Easy Dairy-Free Rocky Road Cookies are delicious, rich chocolate cookies packed with marshmallows, almonds, and chocolate chips. A simple recipe using pantry ingredients, made without milk or butter.
Loaded with deep cocoa, crunchy almonds, and gooey marshmallows, replicating the wonderful flavors of the popular ice cream, this Easy Dairy-Free Rocky Road Cookies Recipe stands out as a truly unique cookie.
The combination flavors are a favorite and can satisfy anything from a chocolate craving to a need for comfort.
Whether you are hosting guests, bringing a dish to a potluck, or simply looking for an afternoon treat to pair with coffee or tea, these cookies are perfect.
Want to try another unique cookie?
Try Dairy-Free Cowboy Cookies!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for dairy-free rocky road cookes
Can I freeze these rocky road cookies?
Yes, these cookies freeze wonderfully. Let them cool completely, then store them in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers for up to 3 months.
What are the main ingredients in dairy-free rocky road cookies?
They are made with pantry staples like cocoa powder, dairy-free margarine, dairy-free chocolate chips, marshmallows, and almonds, completely without milk or butter.
How do I keep the marshmallows from burning?
Open the oven and press extra marshmallows onto the tops of the cookies during the last minutes of baking so they get warm and gooey without melting completely away into the pan.
Can I use a different type of nut?
Yes, while almonds give you that classic rocky road flavor, chopped walnuts or pecans work great as a substitute if you prefer them or have those on hand.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for baking
Why do recipes have salt in the ingredients of baked goods?
Even though salt tends to make foods, well, salty, it actually plays other roles in baking as well.
For example, the right amount of salt balances flavors in baked goods; it can bring out the sweetness of sugar and, at the same time, prevent them from tasting overly sweet. It also can help dull the bitterness of cocoa.
Salt prevents baked goods from tasting bland, while it balances the richness of the fats. It also helps develop flavor in yeast breads and works with proteins to strengthen gluten and make it more elastic.
Salt also slows down yeast fermentation because it prevents the yeast from eating up the sugars too quickly, which otherwise would cause the dough to rise too fast and then ultimately collapse, causing bread to come out flat instead of fluffy.
Salt helps baked goods stay a little fresher for a little longer and helps delay mold from growing on them.
What is the difference between white granulated sugar and brown sugar?
The short answer is that while white granulated sugar is just pure sweetness, brown sugar is white sugar with molasses mixed into it.
Here is how that change affects your baking:
- White sugar is neutrally sweet. Brown sugar tastes like rich caramel or toffee.
- White sugar makes things crisp and light. Brown sugar traps moisture, making baked goods (like brownies) dense, soft, and extra chewy.
- Brown sugar is dark and wet; white sugar is dry and clear.
Tip: If a recipe calls for brown sugar and you’re completely out, you can make your own by thoroughly mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of regular white granulated sugar, and that will give you light-brown sugar. If you want dark brown sugar, you need to mix in more molasses.
Can I substitute honey for white granulated sugar in baking?
The short answer to this question is yes.
However, there are some things to consider, because the substitution is not 1:1.
Honey is denser and contains more fructose than white granulated sugar, so it is sweeter. Also, honey contains almost 20% liquid, so adjustments must be made for these differences.
First of all, the glucose and fructose in honey make it sweeter than granulated sugar, so you would use only ¾ of the amount of sugar in the recipe’s ingredients. Second, since honey already contains liquid, you should reduce the amount of liquid that the recipe calls for by 25% to maintain consistency.
Honey is also naturally acidic, whereas granulated sugar is not, so in order to neutralize the acidity you will be adding to your baking, you can add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey to the ingredients.
Lastly, since honey contains simple sugars that caramelize and burn at lower temperatures than granulated sugar does, you should lower the temperature by 25 degrees from that required in the recipe. This is to help prevent the outside from baking quicker than the inside of your baked goods.
Note:
There are a few additional things to note about substituting honey for sugar, though.
First, if you use honey rather than granulated sugar for baked goods that are supposed to be crispy, they will come out softer.
Second, you cannot “cream” if you replace granulated sugar with honey, so recipes that are meant to come out light because of creaming butter with sugar will come out denser.
Lastly, honey is still a sugar, and it has approximately 30% more calories than granulated sugar does (but this will be somewhat compensated by the fact that you will be reducing the quantity of honey versus sugar in the recipe).
