Honey Vanilla Marshmallow Fluff

Not to be fickle to my past loves, but I have just fallen in love anew. With yet another marshmallow-related treat. That is so, so easy to make - unlike those millions of batches of guimauves I've made in the last few years. Really, in the original recipe, the procedure lists ONE step. Amazing.

If you're a fan of good ole Kraft Marshmallow Fluff, you've got to try this. You could even make it all organic, with agave! It does take raw eggs, so if you are wary of that risk I'm afraid I don't have another option for you yet (haven't tried powdered eggs whites at this time).

All you have to do is throw the ingredients into a bowl and whip them up with an electric mixer, and voilà! Light, fluffy, sweet goo with a hint of honey and a touch of vanilla. Wonderful swirled into ice cream or on top of it; great in peanut butter sandwiches; delightful swiped off the side of the mixer bowl. I'm thinking this will make a yummy gift as well, especially since my collection of glass jars to reuse is starting to fill up their drawer. And this makes a huge amount that I could (well, should) never finish by myself in the 3 weeks it stays good.

Making this reminded me of this episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate, in which Duff and the folks of Charm City Cakes get a crazy-looking ice cream sundae called the "CMP" at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, MD. CMP = Chocolate, Marshmallow, & Peanuts. Peanuts steeped in sugar syrup dumped over three scoops of vanilla ice cream, topped with organic ganache and marshmallow fluff, sealed into a glass with a disk of cooked hard crack sugar (seriously, blow torched around the edges of the glass!). As soon as I got just a little glimpse of that sundae, I coveted it with a passion. This is me, still thinking about that one minute clip of a TV show 6 months later. So making this fluff was the perfect opportunity to make my own version of CMP. I don't keep peanuts around, but I boiled some pecans in simple syrup, threw them on a scoop of my homemade coconut ice cream, topped it with some bittersweet ganache, and then a pile of this fluff. CMP = OMG. The bittersweet chocolate with the sweet fluff was perfect.

The fluff turned out very sweet for me, so the recipe below includes a tad less agave than I used. If agave is too strong of a flavor for you, you may replace some of it with light corn syrup, or swap it all out for one cup of corn syrup.

Honey Vanilla Marshmallow Fluff

based on this recipe, referral thanks to my friend at Movies and Munchies

2 large egg whites

3/4 C agave syrup

1/4 C honey

pinch salt

1 C confectioner's sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Place the egg whites, agave, honey, and salt in a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Use an electric hand mixer or a whip attachment for your stand mixer to whip the ingredients on medium high speed for 5 minutes, until the ingredients have doubled in volume and look pale and thick. Slowly beat in the sugar, then mix in the vanilla.

Store fluff in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Lick the bowl so that none gets wasted.

S'more Cookie Bars

There are a lot of attempts out there to bring the magic of s'mores to the dessert table, but in my opinion this one makes the most successful bid! A colleague of mine made them at the beginning of the academic year, and they were a hit in the office. She passed me the recipe this week in time for a bake sale, and they are the perfect bake sale item - simple to make, easy to transport, and popular with everyone.

These bars have got buttery graham cracker layers that encase Hershey's chocolate bars and marshmallow fluff, the very essence of the s'more. Once you bake it, all the goodness melts together and gets happy. I only gave these away because they were for a good cause!

These are from the blog The Crepes of Wrath, which has fabulous step-by-step photos. I made 8"x8" pans, but I like the idea she had of a 9"x13" pan with this recipe multiplied by 1.5. This means thinner dough in proportion to the fillings, which I think would be nice. Give it a whirl, why not?

S'more Cookie Bars

1/2 C (one stick) butter, room temperature
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
3/4 C graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars
1 1/2 C marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows) - about one regular jar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and/or line an 8-inch square baking pan (or 9x13 if you're 1.5-ing the recipe).

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

4. Place chocolate bars over dough (2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate if necessary to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick).

5. Spread the marshmallow fluff over the chocolate.

6. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles or panels and laying them together).

7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Marshmallow Fun

Does the Green Lantern's power ring still have intergalactic power when it is molded out of....marshmallow?

All I know is that my brother was able to hold off eating it for a whole month after his birthday, which inconceivable self control must be due to a super power! The super power also improved the texture of the candy and maintained its flavor over that month, so it clearly was a legitimate power ring.

