Marshmallows!!!
Dec 19, 2010 Uncategorized
The minute I got my stand mixer, I knew one of the first things I wanted to make was homemade marshmallows. I’m one of those marshmallow people who just loves marshmallows and could eat them for days. But homemade marshmallows require a good beating- like 12 minutes of beating straight. And I was not about to do that with a hand mixer!!
Homemade marshmallows are 100 million zillion thousand times fluffier, lighter, and more addicting than regular marshmallows from the bag. In fact, once you go homemade marshmallow, store bought ones will feel like rubbery slabs of sugar. Homemade marshmallows also leave room for flavoring, decorating, or turning into other candies (caramel covered marshmallows hello delicious!)
I made this batch of marshmallows for my marshmallow-addicted cousins (runs in the family). I
decided to portion out the batter and make four types- vanilla, strawberry, mocha and chocolate swirl. I used fresh strawberry puree for the strawberry flavor, a concentrated chocolate and coffee paste (hot water + cocoa + instant espresso) for the mocha and melted chocolate chips for the chocolate swirl. The strawberry ones took on a weird texture but the rest of them were delicious! Of course the sprinkle covered marshmallow was the first to go, but the runner up was the mocha. The chocolate swirled into the marshmallow tasted like a candy bar because of the contrasting textures of the chocolate and soft candy- yum! The ingredients are simple and the only difficult thing about these candies is waiting for them to set overnight. Mix and match with different flavors, colors, shapes and sizes- you really can’t go wrong with these! Unless you are a marshmallow hater. In which case, go away.
Marshmallows
3 packets of knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tablespoon vanilla.
1. Line a 9×12 inch pan with saran wrap and light oil it. set aside.
2. In the bowl of electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Let soften for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in small saucepan. Bring mixture to a hard, rolling boil and boil for 1 minute.
4. pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer using whisk attachment at high speed.
5. add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add vanilla extract and beat to incorporate (or add another flavoring/add ins of your choice i.e. peppermint extract, mocha slurry, chocolate swirls, etc.)
6. scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly (grease hands or spatula to help). Place another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap on top of marshmallow to seal it. Let mixture sit overnight until cool and set.
7. Cut marshmallows with a sharp oiled knife or kitchen scissors. Dredge pieces in a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar.
Tags: Candy Bar, Caramel Covered Marshmallows, Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Swirl, Cup Cold Water, Cup Corn Syrup, Electric Mixer, Hand Mixer, Homemade Marshmallows, Inch Pan, Instant Espresso, Light Oil, Melted Chocolate, Mix And Match, Saran Wrap, Shapes And Sizes, Soft Candy, Strawberry Flavor, Strawberry Puree, Tablespoon Vanilla
7 Layer Salad Recipe
Jul 30, 2010 General
Ingredients:
1 head lettuce, cut up
1 c.
celery, chopped
1 c.
green pepper, chopped
1 med.
onion, chopped
1 (10
oz.) box frozen peas, uncooked
1 1/2
c. Miracle Whip
3 tbsp.
sour cream
3 tbsp.
sugar
4 oz.
grated cheese
Directions:
Layer first 5 ingredients in a 13 x 9 dish. Mix all others and spread over peas. Top with cheese. Cover with Saran Wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
Tags: 7 Layer Salad Recipe Ingredients, C Celery, Cream 3, Directions, Dish Mix, Frozen Peas, Grated Cheese, Green Pepper, Head Lettuce, Layer Salad Recipe, Med Onion, Miracle Whip, Saran Wrap, Sour Cream
Electrolux #splits: Island Banana Split
Jul 18, 2010 General
Foodbuzz is featuring a Top 9 takeover exclusively made of banana splits (which is perhaps the greatest idea ever) which is cohosted by Electrolux to support Ovarian Cancer research (topped the greatest idea ever). Kelly Ripa just recently made banana splits with some food bloggers to raise awareness for the cause.
So I wanted to join in the fun. For every split made Foodbuzz donates $$ to Ovarian Cancer Research. Awesome x3.
Ahem. Any excuse to eat ice cream is definitely fun for me. It’s currently 9 am and my daughter is eating a banana split (Yeah, we’ll bash me on my parenting skills later).
My banana split has:
- apple banana (split!) which is a banana we grow here in Hawaii (and probably other places) that is a little smaller and has a tang to it that I prefer to regular bananas
- Chocolate coconut ice cream (recipe follows)
- Tahitian vanilla ice cream (store-bought)
- Kula (local grown) strawberries macerated in sugar
- Caramelized mac nuts (yep, made these myself)
- super dark chocolate sauce (recipe follows)
Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream
- 1 1/3 C heavy cream
- 1 can coconut milk (2 Cups)
- 1/2 C granulated sugar
- 3 oz dark chocolate bar (good quality—I used Valhrona)
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Simmer for several minutes until the mixture thickens. It will look like the beginning stages of custard.
- Move to a bowl, cover with saran wrap and chill overnight (about 8 hours)
- .Freeze according to ice cream maker directions
This ice cream was amazing. I found myself licking the spoon the whole time I made it. After I chilled it it was like custard. Gorgeous.
Dark Chocolate Sauce (my mother-in-law’s recipe)
- 1 C sugar
- 4 T baking cocoa (I used Hershey’s dark chocolate cocoa, but you can make it a little lighter with regular cocoa)
- 1 T flour
- 2 T butter
- 2/3 C canned milk or a mixture of cream and milk
- Whisk together sugar, cocoa and flour in a saucepan. Put in butter and turn burner to medium. Melt butter and whisk together until the mixture is a paste.
- Add milk slowly, whisking thoroughly after each addition, and wait until it thickens a little before adding more. Mixture should simmer a little.
- Keep stirring and heating until sauce thickens and sugar is completely melted.
Tags: Apple Banana, Banana Split, Banana Splits, C Sugar, Cancer Research, Canned Milk, Chocolate Bar, Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Sauce Recipe, Coconut Ice Cream, Cream Recipe, Dark Chocolate, Grown Strawberries, Mac Nuts, Ovarian Cancer, Parenting Skills, Saran Wrap, Tahitian Vanilla, Vanilla Ice, Vanilla Ice Cream
