Buckle up kids, day 2 of #AKCookieWeek is an out-of-this-world combination. Over the past couple of years, I’ve tested and re-tested this recipe to make sure it was absolutely perfect for you all, and these are serious dessert heaven.
These are the best magic cookies ever with a wonderful brown sugar base and tons of delicious mix-ins like butterscotch, chocolate, marshmallows, coconut, and more. What are magic cookies, you ask? They’re basically cookies that feel a little bit magical and sweet thanks to all of the fun ingredients.
These incredible cookies are perfectly crispy on the outside and super chewy in the middle. You can really make them your own with some of your own favorite mix-ins, so have fun experimenting, and remember to read all of my best tips in the post!
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Everything you’ll need to make the best magic cookies
These babies are called “magic cookies” because of the incredible texture and all of the wonderful mix-ins we’ll be adding right to the batter. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Coconut oil: melted coconut oil gives the cookies moisture and a little boost of coconut flavor. No sweetened condensed milk in here, which is a common ingredient in other magic cookie bars and cookies.
- Brown sugar: we’re using all dark brown sugar (no white sugar) in these cookies for that rich molasses flavor. It also makes the cookies extra chewy!
- Eggs: you’ll need 1 egg and 1 egg yolk to help the cookies bake properly.
- Flour: the base of these cookies is made with regular all purpose flour.
- Oats: I personally believe rolled oats in cookies make them 100x better. They get the best texture!
- Baking staples: don’t forget the vanilla extract (learn how to make your own here!), baking soda, and salt.
- For the mix-ins: here’s where the cookies get their magic. We’re folding in shredded unsweetened coconut, puffed brown rice cereal, chopped pecans, mini marshmallows, dark chocolate chunks, AND butterscotch chips. I mean…can you even?!
- Sea salt: as always, I love sprinkling fancy sea salt on top of my cookies.
Customize your magic cookies
Have fun mixing and matching with your favorite add-ins! Here are some other mix-in ideas I can suggest:
- Swap the pecans for chopped walnuts (or any of your favorite nuts!)
- Try white chocolate chips or chunks instead of dark chocolate
- Add peanut butter chips in place of the butterscotch chips
Note: please do not reduce or swap the shredded coconut, puffed brown rice cereal, or marshmallows, as they are key to the texture of the cookies. As I mentioned above, you can easily swap the pecans for walnuts, but please use the same amount of nuts in the cookies for consistency as well!
Can I make them gluten free or vegan?
Please note that I have not tested this magic cookie recipe using a gluten-free flour or flax eggs, so I cannot be sure how they’ll turn out. Feel free to make them dairy free by simply swapping the butterscotch chips for dairy free chocolate chips.
Can I use steel cut oats?
I would not recommend using steel cut oats as they are much harder and will not give the cookies that chewy factor that rolled oats will!
How to make the best magic cookies
- Mix the wet ingredients. Whisk together all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth and resembles caramel.
- Add the dry. Stir in all of the dry ingredients until the dough is well combined.
- Add the mix-ins. Fold in all of those delicious mix-ins, reserving some chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips to add to the top of your cookies before baking.
- Rest the dough. Let the dough sit for 5-10 minutes at room temp to help it stay together when baked.
- Scoop, bake & devour. Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough, add it to a prepared baking sheet, and top with some extra butterscotch and/or chocolate. Bake them up, sprinkle with sea salt, and enjoy!
Looking for thinner cookies?
Simply reduce the flour by 1-2 tablespoons! It just depends on your texture preference.
A note on baking with marshmallows
The marshmallows could melt out of the cookies if you have them on the edges. This is no big deal! They’ll caramelize and create delicious crispy bites on the edges.