The first of my younger brothers is famous for having gone to a friend's birthday party when he was about four years old, and when invited to participate in the party games, saying "I just came for the cake." A story he is reminded of by our family friends constantly, I might add. But this year, when his always-anticipated birthday came around, he started to drop hints about caramel and mint marshmallows.

Green Lantern's icon came to mind when I tinted the mint marshmallow green and remembered that my brother's favorite comic book character was good ole' GL. He's already anticipating the release of the GL movie in TWO YEARS, to give you an idea of his passion for the character! The symbol is lined with caramel underneath, and the green background is mint, all dipped in chocolate. A great gift for someone on a budget (me) to give someone who likes personalized stuff (him).

I will note that it is much easier to cut shapes out of marshmallow than out of caramel - thank goodness for chocolate to hold everything together! Would have been a much cleaner shape had I left the cut marshmallow without caramel lining or chocolate dipping.


These 2-foot marshmallow batons from Surfas also appeared at my bro's birthday, and may have served as little guimauve swords before we gobbled them up...we both love cake, but marshmallows may be the party game/dessert compromise we need!

Strawberry Macarons and AMANDINE!

This has been a week heavy on the baking, partially because of Mother's Day, but also because I just CANNOT STOP BAKING. I was proud of myself for waiting until today to bake something that I thought up on Sunday - two days is a long time to wait when you've got all the ingredients sitting in your kitchen! I almost made myself wait until next weekend, but then I thought "that's ridiculous! by then I won't even care about this idea and will have moved on to another!" And so I baked. Although I do believe that that particular recipe was improved by ideas I thought up in the tween time, but that is a story for another post.

In any case, my baking schemes do offer additional opportunities to procrastinate actual work that needs to get done (like I need more than the internet and TV afford!), so predictably the recent increase in my workload corresponds closely to the amount of goods my kitchen has been producing. It seemed a perfectly natural choice to make strawberry macarons for my sister's belated birthday gift, rather than simply purchasing a membership to REI (sorry, Amy, that may be a gift for another time...).

I think the macarons turned out wonderfully; I was nervous to tinker with the recipe that worked for me, but I did, and it did, so I'm all pumped up to try other flavors! I took the recommendations from Tartelette's strawberry macaron recipe by drying strawberries in the oven and processing them into powder, then replacing the cocoa powder in my chocolate recipe with the powdered strawberries.

Then came my real innovation: strawberry buttercream. The strawberry flavor in the macaron was rather subtle, and my sister LOVES strawberries, so I definitely wanted to kick the flavor up a notch. I basically added concentrated strawberry purée to a buttercream recipe, and the lovely pink cream in the macaron above came about. Here's a guesstimated outline of the recipe (I made no measurements when I was actually making the cream):

Strawberry Buttercream

1/2 lb strawberries
1/2 cube (4 T) butter
at least 2 C powdered sugar
1 T heavy cream

Wash the strawberries and cut their tops off. Throw them in your food processor and purée completely. Heat the purée in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until the purée condenses down and thickens significantly (sorry I can't be more specific; think of this as reducing the water content of the berries and concentrating the flavor). Set purée aside to cool.

Once purée is cool, cream it with the butter in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer. The butter may not incorporate completely, but that's okay - it'll mix in better once the sugar is added. Add the powdered sugar bit by bit until the icing reaches the consistency you want. Make sure it is thick enough to hold its shape when spread, since you don't want it running out of the macarons or off the cupcakes or whatever. Mine was a little on the thin side. Add the heavy cream in just to make the mix more creamy. Yum!

I also finally made it to Amandine on Mother's Day, a bakery on Wilshire that I would have visited the previous week had it not been for a barricade of re-paving road work. The re-paving now finished, I successfully purchased some puff pastries that are certainly some of the best in L.A. I also bought my grandmother an almond raspberry tart, since she loves almonds, and the tart had a nice dense texture to it as well as good almond flavor.

These pastries, along with with the scotchmallows I made for my mom (layer of marshmallow, layer of caramel, glued together with chocolate) AND the dim sum feast we all ate together made for a nice Mother's Day. Not to sound completely selfish, but it's nice when our mother's desires coincide exactly with our own, isn't it?

