Homemade Fudge Rounds

Name: Homemade Fudge Rounds
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 9 sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 cup (4.5 ounces) all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon fine salt; 10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 1 large egg; 1 tablespoon corn syrup; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted; 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted; 2 tablespoons warm water; 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips; 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

29 Comments

Homemade Fudge Rounds taste just like the packaged ones but even BETTER because they're less artificial but just as chewy, fudgy, soft, and chocolaty.

29 Comments

Yield: 9 sandwiches

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes

Homemade Fudge Rounds taste just like the packaged ones but even BETTER because they're less artificial but just as chewy, fudgy, soft, and chocolaty.

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Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Just like the packaged ones just with a more light sweetness.
Texture: Ultra chewy, fudgy, and soft. Perfect.
Ease: Very easy – you’ll just dirty a few bowls.
Appearance: So adorable and just like the packaged ones!
Pros: Improved from scratch version of a favorite childhood treat.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Oh yeah.

As a kid there were many packaged treats I loved. Cosmic Brownies. Nutter Butters. Fudge Rounds. Now I’ve already recreated the cosmic brownie recipe with stellar results so it seemed only fitting that I move on to Fudge Rounds. Actually, I had all but forgotten that Fudge Rounds existed until shopping at Target during this recent back-to-school season. All the end caps were piled high with packaged treats for lunch boxes and it inspired me to tackle some more copycat / homemade / from scratch versions. Which sweet snack was your favorite? Any recipe requests?!

Homemade Fudge Rounds taste just like the packaged ones but even BETTER because they're less artificial but just as chewy, fudgy, soft, and chocolaty.

Luckily Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen had already done much of the hard work in recreating this treat. I used the recipe she’s shared as a base and made a few additional tweaks to ensure the chewiest, fudgiest, softest cookies possible that actually tasted like chocolate and not pure artificial sweetness. Most importantly, that meant adding in a dash of cornstarch and a helping of corn syrup. Now if you don’t fancy corn based ingredients you can totally leave them out. What they do in this recipe and in the packaged version (I checked the ingredient list to make these as accurate as possible with pronounceable ingredient names!) is provide extra chew and softness. They’re kind of like secret powerhouse ingredients!

How to make

Homemade Fudge Rounds

Yield: 9 sandwiches

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Homemade Fudge Rounds taste just like the packaged ones but even BETTER because they're less artificial but just as chewy, fudgy, soft, and chocolaty.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

1 cup (4.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling:

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons warm water

For the chocolate stripes:

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions

For the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg, corn syrup, and vanilla.
On low speed gradually add in the flour mixture. Beat until combined. Dough will be slightly sticky.
Drop 1 1/2 tablespoon balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets and bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Remove baking sheets to cooling racks to cool for five minutes. Remove cookies to the rack to cool completely.

For the filling:

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and beat on low until just combined. Add water and beat on medium high speed for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Pipe or spread filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Gently press another cookie on top of the filling.

For the chocolate stripes:

For the stripes, microwave the chocolate chips and oil in a microwave safe bowl, stirring every 15 seconds, until smooth. Remove the chocolate to a squeeze bottle or ziptop bag and snip a small hole. Drizzle over chocolate in a striped pattern. Refrigerate just until chocolate is set. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Best served at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

Recipe by Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

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All Comments Questions I Made This

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Patty K — September 4, 2015 at 10:02 am

The filling looks so amazing and fluffy!

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Gaby Dalkin — September 5, 2015 at 5:41 am

Isn’t it scary all the ingredients we can’t pronounce in processed snacks?! love your recreations

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Addison — September 5, 2015 at 4:22 pm

Homemade versions of childhood faves is my jam. Do you remember those Little Debbie pumpkin delights? The fall season is just around the corner, so i would LOVE if tried to recreate those.

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  Tessa — September 6, 2015 at 11:49 am
  
  Ooh! I’ve never had those! I’ll have to give them a try and see what I can come up with 🙂
  
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Jennifer — September 7, 2015 at 7:58 pm

Hi Tessa – do you know what granulated sugar is called in Australia please – normal white sugar or caster sugar (finer) which is usually used in baking? Thanks.

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Jennifer — September 7, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Sorry – with the 1/2 tsp vanilla – is this extract or bean?

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Kristina — September 10, 2015 at 7:10 am

Those brand names don’t say anything to me (not from US), but those peactures are saying a lot, “please eat me now” being one of them. These treats look awesome!