What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are both synthetic leavens that help baked goods rise, but there is a difference between them.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, which needs another ingredient that is acidic in order to be activated. When the baking soda touches the acid, it creates a carbon dioxide gas, which helps the baked good rise. Baking soda is between 3 and 4 times stronger than baking powder, and if too much baking soda is used, your baked good will end up with a metallic flavor.
Baking powder is baking soda that is already mixed with an acid and a stabilizer and will be activated by moisture and heat. Nowadays, baking powder is called double-acting because it activates twice—once when it gets wet (when you mix the ingredients together) and again when it heats in the oven.
Replacing one with the other can be tricky, and it’s not recommended. However, if you have no choice, then do solid research for substituting one for the other for the baked good you are preparing so you don’t ruin it.
What do eggs do in baking?
Eggs are made up of two parts: the whites and the yolks (the yellow).
Egg whites are made up of protein that sets when heated and helps baked goods hold their structure. The yolks are made up of fats and vitamins and help ingredients bond.
Eggs also help baked goods rise as well as keep them moist.
It is important to have the right amount of eggs when baking, because if there are too many eggs in a recipe, this can cause a rubbery, dense texture, and if there are too few eggs, this can cause a crumbly, dry texture.
The different parts of the egg will provide different textures to baked goods; using the entire egg in baking will provide moisture and help the baked good rise evenly, using extra yolks will create richer, denser textures, and extra whites will add fluffiness but may create a drier texture.
What is the difference between butter and margarine?
Butter is a dairy product that is made by churning heavy cream until the fats separate from the milk (i.e., buttermilk). Margarine, however, is made from vegetable oil. Butter generally has a lower melting point than margarine as well as a lower water content (and the soft tub margarines have a higher water content than bar margarines).
Using butter in baking cookies can create a crisper, more flaky cookie, while cookies will come out softer and more cakey when made with margarine. It is also generally believed to be better to “cream” using butter rather than margarine.
Using butter adds a kind of toasted nut flavor to baked goods, while margarine doesn’t add flavor (however, sometimes with margarine, one might have a waxy feel on the roof of one’s mouth after eating something with a high margarine content).
If one wants to make a dairy-free baked good that calls for butter, a dairy-free margarine is a good substitute.
What is the difference between real vanilla extract and imitation vanilla?
Real vanilla is made from soaking vanilla beans in alcohol, imitation vanilla is synthetic, and real vanilla costs quite a bit more than imitation. Whether or not there will be a taste difference in your baking depends on the baked good, so do some research before you decide.
I personally always use the imitation as long as I have a really good brand because it’s not worth it to me to spend the extra money.
Equipment to have on hand for simpler baking prep
- a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and sometimes for whipping
- a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough, and I don’t want to mix manually)
- a kitchen scale
- different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
- mixing bowls (or just large bowls—I have plastic, glass, and metal)
- cookie sheets
- pie dishes
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- whisks
- rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
- rolling pins
- a baking mat for rolling out dough
- baking strips
- a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)
Ingredients to have on hand for last-minute baking
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark—I usually keep dark)
- confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
Easy Dairy-Free Rocky Road Cookies Recipe
Delicious and easy to make chocolately cookies with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and almonds, without milk or butter.
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted soft dairy-free margarine or other dairy-free butter substitute
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini marshmallows, cut into halves*
- ¾ cup semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chopped almonds
Instructions
- Mix together flour, cocoa, brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add the margarine (or butter substitute), egg, and vanilla and beat until completely combined.
- Mix in the chocolate chips and ½ cup of the chopped almonds.
- Gently fold in ⅔ or ¾ of the marshmallows (the rest will go on top).
- Make approximately 1" balls an place on cookie sheets that have been lined with baking paper. Leave at least a couple of inches between the balls because they will spread. You can make bigger balls of dough, but then leave more room in between them.
- At this point, you can add the remaining marshmallow and almond pieces to the outside of the balls and then place the sheets in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350°F and bake for around 8 minutes or until the cookies are no longer wet. However, the marshmallows will darken during the baking. If you want to prevent this, then don't add the extra pieces at this point, but rather after 4-5 minutes--while the cookies are still wet--open the oven and then gently press them into the tops of the cookies and continue to bake for the rest of the time.
- Let cool.
Notes
*Marshmallows puff up during baking, so you need to cut them. You can use regular marshmallows if you need to, but cut them into approximately 6 pieces.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 623Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 12gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 524mgCarbohydrates: 85gFiber: 5gSugar: 43gProtein: 11g