Valentine's Marshmallows: Cinnamon, Rose, and Peppermint

Before February ends, I need to share more Valentine's Day treats for the month of Love. I made cinnamon, rose, and peppermint flavored guimauve (marshmallows) for a Valentine's party; the cinnamon were coated in red sprinkles and dipped in dark chocolate, the rose were tinted pink and drizzled with white chocolate, and the peppermint were layered with purple sprinkles and dipped in dark chocolate. I left a few plain hearts for the hot chocolate, as you see here, and all were a hit.

The cinnamon marshmallows dipped in chocolate are my new favorite: lightly spicy and reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate. So good!

Cinnamon marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 4 tsp ground cinnamon dissolved in several tsp water.

Rose marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 2 tsp rose water (for a light rose flavor)

Peppermint marshmallows: flavor 1/2 marshmallow recipe with 2-3 tsp peppermint extract (use 2 tsp if the marshmallows are not going to be dipped in chocolate; 3 tsp will stand up better to the chocolate, and the chocolate will take the sharp edge off the stronger peppermint)

Dessert Sushi: A Concept in Process

I have decided to share this work-in-progress with you. Of course, this food has been made and eaten already, but the concept is not finished in my mind.

I've been thinking about the idea of dessert sushi for months, ever since I discovered that I could cut out my marshmallows into shapes and build things with them. Since the marshmallow is so versatile, I thought that I could make dessert sushi in the manner of California rolls, with the marshmallow serving as the "rice" on the outside, and all sorts of nice things to fill it up: ganache, salted caramel, nuts, fruit, coconut - you get the idea. And why not dust the outside with nice things as well to replace the sesame seeds?

So here's how it went this time:


I made the marshmallow in a thin layer and let it sit for a day, having dusted the initially sticky top side with roasted nuts and chocolate shavings. The next day, I cut it into sections that I estimated would roll into the right size, and started laying down the fillings. Pictured above is a layer of ganache on the marshmallow, with dried raspberries (rehydrated a tad) down the middle.


I had been concerned that the individual rolls would not hold together, but the marshmallow amazed me: it not only stretched around the fillings, it also stuck to itself when pinched, as long as the edge did not get moistened by the filling.



Here are the rolls, ready to be cut: pistachio-dusted with white chocolate and diced dried apricots and bing cherries in the middle, walnut-dusted with ganache and crushed coconut cream candies, almond-dusted with caramel and almond slivers, chocolate-shaving-dusted with caramel and ganache, and chocolate-shaving-dusted with ganache and dried raspberries (Not Pictured: the ugliest but perhaps tastiest roll that was the unfortunate guinea pig: pecan-dusted with caramel, ganache, and pecans. I got ambitious and tried to stuff it way too full!).


Here is the messiness that resulted. The rolls being soft and the fillings being of different consistencies, they were difficult to cut evenly. The caramel layer was too thick in most of them, so next time I would make the caramel in a larger pan, or just roll slivers of caramel in the center of some. I would have loved to put toasted shredded coconut in some, but was unable to obtain some prior to making these.

I think it did work to dip the bottom of each cut piece into melted chocolate in order to keep the rolls together, and I am glad that I stuck them in the fridge in order to make them harden quickly and keep the ganache cool. They just had to sit at room temperature a little while before serving so that the caramel could become chewable rather than cooled stiff.



So many things to consider for next time! I definitely plan to scale back the rolls by making the fillings thinner and cutting the pieces smaller (and neater, hopefully). I look forward to serving them on beautiful sushi plates sometime, each roll topped with a fresh raspberry, toasted coconut, or mint leaves, but meanwhile, these tasted good. The scheming will continue until I am satisfied.

Marshmallow Christmas Trees

After my foray into marshmallow baby rattles, I knew I could get more creative with my guimauve/marshmallow creations, so here's the newest: Marshmallow Christmas Trees.

To summarize, I made mint marshmallow and cut out three sizes of circles, which conveniently left small pointy sections that could act as the top of the tree, and glued it all together with chocolate (one of my recipes made 7 trees like this).

To give more detail, I shook green sprinkles over the marshmallow after I poured it into a pan, and after it sat overnight I cut out the shapes and rolled them in powdered sugar. After those shapes sat overnight, I dipped each piece in dark chocolate and stacked them together. They held beautifully once hardened (while melty they threatened to avalanche), a process I sped up with 30 minutes or so in the fridge.