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store these magic cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: you can actually freeze the cookie dough OR the freshly baked cookies to enjoy later! Get all of my tips and tricks for freezing cookies here.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
- Pistachio, Coffee & Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Salted Brown Butter Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Chocolate Cookies
- Soft Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Lovely Lemon Icing
- Coffee Tahini Date Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these wonderful magic cookies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Not Your Mama’s Magic Cookies
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup melted virgin coconut oil
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour*
- ⅔ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Mix-ins:
- ⅓ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill)
- ½ cup puffed brown rice cereal or brown rice krispies
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup mini marshmallows**
- 3 ounces 70% dark chocolate bar, chopped into chunks (about 1/2 cup chocolate chips/chunks)
- ¼ cup butterscotch chips, plus more as needed
- For topping:
- Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix together the wet ingredients: in a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, brown sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla until well combined and smooth. The mixture should resemble caramel and turn a slightly lighter golden brown color.
- Stir in the dry ingredients: add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt to the bowl with the wet ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir together until well combined.
- Add in mix-ins: stir in the shredded unsweetened coconut, brown rice cereal, pecans, mini marshmallows, dark chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips until well combined. (I suggest reserving a few chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips for adding on top of cookies to make them pretty.)
- Rest the dough: Allow the dough to sit for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature before baking.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to grab dough and drop onto the prepared baking sheet, being sure to place cookies at least 2 inches apart from one another. Do NOT flatten dough balls down. Add a few extra chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips on top of each cookie (1-3 per cookie is good!)
- Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or until slightly golden on the edges. Marshmallows will create some crispy edges if they leak out, which are DELICIOUS.
- Once cookies are done baking, sprinkle them with sea salt. Allow cookies to cool on a baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes 16 to 18 cookies. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
Ohhhh these look amazing!!! Adding to my cookie list
I found the batter a little difficult to stir after adding all the mix-ins, but I just used my (clean!) hands and it worked pretty well to get everything incorporated. I feel like it’s also worth noting, these will not turn out round like your typical cookie! They end up a little wonky, but I promise, they are still delicious. It just adds to the magic. I enjoyed them and will definitely be making them again.
My husband is weird about nuts in baked goods and even he said “these are better than I thought they’d be.” I ended up taking them to work and was showered with compliments about how good they were. Someone said “they really are magic because I feel like I taste something different with each bite.”
Aww this is so great, Katie. Glad these turned out great for you and your husband loved them too!
I made these for our church open mic & cookie night and three people came up to me and said it was the best cookie they’ve ever had! A super hit, definitely a keeper recipe!
Amazing! So happy to hear that.
Amazing recipe! I had to swap the rice cereal for cornflakes and they turned out SO GOOD!
Love that idea! Perfect treat!
These are probably my new favorite cookie! The textures and flavors are so good! Mine came out all wonky due to the marshmallows melting to the side, which didn’t bother me..it just added to the texture, but if I wanted to make them prettier, I might either leave them out or add one on top of the dough ball before going into the oven. Love these!! Thank you for another outstanding recipe!
So glad you loved them! They are meant to be a little messy, but that’s what makes them extra delicious in my opinion 🙂
So good!
Happy you loved them!
Can you substitute the brown rice for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies? Thanks!
Yes! I’ve seen a few readers do this 🙂
10/10. These are fantastic. No critiques. I seriously cannot get enough of them. I made extra so I could keep some in the freezer and have already broken into that stash of them haha. I used vegan marshmallows (dandies and TJ brand) and Rice Krispies instead of brown rice puffs and they worked well.
Perfect! I’m all about freezing extras – best treat to have on hand!
delicious!! i was panic baking and used this recipe as a guide but didn’t have eggs! did a google research and subbed applesauce and it worked like a charm! I also made into bars instead of cookies. I think bc of the applesauce and coconut oil they look and feel not done after baking until they cool and then they’re perfect! Great comfort recipe if you bake in a crisis like i do!!
I’m glad those swapped worked out well!
Stop what you are doing and make These immediately. Hands-down, my favorite cookie of all the new recipes I tried over the holidays!
The best! Glad you loved them!
These are the absolute greatest cookies that have ever been created. I made them for my mom and brother over Christmas and that led to me making them every TWO DAYS because we didn’t want to eat any other sweets. They are the perfect mix of sweet and salty and the texture is amazing. I will make these until the day I die.
