If you love soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies, you will have to try these cookies made with oil instead of butter and infused with an amazing flavor of pandan and gula Melaka (palm sugar) and loaded with chocolate chips and completed with that stretchy and creamy marshmallows on the inside. Oh so very good!
These pandan gula Melaka marshmallow cookies are one of the most requested cookies in our house besides the best soy sauce chocolate chip cookies. My kids absolutely love them. They love soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies. Then I told them that I added some pandan flavor and gula Melaka (which they love too) and marshmallows and their eyes grew big instantly LOL! Even my husband loves these cookies A LOT!
The recipe rundown
Taste: It’s not cloyingly sweet and I love the aroma of pandan and toffee-ish in the cookies, thanks to the gula Melaka
Texture: It’s slightly crisp on the edge, soft and chewy in the middle with that creamy stretchy marshmallow in the middle
Level: Easy
Pros: You don’t need a stand mixer or a hand mixer with this recipe. You don’t need butter too
Cons: Some of the marshmallows may leak out or disappear into the cookie dough during baking
Sugar to use and substitution
I use gula Melaka/gula Jawa/gula aren that comes in a block like this:
You can also use coconut sugar and/or light or dark brown sugar. Please note that if you use any of these three, you may need a bit more oil than what the recipe calls for.
What type of marshmallows to use
You can use store-bought large marshmallows or homemade marshmallows. The small mini ones would work too, but the bigger size works better
Can I use homemade pandan extract?
Most likely it won’t be strong enough and the color will be pale. You may need more than 1 teaspoon of homemade pandan extract and I won’t recommend adding more liquid than what’s the recipe calls for as it affects the texture of the cookie. Definitely use pandan essence in this case
How to make soft and chewy pandan gula Melaka marshmallow cookies
1. Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C). Grate the gula Melaka block. Skip this if you are using coconut sugar or light/dark brown sugar
2. Put the oil (start with 80 ml and add as you need later), all the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand whisk to mix vigorously until they are well combined
3. Sift in all-purpose flour and baking soda. This extra step helps to fluff the flour and make the finished product airier
4. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour to combine. You don’t need to fully combine them yet. If the cookie dough feels a bit dry, you can add a bit more oil, tablespoon by tablespoon
5. Then fold in the chocolate chips and continue to fold to mix until you no longer see loose flour in the cookie dough
6. The dough will be sticky at this point
7. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly oil your palms. Scoop about 75 grams (or about 3 1/2 tablespoons) of cookie dough. Roll it into a ball and slightly flatten into about 3 inches diameter dough
8. Put 1/2 of the large marshmallow in there and gather the sides of the dough to enclose the marshmallow. Make sure it is well covered by the dough so it won’t leak out during baking
9. Roll into a ball
10. Place on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread, but not excessively. They are large, so they will spread into thick cookies
11. I recommend bake one tray at a time unless you can fit two trays side by side. Put the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 16-17 minutes. They will still be very soft. Garnish with some sea salt flakes on top. Let them cool down on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes
How to prevent marshmallow from leaking out or disappear into the cookie dough
1. You want a thick cookie dough so the marshmallow is well protected inside and as it melts, it won’t leak out or get absorbed by the cookie dough
2. Use large size marshmallows. They will melt slower compared to the mini ones. I use the mini marshmallows and they don’t give enough “impact”, but still good, just not as dramatic as I want them to be
3. I highly recommend sticking with 75 grams of cookies. I tried to scale them down and most of the marshmallows ended up disappeared or leaked out when I tried to make smaller cookies
How to ensure crisp on the edge, soft and chewy cookies
1. Bake at low temperature, in this recipe, it’s 325 F and don’t overbake the cookies
2. Don’t switch to regular granulated or caster sugar. Gula Melaka and dark brown sugar give a chewy texture
3. Don’t reduce the sugar amount. The cookies aren’t cloyingly sweet. Keep in mind that gula Melaka and dark brown sugar are less sweet compared to granulated sugar
What if I like crispier cookies?
1. Replace dark brown sugar with granulated or caster sugar
2. Add an extra minute or two in the baking time
Can I make this with premixed gluten-free flour?
I haven’t tried this myself, but others have tried it with premixed gluten-free flour as 1:1 substitution with success.
Can I make them ahead?
