Hot Chocolate Fluff Cookies (Swedish Mums-Mums)

Directions

1. Make the cookies: In a medium bowl using an electric mixer, beat to combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt; mix until it starts to come together into large crumbs. Use your hands to press it into a dough. Don’t overmix. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until mostly solid, 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 350ºF/ºC with a rack in the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Between two layers of parchment paper, roll the dough out into a ⅛-inch thickness. Use a 2-inch circular cookie cutter to cut the cookies; transfer them to the baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 10 minutes. Let them cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough until you have 20 cookies.
3. Roll out the very last bit of remaining cookie dough, then bake it in one big sheet for 10 minutes. Once cool, break or press it into small crumbs with a little flakey sea salt (you’ll use this as your garnish).
4. Make the meringue: In a medium saucepan, combine ¼ cup of the water, 1 cup of the sugar, and corn syrup; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat until the sugar has dissolved and it reads at least 235ºF on a kitchen thermometer.
5. In the meantime, combine the gelatin powder with the remaining 1 tablespoon of water and set aside. In a very clean bowl using an electric mixer, combine the egg whites, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, and salt; whip until stiff peaks form, 5 to 8 minutes.
6. As soon as the sugar syrup has come to temperature, remove from heat and stir in the gelatin (it will foam briefly). Then, with the mixer on, very slowly pour the syrup into the whipped egg whites. Continue whipping until very stiff peaks for and the side of the bowl feels cool, another 8 to 10 minutes.
7. Remove the bowl from the mixer (if using a stand mixer) and use your blow torch to toast the surface of the fluff in the bowl. Fold in with a spatula. Repeat the process, torching and folding, until the fluff is the desired toastiness. Whip with the electric mixer one final time to combine everything evenly.
8. Assemble the cookies: Fill a piping bag with a round tip (at least ½-inch wide) and pipe onto the cookies (see tip; if you didn’t double the recipe, you’ll have to be careful with how much fluff you pipe onto each). Put them aside for about 30 minutes at room temperature to let them set.
9. In a microwave safe liquid measuring cup or shallow mug, melt the chocolate in 30 second increments (alternatively, melt chocolate first in a double boiler). Stir in the neutral oil.
10. Holding on to the cookie bottom, dip the marshmallow part into the chocolate, leaving a little marshmallow showing between the chocolate and the cookie. Hold above the chocolate for a few seconds, gently wiggling it so that any excess chocolate drizzles off. Place on a parchment lined plate or sheet. Repeat with the remaining.
11. Before the chocolate has time to set, coat half of them with the salted cookie crumbles and sprinkle the remaining half with flakey sea salt. Set aside until the chocolate has hardened, placing them in the fridge to speed the process up, if desired.