And there you have a Suess-ical, snow-tipped Christmas tree marshmallow. As close to snow as I'm going to get in Southern California this Christmas!

Happy Foodie Halloween!

While I still enjoy candy corn on occasion, my current inclinations took me back to Euro Pane for a little "trick or treat"-ing. I had some real food for lunch first: the best ham and cheese sandwich I've ever had, pictured above (sorry, non-pork eating friends). On wonderfully crusted, buttered bread, a crème fraîche-like sauce supported thick and tasty slices of ham, under cheese deemed "good fromage" by my Swiss friend. And fresh herbs sprinkled on to boot!


As a sweet finish to the meal, I bought some of the gourmet marshmallows they carry; these are the heaviest and hugest (and most expensive) marshmallows I've ever seen! Each marshmallow is about 2x2 inches, coated in granulated sugar, and made with corn syrup, sugar, gelatin, and vanilla.


Nice texture, soft and chewy; the corn syrup must help make this texture more similar to store-bought jet puff marshmallows than mine are. The egg whites in my marshmallows also make them much lighter. But I loved these mallowy mouthfuls!


And of course, the best macarons in L.A.! That I've tried thus far, that is. Pistachio, caramel au fleur de sel, and espresso with ganache filling. I only tried the caramel last time, so I took the espresso this time and gave the others to my friends. I'm learning to be more generous with my macarons...


I was actually pleased to see that these were delicate enough to get smooshed a bit in the bag. As my previous posts reveal, some are just so firm that they are not reminiscent of meringue; these have the crust on the outside, but are soft and light and chewy on the inside. No tricks here - a "treat" indeed!

Chocolate Saloning

For the past few years I've wanted to go to this huge chocolate salon (i.e., convention) that is in Paris every October; by all reports everything you could possibly want in chocolate is available, there, in chocolate (think wearable dresses, antique chocolatières, and lots of samples!). Plus it's called a "salon" which is reminiscent of intellectually stimulating social events in 18th century France. These historical salons, in my mind, are always hosted by beautiful and accomplished women who are wowing their guests with their abilities to provide excellent and creative food and well-educated conversation - nourishing body and mind. Who wouldn't want to go to a Chocolate Salon?

While I haven't made it to the Paris salon yet, I did manage to get to a much smaller-scale chocolate salon in Pasadena this past Sunday. I thought it was well worth the time and money; $17.50 for a pre-purchased ticket got me access to a large room lined all around with tables representing various chocolatiers, each offering samples ranging from slivers of chocolate bars to whole ganache squares like those pictured above. After once around the room, I had eaten just the right amount of chocolate - satisfied but not sickenly stuffed.

A few highlights: the silk-screened artisan chocolates pictured here, offered in flavors from chili pepper to jelly doughnut and each patterned differently; a haunted house built from modeling chocolate and other kinds of edible decorations; chocolate liqueur made from vodka, Dutch cocoa, and cream (great for desserts or chocolate martinis!); and, not least, some marvelous gourmet marshmallows which we were allowed to roast ourselves (some of the best I've had, made with kosher gelatin).

I purchased the box of silk-screened chocolates after sampling the wares (rather than gathering up the samples in Tupperwares like I saw some people doing...); at $6 for this box, I thought it was actually a good deal, although an unpredictable assortment of flavors. I shared one from the box with my grandmother, who graciously exchanged this little chocolate rat for it (left from Chinese New Year chocolates which each represented one of the Chinese horoscope animals):


I'm now busy scheming about my next chocolate AND marshmallow creation!

Notes on Guimauve

My marshmallow-making experiences in the last month have confirmed the, um, resilient nature of my recipe of choice. Not only does it turn out fine (fine = tastes good enough to serve to other people!) if I over whip the egg whites (although it does fall at a certain point and create a more gelatin-y marshmallow) or if the liquid is as much as 1/4 C more than the recipe calls for (although the mallows may need to dry a bit longer once cut), but it also is versatile because it may be formed in interesting ways. So far I have successfully formed them with a cookie cutter, as with the marshmallow baby rattles I made, and now by piping a stiffly whipped guimauve with icing piping bags.

When I piped the mallow with a medium round tip, I was able to create the marshmallow kisses pictured above, pipe cursive letters, and even form simple shapes like little ducklings. I'm thinking these would be fun decorations for cakes and cookies, but for pop-in-the-mouth goodness, the best were the marshmallow kisses dipped entirely in chocolate (in the background below). Yum!

