Homemade Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies aka Viva Puffs

Recipe taken and adapted from here

When I was younger one of my favourite treats were Viva Puffs. You remember those cookies right? The one's that aren't really cookies, they're just pure sugar and delish? With a beautiful brown crumbly base crust, with either a jam, chocolate, or peppermint mound topped with a really fake tasting marshmallow (but in this case isn't a bad thing), then coated with the perfect chocolate crust. Just thinking of these brings back so many childhood memories. I loved these, I really did. I would poke the chocolate encasing and break it into really tiny pieces, I would then slowly eat the broken bits of chocolate, uncover them all until only the marshmallow was showing. I would then continue my Viva Puff adventure by sucking in the marshmallow and gobbling that down. Then I would be left with the base of the Viva Puff and I would simply eat that as I would any other cookie, or how any civilized human should of eaten their Viva Puff in the first place...

When I got Martha Stewart's "Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies" in my e-mail I seriously felt a huge jolt of excitement. I was so overcome with joy that I could have my cake and eat it too. I feel so guilty buying cookies now, I don't know why, other than, I just don't know what some of the ingredients are and to me, they just shouldn't be in my system regardless of how much I really do love them.

I had been putting this cookie aside because I knew if I were to make them they would all disappear, and by myself alone. However, once I started this job, I knew I would have guinea pigs and people to give my baking too. The other night I decided as one of my "going away" baked goods I was going to bake up a batch of these. They really were fun to make, I was considering going all out and whipping up a batch of homemade marshmallows, but now I know what people mean when they say, "there just aren't enough hours in a day". I know that makes me sound like such a grandma, but hey, after working twelve hour days I feel as though I'm allowed to say that.

With their not being enough hours in a day I just ended up using Jet Puff marshmallows. These were such a fun cookie to make, which also resulted in such a fun cookie to eat! While the bases of these cookies were baking, they seriously smelt like graham crackers. They gave off the same sweet smell with beautiful hues of toffee and nut. They even looked like graham crackers, probably because that's what it technically was. The marshmallow baking resulted in an even sweeter aroma in the air. I decided since I had some of the cardamom ganache leftover from my saffron macarons that I would top some of the marshmallows with dollops of ganache. Ugh, yeah, hello, this made them go from awesome, to astounding, to divine, to heavenly. They were really good, and let me tell you, these bad boys disappeared like candy. People who weren't even fans of marshmallow gobbled them down. I was really pleased with myself. These are definitely a great party treat, or treat for children, or anyone who is still a child at heart, go on, have yourself a homemade Viva Puff, you deserve it!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for working
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 tbsp packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 9 large marshmallows, halved
• 9 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• Cardamom buttercream - if desired to put underneath marshmallows, or you could even put chocolate syrup or any jams
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on high, scraping down bowl as needed, until light, 4 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat until combined.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls, 3 inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. With the bottom of a measuring cup dipped in flour, flatten cookies to 2 inches in diameter. Bake until dry and set, about 7 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove from oven and top each cookie with a marshmallow half. Bake until marshmallows are soft, 2 minutes.
Remove from oven and, with a metal spatula, gently flatten each marshmallow. Let cookies cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted, 2 minutes. Remove bowl from pan. Place one cookie at a time on tines of a fork (below), submerge in chocolate, then tap fork on edge of bowl to remove excess. Place on wire rack set over a baking sheet. Let cookies set in refrigerator, about 10 minutes.

Don't forget to crackle the top and suck the marshmallow ;)