I discovered Whippet cookies at a grocery store in Quebec called Maxi. If you've never heard of them, they are similar to Mallomars, with a soft sandy base cookie topped with a big blob of marshmallow and coated all over with chocolate. They are popular in Quebec, and for good reason. Whippet cookies have it all-- varying textures, interesting flavors and an enticing appearance. I couldn't wait to try homemade Whippets, and when I got back to Texas, I ended up making at least five batches using different methods.
Base Cookie
I started with a recipe from Gale Gand from Food TV's website. I made it twice -- first with Gale's cookie base and second with packaged vanilla wafers. Gale's base cookies were crumbly and soft, but a little dryer than I'd hoped, while the packaged cookies worked surprisingly well. Determined to find a good scratch cookie base, I settled on a modified Todd English recipe which includes a little wheat/graham flour, honey and cream. You get the best of both worlds in flavor, taste and texture.
I also experimented with and without the pastry bag and found it was helpful, but not really necessary. With a pastry bag, you have more control over the process and get cookies with a lovely point.
Without it, you get cookies that look more like this.
Close up!
Marshmallow Topping
For me, making the marshmallow topping was definitely the most exciting part of this recipe because up until last week, I'd never done it. For the first couple of batches, I used Gale Gand's marshmallow topping which was included with original cookie recipe. It tasted great, but the marshmallow mixture kept coming out gloppy. So next, I tried David Lebovitz's marshmallow recipe and it worked perfectly. So for my final recipe, I used a modified version of David's recipe for the filling.
Chocolate Coating
After making marshmallows, the most interesting part of the recipe was the coating. I was dreading the dipping process because I could picture the marshmallows falling off or melting right into the chocolate, but what happened was they held together perfectly and dipping was actually quite fun! I improved my dipping skills dramatically and brushed up on tempering by using a great tutorial from Chef Eddy, who also introduced me to the idea of buying food grade cocoa butter.
Final Homemade Whippet Cookie Clone
So this is the recipe I came up with in the end. The base is a wheat and honey cookie from Todd English, the marshmallow topping is adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe and the coating is whatever chocolate you can afford. I'd love to hear your variations and modifications. I will also mention that I tried using Alton Brown's Vanilla Wafer recipe as a base as well as an old soft, sour cream Amish recipe. Gale and Todd's recipes came out on top, as the others were either too sweet or too hard. After Gale and Todd's recipes, I'd say packaged Nilla Wafers were the third best choice. Still, you could have a lot of fun matching cookie bases to marshmallow in this recipe. I'm thinking peanut butter for the next round....
Recipe
Homemade Whippet Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 ¾ cups 7.9 oz all-purpose flour** (221 grams)
- ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (78 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅜ teaspoon baking soda
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (140 grams)
- ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar (40 grams)
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (32 grams)
- 2 tablespoons beaten egg (24 grams)
- 2 tablespoons honey (40 grams)
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream (14 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Marshmallow Topping
- 2 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 envelope gelatin (2 ½ teaspoons) (7 grams), knox brand
- ¼ cup + 8 teaspoons cold water
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons light corn syrup (45 grams)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pound good quality tempered chocolate plus 1 tablespoon of shortening or cocoa butter or coconut oil.
Instructions
- Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
- In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with the confectioners' sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, followed by the honey, cream and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms.
- Pat the dough into a ¼ inch thick (thinner, if you prefer) slab on large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Chill for at least 30 minutes or until very firm. Dough starts out very soft, so chilling is necessary.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Using a 1 or 2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out about 30 rounds (you'll get more with the smaller cutter). Arrange on two large cookie sheets and bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 10 minutes or until the bottoms are nicely browned. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.
- Prepare the marshmallow. Fit a large pastry bag with a ½ inch round tip.
- Put the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Put ¼ cup of water in a small bowl and sprinkle the packet of gelatin over it. Stir well.
- In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 8 teaspoons of water, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Using medium heat, heat without stirring until a candy thermometer registers 240 degrees (soft ball stage).
- While the syrup heats, beat the eggs with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. If eggs form peaks before syrup reaches 240, stop the mixer. When the syrup hits 240 degrees, turn the mixer back on and pour syrup into the egg whites in a thin stream. Use a rubber scraper to make sure you get it all.
- Scrape the gelatin into the still-hot saucepan and stir it so that it thins and dissolves from the residual heat. Add it to the mixer while it is still going. Add the vanilla and keep on beating for 5 minutes or until bowl feels cool and mixture is thick enough to pipe. Pipe mounds of marshmallow on top of the cookies and let the marshmallow topped cookies sit on a rack for at least two hours. After the two hours have passed, you can move on to dipping OR you can freeze the cookies and dip them when convenient.
- For dipping, use your favorite method. I recommend tempering the chocolate, but that takes practice. Temper the chocolate if you know how, or just melt the chocolate and fat in a double boiler. Dunk each cookie one by one in chocolate and lift with two forks, letting chocolate run down the sides. Set on a rack that you’ve placed over a sheet of foil or parchment to catch drips.