So happy to hear that! One of our new favs, too 🙂
These looks amazing! I’m hoping that the batter is supposed to be very thick. I couldn’t stir so I put a glove in and went in meatloaf style! I also am out of coconut oil so trying regular for now. Hoping they come out ok and make it to the Super Bowl party!
Hi! Let me know how they turned out!
I made two batches of these cookies at Christmas and they were a huge hit, Definitely a 5 star rating, I substituted Rice Krispies for the puffed brown rice cereal but otherwise followed the recipe. I’m wondering if I could substitute the chocolate chunks for mini eggs? (the candy coated chocolate ones). I’m thinking this would make a great Easter cookie.
Thanks.
So glad they were a hit! And yes, feel free to swap in your fav chocolate – I would just suggest chopping the mini eggs smaller so that they mix in well.
loaded up with so many yummy textures – so delicious
I made this cake and it was a success beyond my expectation, but I chose chocolate that was a bit bitter, but it didn’t affect the overall look of this cake.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Hi. My hubby has celiac disease and can’t have oats. Can they be subbed with something else?
I can’t recommend a substitute in these – sorry! Try my grain free desserts instead 🙂
These were so good! I left out the crispy rice because I didn’t have any and also used butter instead of coconut oil. They were chewy and delicious. Didn’t have flaky salt but bought some just because you seem to love it! Have made a few of your recipes so far and really like them!
Perfect! So glad you’re finding great recipes here 🙂
HOLY. SHIT. These are the most delicious cookies I’ve ever made. I love a cookie with lots of texture and loaded with add-ins and this checks those boxes and more. Don’t even think about it, just do yourself a favor and make these immediately.
So happy to hear that!!
WOW! Getting ready to go visit my in-laws and wanted to bring my father-in-law a special treat.. He’s the OG Cookie Monster, so I wanted something new and different. My hubby and I aren’t oat eaters. And, I don’t like marshmallows. But, I followed the directions because it’s about my fabulous father-in-law, not me! I COULD NOT STOP EATING THE DOUGH! And, once cooked, they were even tastier! I’m sure I’ll have to make another batch because these won’t make it to departure time! Thanks so much, Monique!
The best!! I hope everyone loves them!
I made these with gluten free flower and they were delicious! I have had several requests to make them again!
So happy to hear that!
It would be helpful if you indicated more or less the size of the dough balls, as I got huge 2-inch balls when I divided up the dough. I switched to a smaller scoop (Zeroll purple ,1.4 Tbsp) and got over 5 dozen cookies. The dough kind of dried out a bit and was getting crumbly for the last two dozens.
They are very tasty but some of them come out too ugly for gifting – more for my husband!
Hi! Whoa! A medium cookie scoop is typically 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of dough. This is what we used, but if you’d like smaller cookies, feel free to do 1 tablespoon (though it might be hard for the marshmallows to fit into such small dough balls 🙂
For years I would make the same cookies around the holidays and I decided to try something new last year and gave this recipe a shot. My husband is OBSESSED with these cookies and say they’re the best cookies he’s ever had. These are officially now a must have at the holiday season for us. I know it sounds like a lot of different flavours – but they all work together so well. Also love that I don’t have to get the standmixer involved for these. 10/10 would recommend this recipe.
Amazing! So happy they were a hit!
Love these cookies! Texture and flavor are a huge hit. Just asking for clarification. When you saw Medium cookie scoop, what size is that? 2Tbsp? 1 oz? I have a ton of scoops and they don’t have labels so unsure if I am baking the intended size
So glad you love them! It should be about 1.5-2 tablespoons — enough for 16 to 18 cookies.
These cookies are literally a drug. I made them for my family once and now it is a constant demand everytime I go home for Christmas. They make me get up off the couch to make these. BE WARNED. If you make them once you will spend the rest of your life making these delicious addicting cookies lol
Haha I’m glad to hear they’re a favorite!!
Hello! Can I freeze these?
Yes!
Can I use butter instead of coconut oil?
That should work!
These are THE best cookies!! So delicious. I’ve been having fun experimenting with the mix ins. The original is astounding, but I’ve also tried replacing chocolate chips with peanut butter chips and yuuuuum. I also found some maple chips and am looking forward to trying that!