butter and sugar, then mix in the flour 1/2 cup at a time.
4. Divide the dough into 2 balls, and press them into discs between parchment or waxed paper. Freeze the discs for about 15 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Roll each disc of dough out to 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkle the paper with flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
7. Use a 1- to 1-1/2-inch-diameter cutter to cut out as many circles as you can.
8. Use a 1/2-inch-diameter cutter to turn 3 out of every 4 circles into rings.
9. Bake the circles and rings on parchment paper for 6 to 8 minutes, until just turning golden.
10. Form all your dough scraps into a ball, and reroll between parchment paper. Repeat steps 7 to 9. You should end up with 36 complete circles and 108 rings.
11. Use a knife to cut off the crooks of your mini candy canes.
12. For the icing, use a stand mixer to whisk the egg whites until foamy, then add powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time while mixing on low speed.
13. Increase the speed to high, and beat for about 6 minutes, until stiff, glossy peaks form.
14. Use a squeeze bottle or pastry bag with a tip to place a circle of icing on the bottoms of your rings, on the inside edges.
15. Stack 3 frosted rings on top of each circle.
16. Squeeze a dab of icing onto each end of your candy cane crooks, and stick 1 onto the side of each cookie cup.
17. To make your chocolate ganache, heat the cream on high until it just starts to boil.
18. Put the chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl (I used a glass measuring cup), and pour the cream over them.
19. Whisk the chocolate into the cream until smooth.
20. Carefully pour chocolate ganache into each cookie mug, just to the top.
21. Pipe a dollop of icing into the center of the chocolate.
22. You can eat the cookies right away, but let them sit out at least 2 hours before packaging to ensure the chocolate ganache has set.

See all our holiday articles

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