Yes, you can prepare the cookie dough ahead. Here’s how:
1. Prepare as directed up to rolling them into dough balls
2. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the cookie dough on top, not touching each other
3. Put in the freezer for about one hour. They will harden but not completely frozen yet
4. Transfer to a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal the bag. They won’t stick to each other anymore
5. They can be kept frozen like this for 3 months
6. When ready to bake, do not thaw and bake in the oven as directed. You may need to add a minute or two or to the level of chewiness you like
Variations and substitution
This recipe is quite forgiving and flexible. You can use M&M or other candies instead of chocolate chips. You can also use all dark brown sugar, or all coconut sugar instead of gula Melaka if it’s hard for you to get. I have tried it with coarsely chopped mint Oreos instead of chocolate chips (my kids love this). You can use vanilla extract instead of pandan essence. The possibilities are limitless
How to store these cookies
1. Let them cool down at room temperature completely
2. Store them in an air-tight container for 3-4 days. I doubt they will last that long 😉
Did you make this soft and chewy Pandan gula Melaka marshmallow cookies recipe?
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Soft and Chewy Pandan Gula Melaka Marshmallow Cookies (No Butter)
Ingredients
Cookie dough:
- 220 gr gula Melaka I used the block version, grated. See notes 1,2
- 100 gr dark brown sugar
- 80 gr oil or more as needed
- 2 large eggs (room temperature) about 58 -60 grams each with the shell
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pandan essence
- 290 gr all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 200 gr semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 8 large marshmallows cut into half. See notes 3
Decorating (optional)
- Sea salt flakes
Instructions
Prepare the cookie dough:
- Grate the gula Melaka block. Skip this if you are using coconut sugar or light/dark brown sugar. Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C). Put the oil (start with 80 ml and add as you need later), all the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand whisk to mix vigorously until they are well combined. Sift in all-purpose flour and baking soda. This extra step helps to fluff the flour and make the finished product airier
- Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour to combine. You don't need to fully combine them yet. If the cookie dough feels a bit dry, you can add a bit more oil, tablespoon by tablespoon. Then fold in the chocolate chips and continue to fold to mix until you no longer see loose flour in the cookie dough. The dough will be sticky at this point
Baking:
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lighlty oil your palms. Scoop about 75 grams (or about 3 1/2 tablespoons) of cookie dough. Roll it into a ball and slightly flatten into about 3 inches diameter dough and put 1/2 of the large marshmallow in there and gather the sides of the dough to enclose the marshmallow. Make sure it is well covered by the dough so it won't leak out during baking. Roll into a ball. Place on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread, but not excessively. They are large, so they will spread into thick cookies
- I recommend bake one tray at a time unless you can fit two trays side by side. Put the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 16-17 minutes. They will still be very soft. Garnish with some sea salt flakes on top. Let them cool down on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes
Notes
- Depending on the gula Melaka/gula Jawa/gula Aren that you use, it may affect the consistency of the dough. In general, the sugar will be sticky after you grate them. I know gula Aren is the stickiest among all. So the oil amount you need may be more or less
- If you replace the gula Melaka with coconut sugar or regular light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, you may need more oil than what's called for in the recipe
- If you use mini marshmallows, you will need 4-5 or more to fill the cookies
8 comments
Hi, how do i make this into a 6inch square cookie bar recipe which is at least 1″ high?
Hi Casha, I’ve never done it in such a big size so I can’t tell you for sure. Sorry about that !
Can i use coconuts oil?
yes, it will give nice aroma too I believe!
Hi Marv, this cookie has everything that my friend likes so i made it for her today! It was delicious! But i had trouble shaping the cookies. The texture was like a very thick liquid n it would spread on the baking sheet even before i placed it in the oven so it became much larger than 3 inches n it couldn’t really cover the marshmallow. I tried to shape it into a ball but it would soon spread again. Do you have any tips for me? Tastes great though! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Aurora, sorry for the trouble. May I know what sugar you used? Btw, I edited the recipe to include more information. Apparently the sugar you use also affects the consistency of the dough. Some gula Melaka may be wetter or stickier and you may not need as much oil. I have updated the recipe accordingly.
Hi Marv, it’s called madam yap gula melaka. You can google it. When i grated it, it did become kinda sticky, next time I’ll try reducing the oil! I actually used muffin liners n tin for my 2nd tray to control the spread so it was semi cupcake semi cookie lol. Regardless, my friend said it’s nice, she was even saying that this could be sold lol
ha..ha..so sorry for the trouble! yes, try reducing the oil. I’m grateful for your feedback, it made me realize that everyone may use different type of sugar combination, which is fine, but the oil amount can vary! I’m glad they still turn out good! It should work better for you next round when you reduce the oil amount. I would start with about 80 gr. I just baked another two batches today. The one that uses gula Melaka and dark brown sugar needs less oil. I made another batch using coconut sugar and dark brown sugar and that batch needs more oil.