I also tried some new flavors that turned out well:

Butter (salty/sweet):
per whole guimauve recipe:
4 tsp. Wilton butter flavoring
coat marshmallows in a mixture of equal parts confectioner's sugar with granulated sugar, with a few pinches of kosher salt added

Coconut:
per whole guimauve recipe:
3 tsp. fresh coconut water
3 tsp. coconut extract (imitation if necessary)
coat marshmallows in granulated sugar (which will form a nice sugary crust on the outside) or also with shredded or toasted coconut if desired

S'mores:
coat plain marshmallows in graham cracker crumbs and dip in melted chocolate; to improve upon the one pictured below, I would have toasted the crumbs and maybe would have glued a square of graham cracker on the bottom of each with a dollop of melted chocolate.

Guimauve Flavoring: Orange, Vanilla, and Brown Sugar

I am learning that I should not ever announce that a particular food is my favorite, since it will invariably be unseated by the next fancy that captures me - hence the "FoodFancies of the Moment" sidebar of this blog!

While marshmallows have remained a consistent interest of mine this year, one of the reasons I find them so appealing is the fact that I can play with them. I can try out all manner of flavors with them, and can even shape and dip them as I please.

I have recently been enjoying orange, vanilla bean, and brown sugar flavored marshmallows, so I wanted to share these flavor possibilities with you. The orange is fresh and bright, the vanilla bean is sweetly vanilla with a hint of brandy, and the brown sugar is buttery with specks of fleur de sel.

Orange Guimauve Flavoring
Use 4 tsp. orange extract to flavor one half of the original recipe, colored by one drop of red food coloring and 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring. If you eat any of these marshmallows before coating them in sugar, they will taste bitter due to the amount of orange extract; the sugar coating will remove the bitter edge and make them pleasantly sweet.

To coat cut-up orange marshmallows, roll in granulated sugar mixed with the zest of one orange. The granulated sugar adds crunch and sparkle to the pieces, and the zest adds color, texture, and bright flavor.

Vanilla Bean Guimauve Flavoring
In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tsp. brandy, and the beans scraped from inside one vanilla pod. Let sit while you prepare the basic marshmallow recipe, and then add the flavoring to one half of the original recipe when called for.

To coat cut-up vanilla marshmallows, roll in powdered sugar (vanilla powdered sugar if you have it).

I have bought vanilla beans online from this website; it is my understanding that online purchase of vanilla beans is by far the cheapest way to obtain them.

Brown Sugar au Fleur de Sel Guimauve Flavoring
As with my cupcakes of the same flavor, make a caramel in a saucepan on the stovetop by heating 1/3 C brown sugar with 1 T water (do not stir, but swish pan around occasionally) until small bubbles appear on the surface. Pull the pan off the head before it burns, and stir in 1/4 tsp. fleur de sel and 3 T unsalted butter. Stir until thoroughly combined. Once cooled, mix 5 tsp. caramel into one half of the original recipe. After the marshmallow has settled into its pan, pour the remaining caramel over the marshmallow and allow to set with the marshmallow. It will run off the sides a little, but a thin layer should set on the surface.

Coat cut-out brown sugar au fleur de sel marshmallows with powdered sugar; additional fleur de sel may be added to the coating, but use sparingly as a small amount adds a lot of taste. Take care to coat the caramel side well, as the caramel tends to come off of the marshmallow surface easily, and the powdered sugar coating helps it to stick. The flavor is not strongly caramel, but a nice sweet/salty combination with buttery overtones.

Marshmallow Baby Rattles

The marshmallow saga has not slowed down, in spite of the fact that I do occasionally make other things; this week, I discovered that it is very easy to cut my marshmallow recipe out in simple shapes. In this case, I cut the marshmallows out in circles in order to make marshmallow baby rattles for a baby shower. As you see above, the result was quite cute, and very importantly, had good taste and texture.

Once the marshmallow recipe was mixed together with its flavoring (I made the whole batch one flavor this time), it was poured into a pan that let it spread to about 1.5 cm in thickness. After setting for 24 hours, it was ready to be cut out.

Here's a photo sequence that details the steps:


Using a biscuit cutter that was dipped in powdered sugar, I cut out as many circles as I could from the batch.


