Marshmallow Fascination

At the beginning of the year I made a few important resolutions instead of the usual 1000. One of which was to take more risks in all aspects of my life -- including in the kitchen. Thus I have ventured in the kitchen to try croissants and now thee fluffy marshmallow.

I had always imagined that marshmallows were out of the realm of the normal home-kitchen. But one day while flipping through one of my favorite culinary sites I caught out of the corner of my eye a recipe for marshmallows and thus began the marshmallow challenge. In truth making marshmallows was pretty easy (even the clean up was not bad). Really, the worst part was waiting for the marshmallows to set and boiling the sugar mixture which was sounded scary in the recipe.

The resulting marshmallows were quite satisfactory and in our humble opinion the recipe bears repeating. Junior and I gilded the lily by dipping the marshmallow in Valrhona milk chocolate thinned out with butter as per the recommendation on one of the sites I consulted.


Next time we'll dip the marshmallows in the chocolate without butter so that the chocolate adds a snap to the marshmallow. The thinned out Valrhona never quite set-up so the dipped marshmallow remained a bit sticky and messy to eat. The following is the recipe we followed is from a great blog called Baking Bites. Click on my marshmallows (Sounds a bit obscene doesn't it?) for more marshmallow creation pictures.





Yummy Marshmallows
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup cold water, divided
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup powdered sugar




Preparation
Coat a 13x9 dish with nonstick spray. Pour 1/2 cup cold water into bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand until gelatin softens and absorbs water, at least 15 minutes.

Combine 2 cups sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup cold water in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush (I never brushed down the sides). Attach candy thermometer to the side of pan (This was the scariest part -- I was sure the thermometer was going to crack-- rest assured it didn't.). Increase heat and bring syrup to boil. Boil, without stirring, until syrup reaches 240°F, about 8 minutes.

With mixer running at low speed, slowly pour hot syrup into gelatin mixture in thin stream down side of bowl (avoid pouring syrup onto whisk, as it may splash). Gradually increase speed to high and beat until mixture is very thick and stiff, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla and beat to blend, about 30 seconds longer.

Lightly spray a spatula with cooking spray. Scrape marshmallow mixture into prepared pan with spatula and smooth top. Let stand uncovered at room temperature until firm, about 4 hours.
Stir potato starch and powdered sugar in small bowl to blend. Sift generous dusting of starch-sugar mixture onto work surface, forming rectangle slightly larger than 13x9 inches. Turn marshmallow slab out onto starch-sugar mixture. Sift more starch-sugar mixture over marshmallow slab. Coat large sharp knife, (scissors or cookie cutters work well too) with nonstick spray. Cut marshmallows into squares or other shapes. Toss each in remaining starch-sugar mixture to coat. Transfer marshmallows to rack, shaking off excess mixture. Enjoy!

There are countless variations one can make in flavoring marshmallows and Brownie Points (another great cooking blog) gives some ideas which I might make next time. For now another delicious risk has been taken and enjoyed.