July Daring Bakers' Challenge – Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies (or as I know them, Whippets)

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The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.


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This being my first Daring Bakers Challenge, I decided to bake only one of the two cookies. I chose the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies (or as they are known in French Canada – Whippets) as I wanted to bake a treat for my grandpa.

Growing up, I remember spending a few days at my grandparents’ house in the summer... My grandpa was a farmer and he’d come in for lunch but on his way back out into the fields, he’d grab a handful of Whippets from a yellow Tupperware container in the pantry… Ahhh, memories… :)



Anyhoo, back to the Whippets! Formal instructions are below but here’s the process as experienced by my hubby and I.

First step was mixing and chilling the dough, then cutting and baking the cookies. I don’t think we rolled the dough thin enough – our cookies ended up puffing up slightly when baking and being a bit thicker than I would have preferred but they were still good. One thing to note - the cookie dough recipe yielded a ton of cookies! Seriously, I think we ended up with about 6 dozen 1.5” cookies; however we only had enough marshmallow to cover about 4 dozen cookies. But no worries, I’m sure the leftovers will be delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. Plain, they remind me a bit of biscotti – crumbly, neutral flavour with just a hint of cinnamon.





Second step was making and piping the marshmallow. Steve took care of the corn syrup mixture while I took care of the egg whites. He used a candy thermometer and so didn’t worry about the consistency of the syrup (aka: “soft ball stage”). It took a while after we incorporated the syrup and the egg whites for the marshmallow to fluff up. After 3 minutes full speed with the stand mixer the mixture still seemed heavy to me and I was getting worried but after a few more minutes and it magically fluffed up. Success! :) Steve and I hurried to pipe the marshmallow on the cookies before it hardened. I piped an outer ring on the cookie, Steve followed piping strawberry jam in the center and I finished by adding a marshmallow cap on top of the jam. We then left the cookies the sit for 2 hours to allow to marshmallow to settle.



Third step was dipping the cookies in chocolate. Important note - we doubled the chocolate suggested in the recipe and still didn’t have enough to cover the 4 dozen marshmallow topped cookies (though we came close)! But for sure, you’ll need to double the chocolate. Anyhoo… Steve looked up and followed instructions to temper chocolate and, as per recipe, we added a few tablespoons of oil to the chocolate. We used canola oil instead of vegetable oil but I don’t think that should matter right? We ended up using a spoon to dip the cookies in chocolate. That process was a lot less messy than I expected it to be. We then set the covered cookies on wax paper to cool and harden. After two hours, the chocolate was still very soft. The next morning, the chocolate looked hard but softened immediately to the touch. Not sure what we did wrong?! The cookies were very good to the taste but the soft chocolate coating sure made them very messy!



This recipe was very labour intensive and I sure hope my grandpa will enjoy his treat. Though the cookies are very delicious, I’m not sure they’re worth the effort but I’m proud to say I conquered my first Daring Bakers Challenge!





Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 tablespoons butter
3 eggs, whisked together
Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with cling film or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup and sugar; bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.