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Chocolate Valentine Cookies are soft chocolate cookies filled with the colors of Valentine’s Day! Adding red and pink M&Ms and sprinkles to easy cookies make them perfect for the holiday – and they’re super chocolatey too!
This won’t be a surprise if you’ve been following along, but I am a total sucker for cookies made with holiday candy. The minute holiday-themed candy hits the store, I grab all of my favorites before they disappear! Even though my childhood babysitter teased me for wearing red and pink together, I still love the combination – especially in Valentine Cookies!
Pudding cookies are the BEST cookies. If you’ve never made them, you MUST try. The cornstarch in the pudding mix keeps them soft for days, and you can give the cookies an extra punch of flavor from whatever pudding flavor you’re using.
Important Ingredients
- Always start with softened butter. I prefer using unsalted but if you’re using salted butter just omit the added salt in the recipe.
- You’ll need to add a little bit of water or brewed coffee – the coffee doesn’t add coffee flavor but instead blooms the cocoa powder, releasing trapped flavor notes that stay dormant in dry batter (aka it makes the chocolate taste even more chocolatey).
- You can use special dark or regular unsweetened cocoa powder – I have not tested this recipe with Dutch Process Cocoa. Dutch process can interact with baking soda; regular cocoa is needed for the acidity to react and make the cookies nice and soft.
- The absolute secret to a cookie that stays soft and pillowy for days is Instant Pudding Mix. By adding the dry powder directly to the butter and sugar, we introduce extra cornstarch and softeners that prevent the cookies from getting hard or crispy in the oven. This creates a ‘soft-batch’ texture that tastes like it came from a professional bakery.
- You can use any chocolate flavor as long as it’s INSTANT PUDDING MIX (NOT the cook-n-serve kind). Use the small box (approximately 3-3.4 ounces) but don’t use sugar-free.
Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions. See below the recipe card for even more information: process shots, variations, FAQ and more.
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Dorothy’s Tips for Valentine Cookies
- For rich chocolate Valentine cookies, use Hershey’s Special Dark. It has a much deeper chocolate flavor!
- Avoid sugar-free pudding mix, and be sure to get instant pudding mix. You don’t need to prepare it; you just need the dry mix.
- Because pudding cookies have a high moisture and fat content, the dough can be quite sticky. Chilling the dough for at least one hour allows the butter to solidify and the flour to fully hydrate. This ensures your cookies bake up thick and puffy rather than spreading into a flat chocolate puddle on your baking sheet.
- I like to use jimmies for the sprinkles. I’d avoid using nonpareils because they tend to dissolve.
- Because pudding cookies are thick, they don’t always spread naturally; if they are very cold you can slightly press with the palm of your hand to make sure they flatten properly.
- You know chocolate cookies are done baking when they just lose the glossy sheen on top and look slightly dry around the edges.
- Add extra M&Ms on top as soon as they come out of the oven for decoration. Adding them while the cookies are still hot ensures the candy will stick.
Chocolate Valentine Cookies Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter , softened
- ⅔ cup (133g) packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) water or brewed coffee, if you have it
- 2 tablespoons (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder regular or Hershey's Special Dark
- 1 3-3.5 ounce box INSTANT chocolate pudding mix , any flavor (not sugar-free)
- 1 ¼ cup (155g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups (224g) Valentine M&Ms plus more for topping
- ¼ cup (40g) Valentine sprinkles
Instructions
- Note: this dough requires chilling.
- Line a cookie sheet with a silpat baking mat or parchment paper.
- Cream butter and both sugars in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in vanilla, egg, and water (or coffee). Add cocoa powder and pudding mix (the powder) and mix until smooth.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the M&Ms and sprinkles.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon sized balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. You don’t have to space them out, this is just for chilling. Press a few M&Ms and sprinkles on the top of each cookie ball. (This is not mandatory, it just makes them look prettier.) Cover with plastic wrap and chill the cookies for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a second cookie sheet and place cookies about 2” apart on them. Press each cookie dough ball down slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until they just start to lose their glossy sheen. I like mine slightly underdone, so I cooked them for about 11-12 minutes. I also like to rotate my cookie sheets in my oven halfway through for even baking.
- Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Nutrition
How to Make Valentine’s Cookies Step-by-Step
- Be sure to cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, then mix in the cocoa.
- Mix in the instant pudding mix. You can use any brand and any chocolate flavor pudding mix as long as it’s instant pudding in the normal size box (usually about 3.4 ounces).
- Mix in the all-purpose flour (measured correctly).
- Add your Valentine’s Day sprinkles and M&Ms.
- Scoop cookie dough balls using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop. Chill the cookie dough then bake at 350°F.
FAQ
Sometimes you can find them at the grocery store in the baking aisle or the seasonal aisle with other Valentine’s items. Craft stores also carry them or search for options online.
There could be a couple of reasons why your cookies didn’t spread. First, did you accurately measure the flour? Adding too much could be the problem so remember to use the spoon and level measuring method or use a kitchen scale to weigh it.
If your dough was very firm when it came out of the refrigerator, it could also cause the issue. The dough needs to be chilled but not rock hard. If you refrigerate it overnight or for a day, let the dough balls sit out at room temperature to warm up just a bit before baking them.
Did you remember to chill the dough? The cookies can overspread when they bake if you don’t chill the dough beforehand. It could also be your baking soda. Check the expiration date and buy a new box if it’s expired.
Pudding cookies are a soft-batch style of cookie made by adding dry instant pudding mix to the dough for a tender, long-lasting texture.
This recipe uses chocolate pudding mix to double down on the flavor, but you can use any flavor as long as it is INSTANT pudding mix.
A small amount of brewed coffee “blooms” the cocoa powder, which intensifies the chocolate flavor without making the cookies taste like coffee.
Bake at 350°F until the cookies just start to lose their glossy sheen in the center. They will look slightly under-baked but will firm up as they cool.
Very Valentine Pudding Cookies are so soft and flavorful, and you can add in any and all of your favorite valentine candies.
Made these cookies for my preschooler’s Valentine’s exchange and they are so good!
Followed the recipe exactly. Measured out tablespoon size balls to make smaller sized cookies and baked slightly underdone. Crisp outside, chewy center and fudge-like chocolate flavor. Will make these again!
Made these for Valentines Day with my grandkids ages 10 and 5. They were easy to make and the decorating was fun and easy. My grandkids got creative with the shapes and had fun. They also devoured the cookies as they came out of the oven. Highly recommend this recipe.
Hi! I need to make this batter in advance….can I just prep and then freeze the dough…transfer to the fridge the night before baking and bake as indicated? If so, can I use melted instead of softened butter? I will also be doubling the batch. Thank you!
Thoughts on using homemade pudding mix?
My cookies turned out crispy. The mms inside were crispy. Cooked too long ?
Most likely that was the problem, yes.
I’ve read other pudding cookie recipes and I think the issue was the dough needs to be refrigerated at least 3 hours or overnight.
This recipe does require chilling, as specified in the recipe. I normally only do an hour at most with all my pudding cookies.
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