While whipped farina certainly has its limitations, it turns out that making a fluffy, if relatively airy and delicate, marshmallow creme to be piped on vanilla cookies and covered in chocolate is not among them. To offset the effort of making the creme at home, we went for convenience in the base cookie by grabbing a bag of Mi-Del brand vanilla snaps from the grocery.
We made our creme with Young's Double Chocolate Stout for a St. Patrick's Day gathering, which dramatically deepens the chocolate flavor in the finished treat. A lighter, more traditional vanilla mallomar can be made by simply replacing the beer with water. For yet another variation, you can double down on the lemon note in the creme by replacing the vanilla snaps with Mi-Del brand lemon snaps and garnish with lemon zest before the chocolate sets.
Vegan Double Chocolate Stout (or Vanilla or Lemon) Mallomars
makes 30-36 cookes, depending on how much creme you pipe on ; marshmallow creme adapted from here
2 tsp agar powder
3 TBSP cold water
juice of 1 lemon, plus enough chocolate stout beer (or water) to yield a total of 1 1/2 cups liquid (about 1 1/4 cups of beer--we used Young's Double Chocolate Stout) [Note: reserve the lemon zest for garnish if you're making the lemon variation.]
1/4 cup wheat farina (Cream of Wheat brand cereal)
1 cup natural cane sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
about 3 dozen Mi-Del brand vanilla (or lemon) snaps
10 oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces (we used 71% Equal Exchange brand)
1 tsp vegetable oil
Combine the agar and cold water in a small bowl and set aside.
Bring the lemon juice and beer to a boil, whisk in the farina, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking, until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Transfer the hot mixture carefully to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip on medium for two minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 10 minutes. It will have increased in volume and greatly lightened in color.
Meanwhile, whisk together the sugar and 1/4 cup water and heat until it reaches 235 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and agar sludge. Add the syrup to the whipped farina and whip for another 2 minutes on medium-high, until fluffy. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for 30 minutes.
Layer a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper and lay the cookies out on it.
When the creme has chilled, transfer to a piping bag and top each cookie with about 1 TBSP of creme, or to your liking. Let the cookies sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours to let the creme set onto the cookies.
When ready to coat, gently melt the chocolate in a double broiler and stir in the oil. Place one cookie in the pot with the chocolate, spoon chocolate over the top to coat and remove with a fork, letting excess chocolate drip back into the pot. Return the coated cookie to the paper-lined cookie sheet and repeat with remaining cookies. Store in fridge to let the chocolate set. Remove from fridge half an hour before serving.