I have spent the last year almost exclusively working on super simple baking and whilst that has been a nice change of pace I have missed the opportunity to play around and experiment with more complex recipes, which I oddly always find most enjoyable, maybe it’s the challenge or the sense of achievement when the recipe works out? Todays recipe falls slightly in the middle of those two styles, its definitely not the easiest of recipes but also each element used isn’t itself difficult to make, its just a longer than normal process, but a process well worth attempting. 

Now before we get to the recipe I need to talk a little about the origin, not for any seo reasons or to get better google rankings, but to answer some cultural questions. When I posted an image of these treats whilst I was working on the recipe people from all over the world thought I was making something for their country, often a treat they grew up with. This meant people thought they were Flødeboller from Denmark, Tunnocks Tea Cakes from the UK, Mallowmars from the US, Schokokuss from Germany and so on and so on. My version is most in common with a Krembo made at Tatte Bakery in Boston, in the US, which is an Israeli owned business. They do however differ from a traditional Krembo in the flavours present in the cookie and in the marshmallow and are very similar to all of the above cookies so you could in good faith refer to them by any of those names. I call them Krembos as that is cookie I was inspired by directly. 

Interestingly, at least to a baking nerds like me, it is actually hard to track down exactly where this style of cookie comes from. The oldest commercial versions I can find are Whippets from Montreal which were first marketed in 1901, although it seems likely they had an origin story before that. German Schokokuss were first commercially made in 1920 but can be traced back at least to 1829 and they themselves supposedly originated in Denmark in the early 1800’s. The truth of the original marshmallow and chocolate covered cookie may not be crystal clear but it seems likely that the versions we know today are somewhat related. 

Cookie Butter Krembos
Makes 15

Hazelnut Sable Cookies
140g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g caster sugar
1 large egg
280g plain flour
100g chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Filling
250g speculoss/biscoff cookie butter
3 large egg whites
240g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Coating
500g dark or milk chocolate (I used a dark milk chocolate with 60% cocoa solids)
50g coconut oil
Cocoa nibs, for garnish

For the cookie dough you may recognise the recipe as it is based on Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Punitions' (the famed cookie from Poilane bakery in Paris) from her brilliant book Paris Sweets, with a simple hazelnut twist. To make the dough place the butter into a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and pulse until evenly combined. Add the egg and pulse to combine. Scrape the food processor down and add the flour, hazelnuts and salt and pulse just until starting to come together. The dough should look like a crumble but when squeezed together should hold together as a dough. 

Tip the mixture out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring together as a uniform dough. Cut into two pieces and press into discs. Wrap one disc in clingfilm and refrigerate or freeze for another time or use. You can also bake that dough off as simple and delicious hazelnut butter cookies.Place the other half of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out until about 5mm thick. Slide this slab of cookie dough onto a baking tray and refrigerate for an hour or until firm. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Remove from the fridge and cut out as many 6cm round cookies as possible before re-rolling the scraps to get to 15. Place the cookies onto a parchment lined baking tray and bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove and set aside to cool. 

Scrape the cookie butter into a disposable piping bag, squeeze and massage a little to soften the butter then snip off the end of the bag and pipe a small mound of the butter into the middle of each cookie. Place the cookies into the freezer whilst you make the meringue. For the Swiss meringue topping place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into a large bowl and set over a pan of simmering water and gently stir until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and use an electric mixer to whisk on high speed until cool and holding stiff peaks. Add the vanilla and whisk to combine. 

Scrape the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip. Carefully pipe meringue onto the cookies, holding the tip close to the cookie butter so that it envelopes the cookie butter and meets the cookie. Whilst still piping lift the tip of the bag slightly and pipe a small mound of meringue onto the mound below, lifting again to pipe a final smaller mound, giving a look of a snowman. Repeat with all of the cookies and then transfer the Krembo’s to the freezer for at least an hour before the next step. At this point the Krembos can be frozen for at least a week.

For the chocolate coating melt together the chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Pour the chocolate into a small container that is deeper than the Krembo’s but wide enough for them to be dipped in easily. Set aside for about 30 minutes for the chocolate to cool. 

Remove the Krembo’s from the freezer and one at a time dip into the chocolate mixture. Let the excess chocolate drip back into the container and then set onto a piece of parchment and sprinkle with cocoa nibs before the chocolate has a chance to set. Once all dipped store in the fridge. 

The chocolate mixture makes more than you need but it is hard to dip making any less. You can cut the recipe in half and simply pour the chocolate if you prefer. Any extra chocolate coating can be used as magic shell topping for ice cream, it will set hard as soon as poured on cold ice cream. 

Kept refrigerated these will keep for roughly 3-4 days.