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  Tessa — September 10, 2015 at 4:31 pm
  
  Haha! Glad to hear it 🙂
  
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Kristina — September 10, 2015 at 7:11 am

*pictures

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Stephanie — September 14, 2015 at 4:28 am

Oh wow! I used to love Nutter Butters, Nutty Bars, and Nutty Buddies. Hmmm… I’m sensing a theme here. Also, Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars and the cookies called Fudge Fancies that they don’t make anymore! Oh, so good!

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  Tessa — September 14, 2015 at 2:00 pm
  
  Hahaha 🙂
  
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kris — January 31, 2016 at 10:37 am

Is there a substitution that could be used for the egg? A friend’s little boy loves fudge rounds but just discovered is allergic to egg..

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  Tessa — February 2, 2016 at 6:21 pm
  
  Hi Kris! I’m sorry but I have yet to discover a good sub for egg in cookies like this 🙁
  
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Sarah S — February 5, 2016 at 1:39 pm

Your homemade Fudge Rounds look EXACTLY like the real deal!! When I first saw the photo I thought it was a packaged one but then quickly said to myself, no way she is one of the best blogger/baker/cook out there, no way she would do that!!! ? I can’t wait to makes these this weekend! Husband and 2 teen boys LOVE fudge rounds but I only purchase once in a great while because of all the junk in them!!! Thanks! I would love to see a homemade version of Zebra Cakes, my favorite treat!

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  Tessa — February 6, 2016 at 8:14 pm
  
  Haha! Thank you so much, Sarah! Will add Zebra Cakes to the list 🙂
  
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Raiisa — February 12, 2016 at 9:24 am

Hi!! Thank you so much for this recipe, I just made this and it tastes diviiiiine!!!!! After trying your recipe for these fudge rounds, I am dying to try a recipe you come up with for oatmeal cookies or swiss rolls!!

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test — February 15, 2016 at 11:42 pm

lookie here

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Lexi — April 22, 2016 at 7:22 pm

I just made these for a bake-off hosted by a fraternity at my university, and I won first place! Thank you for the delicious recipe. I know I can always count on your recipes!

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  Tessa — April 23, 2016 at 8:01 am
  
  Awesome, Lexi! So thrilled to hear it 🙂
  
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Lori — April 25, 2016 at 9:38 am

Hi! I was very excited to find this recipe and immediately went out and purchased the ‘corn syrup’ mentioned in the ingredients. As I went to make them today I noticed the directions say ‘cornstarch’. Which one is real ingredient? Lol thank you in advance for this recipe!

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Lori — April 25, 2016 at 9:40 am

Never mind I see my mistake!

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Sally Williams — April 30, 2016 at 1:11 pm

I live in a higher altitude area and when I made your double round cookies I decrease like I’m supposed to and they went completely flat any suggestions

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Ela — August 4, 2016 at 8:57 pm

I have a big family, can I double the recipe? Do I just double everything including the cornstarch, corn syrup, baking soda, etc., wouldn’t it affect the final product? Thanks.

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avon4deb — November 3, 2016 at 7:14 am

You use cocoa powder and unsweetened cocoa powder. I didn’t know there were different kinds. Will it say that on the container?

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Amy — December 20, 2016 at 6:15 pm

Two questions:

1. Can I use coconut oil instead of butter? I need to bake non-dairy, and because of other food intolerances, Crisco, margarine, and Earth Balance are all no longer options.

2. Instead of the filling you use, can I use ganache? I need to make ganache for another recipe, but will almost surely have too much of it leftover. It seems like it would make a good filling for a sandwich cookie, but I want to be sure.

Thanks!

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Khanh Trinh — January 5, 2017 at 5:26 pm

Hi Tessa,
Could you tell me which corn syrup did you use? Light one ordark one? Or it doesn’t matter which one. Thank you

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Kelly — March 30, 2017 at 12:59 pm

I made these for my husband’s birthday this past weekend and OH MY GOODNESS THEY ARE AMAZING! He has to eat gluten free, so I used Pamela’s gluten free flour blend as the flour. Additionally, I used raw cacao as the cocoa powder and maple syrup instead of corn syrup. THANK YOU for this recipe – I’m pretty sure we all heard angels singing as we ate them. 😉

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  Tessa — March 31, 2017 at 8:27 am
  
  So glad you were able to make this recipe work!
  
  Reply
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Melissa — August 9, 2018 at 6:58 am

Beautiful cookies, came out exactly as described. Only thing i would suggest is cutting sugar in either the filling or the cookies. It was a strong blast of sugar that went right to our heads, which i feel took away from the 3 unique flavors of the fudgy cookies, light buttery filling, and milk chocolate drizzle. Kind of merged into one strong laser beam of sweetness

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