Rocky Road Cookie Cups

Halloween. Not a holiday the Hensleys observe much — Betty was Pentecostal and considered Halloween at best frivolous and at worst an invitation to the devil, which meant we didn't trick-or-treat as kids in Evarts, which meant I didn't trick-or-treat with my own kids in Lexington, which means the entire Hensley family has missed out on decades of free candy. Connie thinks this is absurd. Connie also grew up Baptist, which is apparently more candy-friendly, and she bought a bag of Snickers for the neighborhood kids and set them in a bowl on the porch with a hand-written sign that said TAKE TWO, which the first kid interpreted as TAKE TWELVE and the bowl was empty by seven o'clock.

Made chili. Halloween chili — a thing I invented because October nights are cold and candy is not dinner and someone in this house needs to eat an actual meal. My chili, not Connie's: ground beef and ground pork, kidney beans and black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño, chili powder, cumin, oregano, cocoa powder. The cocoa is my addition and Connie called it weird and then ate two bowls. Cocoa gives chili depth, a dark richness that sits underneath the heat and the tomato and makes you taste something you can't name. Betty would have called it foolishness. Betty was wrong about cocoa in chili. She was right about everything else.

Clay carved a pumpkin. Sat on the back porch with a kitchen knife and a pumpkin that Connie bought at Kroger and carved a face that was lopsided and aggressive, which is a decent description of Clay himself these days. He's been going to the outpatient program for three weeks now and the counselor says he's doing the work, which is a phrase therapists use that means he's talking about the things he doesn't want to talk about. Clay put the pumpkin on the front porch and lit a candle inside it and stood back and looked at it and said it looks mean. I said it looks honest. He said same thing. He might be right.

Connie emptied the Snickers bowl by seven o’clock and Clay’s pumpkin was flickering on the porch and the chili was gone, and the night felt like it needed one more thing — something chocolate, something that didn’t apologize for being a little over the top. Rocky Road Cookie Cups were the right call: they’re got the same dark, layered quality the cocoa brings to chili, and they’re just chaotic enough to fit a Halloween that started with a hand-lettered sign being completely ignored by the neighborhood kids. Clay had two. That felt like enough of a win for a Tuesday in October.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 27 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 tube (16 oz) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt

Instructions

Prep the pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or butter.
Form the cups. Divide the cookie dough into 12 equal portions. Press each portion into the bottom and up the sides of each muffin cup to form a shallow shell about 1/4 inch thick.
Bake the shells. Bake for 10—12 minutes, until the edges are set and just beginning to turn golden. The centers will look slightly underdone — that’s correct.
Press the centers. Remove from oven. While still hot, use the back of a small spoon or a rounded teaspoon measure to gently press down the center of each cup, reinforcing the well. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Make the ganache. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream. Stir constantly until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and salt.
Fill the cups. Spoon a generous teaspoon of warm ganache into each cookie cup.
Add the rocky road toppings. Immediately scatter miniature marshmallows and chopped nuts over the ganache in each cup, pressing lightly so they adhere.
Set and serve. Allow cups to cool completely in the pan, about 20 minutes, until the ganache is set. Run a thin knife around the edge of each cup before lifting out. Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Rocky Road Cookie Cups — Halloween Chili Night and the Pumpkin That Looked Like Clay