Whippet Cookies
© Denzil Green
Whippets are commercially made cookies that popular in Quebec.
Each cookie consists of a crunchy round biscuit bottom, topped with a splodge of marshmallow, then coated in pure chocolate.
The original is just that: no added jam layer, or anything. Other varieties, however, are now available: Black Forest, Strawberry, Milk Chocolate, Raspberry, Cherry and Milk Chocolate (as of 2007.)
Each cookie weighs about ½ oz (15 g.)
They are made year round, but are relatively unknown outside Quebec because they don’t ship well. The pure chocolate used as the coating melts easily, and the hard shell it forms on the cookie can burst if placed in cargo sections of planes. They are, though, being sold in Toronto as of 2006.
They are sold in most grocery stores throughout Quebec, where they are the second best selling cookie nationally.
Tunnock’s Teacakes, Mallomar Cookies, Whippet Cookies, Moonpies and Krembos are quite similar. Whippets are the longest-made of these.
Nutrition FactsPer 30 gAmountCalories130Fat4.5 gCarbohydrate21 gProtein1 g
History Notes
Whippets were created in 1901 in Montreal by the Viau company, owned by Charles-Theodore Viau. He first took samples to a hockey game and passed them around, to see how people liked them.
They were first sold under the name of “Empire” cookies. Around 1927, they changed the name to “Whippet,” and changed the ingredients, so that the cookie could be sold at a cheaper price to more people.
They have been made by Dare since 2001, who bought them from Culinar, which had bought Viau.
Sources
Rakobowchuk, Peter. Decadent cookie played role in history of Montreal. Canadian Press. Appearing in: Guelph, Ontario: Guelph Mercury. 31 October 2007.