To prevent continued sticking, I dipped the cutter in sugar before cutting each circle.


The circles pulled away from the parchment paper without a problem, since the paper had been dusted with powdered sugar as the original recipe suggests.


I rolled the cut-out marshmallows in complementary sugar coatings (granulated sugar and orange zest pictured on an orange-extract marshmallow)


and set them out to dry for another 24-48 hours. The longer they sit out, the chewier and the more solid they become; the increased firmness assisted the remainder of the rattle-forming process, since the marshmallows are initially super soft and fluffy. In the end, they were still very light days after they were first made, but held their shape a bit better because they had been sitting out.


After they had dried and firmed up over several days, I cut a small slit in each one with a knife, and then inserted the stick and dipped the backside in melted chocolate, also securing the stick with a dab of chocolate. And with the extra chocolate, amused myself à la Jackson Pollock. They would have been fun with little jingle bells tied on the finished packages, so I guess I'll have to make them again sometime. Perhaps I should also mention that they were fun to eat, tasted good, and the nice light marshmallow fit very well with the chocolate coating.

Next marshmallow adventure: piping it into shapes!

Guimauve Part Three: Gelatin Sheets

It's always fun to have food that you can get down and dirty with; the gelatin sheets that I brought home from France required squeezing out by hand, which made me feel that much more involved in the process of making guimauve. Perhaps not as satisfying as kneading bread or pounding turkey cutlets, but still a new way to get physical with food!

The gelatin sheets are unlike any other food ingredient I've used (but then again, isn't gelatin of any kind always a strange thing to work with?): translucent, almost brittlely stiff rectangles, criss-crossed with perforating indented lines. I first heard of them in Chocolate and Zucchini's guimauve recipe, and ever since have been nagged by the idea of gelatin sheets and what the lack of them was doing to my marshmallows.

Since I was able to pick some up in France at a grocery store, I put them to use on some guimauves after my return.  I found them easier to use than gelatin powder, since I did not have to worry about the amount of liquid I might be adding to the mixture; all I had to do was soak the sheets for a while in water, which made them become floppy and gelatinous, so I could squeeze them out together with my hand (the fun part!) and just add them as sheets to the syrup phase, when they dissolved.  The mystery to me is that the sheets hold their shape after they've been soaked, and that they don't fall apart when squeezed.  They kind of remind me of a softer version of pickled jellyfish, like the jellyfish appetizer at Chinese banquets.

In the end, the result was not significantly different from the Knox-gelatin marshmallows, but the simplicity of the gelatin sheets reduced my anxiety over the proportions in the recipe.  This time I made green tea marshmallows flavored with powdered green tea dissolved in a few teaspoons of water (pictured above) and rose/almond flavor with 3 teaspoons of rose water and 1 teaspoon of almond extract, rolled in a combination of powdered sugar and ground almonds (below).  Both turned out to be nice and subtly flavored, so yum on both accounts!

Guimauve Part Deux: Some Kosher Fluff

My foray into the world of guimauve became a lesson in gelling agents when Passover hit this spring, and I had the opportunity to contribute to a Syrian seder meal. The Mediterranean nature of the meal brought to mind the rose water-flavored marshmallows I had read about, and I thought that rose and mint guimauves would be a fun touch to the dessert tray.

I was previously aware that most gelatin (think Jello and Knox gelatin) was made from animal products, but the idea of cooking kosher for this one meal brought me to the point of looking at other gelling options. I learned that agar agar, a gelling agent derived from sea vegetables (seaweed, etc.), was a vegetarian possibility, and therefore a kosher choice. It was difficult to determine through online searches exactly how agar agar might be substituted for Knox gelatin, so I decided to just give it a try and plan back up desserts in case it didn't work out.

My first attempt was not a success (thank goodness for the back up desserts!); I used the amount of water suggested on the agar agar packet to soak the flakes, which ended up being such a large amount of water that it took a long time for the syrup solution to incorporate with the egg whites, and when it finally did, it was a foamy mass in the Kitchen Aid. Needless to say, this concoction did not solidify and ended up in the trash.

I was determined to make the agar agar work, so I went for it again the next week. This time I reduced the water to just enough to cover the flakes in a small bowl, and then heated the flakes and water for 30 seconds at a time in the microwave. After stirring and reheating the flakes and water until the flakes dissolved completely, I subbed them into the recipe I used before, and the result was much better than the fluff I got the first time.

