Thursday, June 24, 2010

Soft Pillowy Marshmallows



I've always wanted to make marshmallows. Although I've never really been a fan of marshmallows, their outside attractiveness is worth the effort. Much of my cooking is for the fun of making something, not for the pleasure of indulging in the final product, and making marshmallows was no exception.

I searched the internet for a recipe but found that most recipes required corn syrup. I had none in my pantry and did not want to buy some as I realized that it would serve no other purpose for me in the future. In the end, I found a recipe from Allrecipes.com that required only one tablespoon of corn syrup as opposed to a whole cup and substituted honey in for the corn syrup. The end result was delightfully soft and puffy. I’m interested in what the result would have been if I had followed the recipe exactly. I also mixed some red food coloring with a little of the marshmallow mixture and poured it on top of the rest of the marshmallow mixture in the tin. I then ran a knife through the mixture to create a marbled effect.

Although marshmallows are certainly not a health food, they are in fact fat free. If you’re on a low fat diet, these are fine for you. However, diabetics should stay far far away!!!

These marshmallows were supposed to be for my English class on the last day of school, but I ended up bringing them to a sleepover where we made s’mores out of them. They were my first s’mores ever and they were DELICIOUS! Although I couldn’t put chocolate in them (My new year’s resolution: no chocolate for a year), they still tasted pretty authentic to me. Maybe at the end of this year, I’ll need to whip up some more marshmallows and indulge in some true s’mores.

Ingredients
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup (I used honey)
1 1/4 cups water, divided
4 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (that’s 4 packets of Knox Gelatine)
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)

Directions
1. Dust a 9x9 inch square dish generously with confectioners' sugar.
2. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together white sugar, corn syrup and 3/4 cup water. Heat to 250 to 265 degrees F (121 to 129 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a rigid ball.
3. While the syrup is heating, place remaining water in a metal bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the surface. Place bowl over simmering water until gelatin has dissolved completely. 4. Keep in a warm place until syrup has come to temperature. Remove syrup from heat and whisk gelatin mixture into hot syrup. Set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Continue to beat, pouring syrup mixture into egg whites in a thin stream, until the egg whites are very stiff. Stir in vanilla. Spread evenly into prepared pan and add food coloring if using.
6. Let rest 8 hours or overnight before cutting.

















Tuesday, June 22, 2010

S-U-M-M-E-R

With summer vacation in full flight I finally have time to spend in the kitchen! This summer, I will start this new food blog. I've been meaning to start one since forever but have never had the time. Here are just a few concoctions that I have prepared in the last few weeks. If you want the recipe for any of them, just request it!
















Hiiii!!! I'm starting this new food blog and I'm so excited!!