Over the past few months, as I’ve been thinking of Swedish recipes to develop, one specific cookie kept coming to mind: “mums-mums” or “grädbullar”, directly translated into my words as marshmallow fluff cookies or cream balls. Imagine a fluffy marshmallow filling piped onto a thin wafer biscuit, then dipped in chocolate and coated in unsweetened coconut. I’ve been toying with the idea of making them for a while now, but have hesitated because I wasn’t sure how to replicate the marshmallow’s texture exactly the way I remember it.
I’ve made both marshmallows and fluff before, but I wanted the consistency to be soft and cloud-like, but still stable enough to hold its shape. Oftentimes, marshmallows can be chewy with a slight bite, and fluff has less structure and melts away in your mouth quickly. Because of the many different components and how precise the recipe is, I was worried they’d be too complicated for people to want to make at home. So, when I decided to move forward with them, my main goal was to simplify the recipe and make it feel less intimidating. With that being said, I strongly believe that our audience enjoys a challenge and a baking project ever so often.
If you haven’t already heard me talk about this a thousand times, in Sweden, we enjoy fika–daily snack breaks around 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. where people gather with coworkers, friends, or family (or if you’re having a little work-from-home day like myself, there’s nothing wrong with having fika alone). Growing up, my grandma would often bring home a box of these cookies, which are about the size of a tennis ball but shaped like a cone. Sometimes we’d share, but as kids, we usually got our own. They weren’t always my favorite (I usually went for the ultra fluffy, sweet cardamom buns or piece of cake), but I loved how fun they were to eat. They’re also available in a smaller size at scoop shops around Scandinavia, where the appropriate ice cream order would be a scoop or two of ice cream, whipped cream, strawberry jam, and a cream ball. Indulgent, yes, but worth it if you get a chance? A hundred and two percent.
Because wafer cookies can be hard to find (and because they’re a pain to make), I made a simple Swedish gingerbread cookie as the base, which worked great from the start. At first, the marshmallow was too soft, then the second batch used too much gelatin which made the texture too firm. After tweaking it—reducing gelatin and adjusting corn syrup—I achieved a consistency I was happy with: soft, fluffy, and stable.
Dipping the cookies in chocolate presented another challenge. Tempering chocolate can be tricky and time-consuming, so I skipped that step. To create a thin, even chocolate later, I thinned the melted chocolate with a tablespoon or two of neutral oil. Coconut oil works too, but I prefer the former for its lack of flavor. Once dipped, I placed the cookies in the fridge for 20 minutes to help the chocolate set. I do this to help the chocolate set quickly, but don’t worry, it still stays solid at room temperature.
This specific recipe was very holiday forward, but you can swap the warm spices out with vanilla extract, and coat the dipped cookies in unsweetened coconut instead of cookie crumbs for an evergreen and more traditional look. They do require some precision, but they’re a fun baking project that is low-effort, and high reward.
Have you tried cookies like this before? Let me know in the comments!
English (US) · 