Anna says
Yes! They freeze very well.
phyllis says
loved reading the comments and loved the info you give.
Can these be frozen for later eating?
thanks
Anna says
Hi Brooklyn,
I'm sorry it took me a day to get back to you. I somehow missed the comment. But yes, definitely go ahead and use whole wheat or even white whole wheat flour. Or you could do what I did and just use Oreos :). I just posted the Oreo version this morning. It saves a lot of time, but of course Oreos make it a whole different cookie. Vanilla wafer type cookies also work.
Brooklyn says
Hello ^-^ Could I use regular whole wheat flour instead of graham, or will it make too much of a difference? I can't find graham flour anywhere. 🙁
Anna says
Hi Madeline,
I've seen a lot of vegan marshmallow recipes so you could probably make one of those recipes and combine it with a vegan cookie. Sounds like a fun project!
Madeline Bellmore says
Hi!
I absolutely love whippets and my sister really wants to try them but she is vegetarian. Is there an alternative way to make the marshmallow?
Anna says
Hi Joanna,
Thanks for the comment! I really love these cookies, but they are a lot of work. Next time I'll definitely try your weighing and pinching off method. Didn't know they were called Chocolate Royals in Australia.
Joanna says
Thanks for the great recipe. These are called Chocolate Royals in Australia but as I live in Japan now I'll just have to make my own.
I added a layer of jam(strawberry/cassis) and increased the marshmallow recipe by half. And I used half the amount of chocolate as I didn't completely did them- just drizzled the chocolate over the top. Didn't look as nice but still tasted great.
The other thing I did was not roll and cut out the dough. Instead I weighed all the dough, divided that by the number of cookies (30). I pinched off pieces of dough, shaped them into balls and pressed them flat with the base of a glass.
Sheila Tupper says
I grew up on Newfoundland and was plagued with dreams of cookies I love when I was a little girl. It turned out that those cookies were Whippets. Sadly, they are almost impossible to get in Central Florida, so I was thrilled to see your recipe for making them at home. I plan to add a raspberry layer like those I loved so much. Thank you for giving us this recipe.
Anna says
Hi Alex, thanks for the review! I love them too. They are a lot of work, but they seem worth it in the end because of all the interesting flavors and textures coming together. Since I made these last, I tried a few other marshmallow topping recipes and still think this one's the best. I'm so glad you liked them, too.
Alex Coppe says
Thank you so much for sharing that amazing recipe!!! I adore anything whippet (the dogs, not the cookies) and really wanted to like the cookies when I first saw them in the store but they didn't do it for me. I just made yours and I have to say I absolutely LOVE them, they might just be my new favorite cookie!!!!
Carol says
As a lifelong Montrealer, I think "wildly popular" is wildly overstating it.
I'm sure the homemade ones are delicious, although I would prefer them made with "unauthentic" dark chocolate, but I have never bought them and don't know anyone who does. Although I can't speak for the rest of Quebec, I think most Montrealers' tastes are a tad more sophisticated these days.
Holiday Baker Man says
Tasty little bits of joy!
Anna says
Megan, thanks for trying them!!!! I'm glad you liked the recipe.
Megan S says
Homemade versions taste so much better than store bought. I made some with peanut butter and some with raspberry jam between the marshmallow layer and cookie. I really love the taste of your version - my family wanted me to make more once they finished the batch.
Angela says
I love these things. I will probably just buy them, but wow yours look good.
[email protected] says
Stellar post, Anna! I just made and posted s'more whoopie pies and have leftover graham flour just begging to be used. These are just the ticket! I'm sitting here drinking a cup of tea and wish I had one of these beauties to go along with it.
Anna says
I'm going to make another round with preserves and peanut butter under the marshmallow. Thanks for the tip!
Jane King says
When I have bought similar cookies in the past, some of them have a thin layer of raspberry or apricot jam between the biscuit and the marshmallow. It makes a huge difference: eliminates that "dry" taste.
Rebecca says
Love this type of cookie! There was a similar one featured on the American Baking Competition a few weeks ago that I'd like to try too.
stephanie says
Your testing is incredible (and appreciated!) What do you think about a little peanut butter (maybe sweetened up, maybe not) or Nutella between the cookie and marshmallow. Would it separate?
Kim F says
These look amazingly good!
Joanne says
We call them chocolate teacakes in the UK - they are a classic tea time treat and we also add some jam between the biscuit layer & the marshmallow 🙂
They are also made by a Scottish firm and known as Tunnocls teacakes - my Nan used to buy them for us when we were little
Isabelle A. says
I hope you enjoyed your stay in La Belle Province! Whippets are a favourite of mine and when I was pregnant with my second daughter I had a big craving for them. Especially the ones with strawberry jam between the cookie and the marshmallow part. Yummy! I'll have to try you recipe for homemade ones to see how they compare! 😉
Anna says
Lisa, I tried to make a few moon pies but decided that the ratio of cookie to other things was too high.
lisaiscooking says
I attempted a homemade moon pie recipe for the 4th of July which didn't work out so well. Now, I'm determined to make a successful cookie with a marshmallow filling! This sounds like a great combination of parts.