When it came time to divide the mallow into individual servings, it was still quite delicate - it crushed to the touch and was rather wet. I decided to divide it up, but then roll it in a stiffer coating than the non-kosher marshmallows. Half of the recipe was rose, colored lightly with red food coloring, so I rolled these in a combination of powdered sugar, ground almonds, and sliced roasted almonds. The mint half of of the recipe, tinted with blue and green food coloring, I rolled in unsweetened cocoa powder and powdered sugar. The results at this point are pictured above.

I let this form of the marshmallows dry for a day or so, but they weren't firm enough to pick them up and eat them without them falling apart or sticking madly to the fingers, even though they tasted good. After some brainstorming, I decided to give them feet of chocolate: white chocolate for the rose, dark chocolate for the mint. I melted chocolate chips in the microwave (I know this is not considered the best method for melting chocolate, but I find it satisfactory for my purposes) and plopped 1 1/2 inch circles of it on parchment paper, which I topped immediately with the delicate fluff. And voilà, now I had airy bites of sweet delight!

So, agar agar can work, but it does not result in a chewy marshmallow. Instead, it makes a light, fluffy marshmallow that could almost pass as meringue. I would perhaps make it again this way, but I still am on a quest for a chewy kosher marshmallow.

Next step in the guimauve saga: putting into play the gelatin sheets I bought in Paris and the 2 kinds of kosher gelatin powder (fish & bovine) I purchased in Israel.

Guimauve: Beginnings of an Obsession

I have been developing an obsession with marshmallows of late, and especially with handmade marshmallows in the French guimauve vein.  It all started with a purchase at Downtown Disney of a stick of chocolate-covered marshmallows, from a candy shop where you can watch through the window while they dip the skewered marshmallows into chocolate.  When I bit into this carnival food-ish delight, I was surprised by a lovely layer of creamy caramel under the chocolate, and was ecstatic at the sugary complements of smooth chocolate, soft caramel, and mallowy marshmallow.

Following this experience, my mother tried Martha Stewart's recipe for homemade marshmallows, which turned out well but had her stand mixer piping hot after 30 minutes of intense mallow-mixing.  I enjoyed eating Martha's version, but thought it sounded too cumbersome to make them myself, not to mention bad for the kitchen equipment.

So I put the idea of making marshmallows out of my head until I encountered this post on my favorite food blog.  My imagination was captured as it made the connection between my previous marshmallow tastings, my affinity for all things French, and a random phrase I remember from the movie Amélie that references a malaxeur-guimauve at the foot of the Montmartre steps, and it was decided: I would make this recipe.  In spite of the fact that it was a two-day process, it looked doable and had the added attraction of using natural agave syrup instead of glucose or corn syrup, which are required by most marshmallow recipes.  These rose and chocolate-flavored mallows looked too light and whimsical to resist.

I discovered a whole section of agave syrup at Whole Foods (later to find out that it is now available at Trader Joe's as well), and went at it.  I feel rather sorry for the people I fed this first batch to, because they were biting into gelatinous cubes.  Chocolaty, yes, but not exactly the whimsical delights I was aiming for.  I had been a bit uncertain about substituting Knox gelatin powder packets ounce-for-ounce for the gelatin sheets* called for in the recipe, and was not sure how long to mix it, so I was determined to try again for a more successful batch.

Before that first batch was completely consumed - because I could not wait longer to try again - I made my second attempt, feeling more confident about how to make the gelatin powder bloom, and with great (but unfounded) faith that it would turn out well this time.  I decided to try mixing it longer, and magically the mixture became mallowy after a good 10 minutes of mixing.  I knew by looking at it that something had gone right this time, and I finished the process to happy results of plain and mint-flavored marshmallows that I dipped in chocolate.  The dipped mallows looked like elephant feet, but tasted fantastic, especially the mint.  My family devoured this batch, and I felt content that I could make them again.

This lead to a foray into kosher marshmallows, to be exposed in a later post, but also to my most recent non-kosher batch: strawberry and mint mallows.  For my sister and brother-in-law's birthdays, I told them they could choose the flavors they wanted, and this is what came about.  I think the strawberry are my favorite ever, although mint dipped in chocolate is a close second: the strawberry ones get their flavor from pureed strawberries, with the puree cooked down so as to condense the flavor and reduce the amount of liquid I was adding to the recipe.

So here is my American, non-kosher version of Chocolate and Zucchini's guimauve recipe:

Whimsical Marshmallows

• 2 packets Knox gelatin (1/2 ounce total)**
  
• 3 egg whites
  
• 2 rounded tablespoons agave syrup (substitute honey or corn syrup)
  
• 1 C sugar***

flavoring options (portioned for 1/2 recipe; double if you're only making one flavor):

• strawberry: purée strawberries and boil down until purée is dark red and thickened, stirring frequently to prevent burning (10-15 minutes over low heat, time depending how many strawberries you do); I pureed 1 lb of strawberries, and used 4 heaping teaspoons of the purée to flavor a 1/2 recipe, which left me with about 3 tsp puree remaining.  The strawberry flavor comes through, but if dipped in chocolate the chocolate tends to overwhelm it.
• mint: 2 teaspoons mint extract (any more and the mint flavor is VERY strong)
• chocolate: 4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder, dissolved in a small bowl with 1 T hot water.  This technique may be used with any powdered flavor you want to use.
• rose: 4 teaspoons rose water (pairs very well with a coating of ground and chopped almonds)
• other flavors of your choice: generally I try for the 4 tsp flavoring/half recipe ratio, but as with the mint, it is possible for that to be too strong.
• liquid food coloring, if desired

To finish (choose any combination of these you would like to pair with your flavor):

• powdered sugar (I often mix this with any of the options below)
  
• unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• ground/chopped nuts
  
• sweetened grated coconut
• other coatings of your choice!

Day 1:

Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper or wax paper.  If only making one flavor, line a square 8x8 inch pan with paper.  Use a sieve to line the paper with a layer of powdered sugar.  This will help you to remove the sticky marshmallow from the paper later on.

Soften the gelatin powder by placing 3-4 tablespoons of water in a small bowl, and sprinkling the powder over the surface of the water.  Set aside to let it thicken.  If the powder does not all get soaked up by the water, you may sprinkle a teaspoon more of water on top, but not too much - you don't want to add much liquid to the mixture.  It is okay if your gelatin looks like a grainy, cloudy clump of gelatin in the bowl - just let it sit, and it will be dissolved when you add it to the rest of the ingredients.

Have the egg whites ready in the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl if you're going to use an electric hand-mixer.

Combine the agave syrup, sugar, and 6 T water in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stir to dissolve, and keep at a simmer for 8 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Add the gelatin to the syrup, and stir with a wooden spoon until completely dissolved.  There will be an immediate foaming up when you add the gelatin, but that should die down as you stir.  Cover and keep warm.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks just begin to form.  With the beater still on, add the hot syrup in a slow, steady stream, and keep whisking until the mixture cools down to just above room temperature.  You may stop the mixing before it cools down if it takes on a nice, white, lightly marshmallowy appearance and texture, which usually appears after 10-15 minutes of mixing.  The longer you mix it, the stiffer the marshmallows will be.  The mixture should not be stiff marshmallow consistency when you stop mixing, but it should be thick enough to be picked up by a spoon so that it follows the spoon on its own.  It will thicken more as it sits out for the next day.

Transfer half of the egg white mixture into a second mixing bowl, and whisk in the flavoring quickly.  Add the second flavoring to the remaining mixture and whisk it in without overbeating.  Add a drop or two of food coloring if so desired.

Pour each of the mixtures into a different prepared loaf pan and even out the surface with a spatula.  Sprinkle some powdered sugar over the surface to enable easier handling later, and cover lightly with a sheet of parchment paper (without pressing on the surface) and let stand somewhere cool for 24 hours.

Day 2:

Place the coatings of your choice in wide, shallow bowls.

Have a mug/glass of hot water ready.  Lift the parchment paper to remove the marshmallow from the pan, and place on a cutting board.  Carefully peal the paper off the sides of the marshmallow by pulling on the paper and using a knife to push the marshmallow off.  Cut the marshmallow into squares, dipping the knife in the hot water between cuts.

A few at a time, transfer the squares into the bowl of coating and toss in the coating.  They will be quite sticky, so handle them lightly (I use spoons or the knife to manipulate the squares), and make sure they are well coated before you set them aside to dry.  I like to put them on a baking pan lined with parchment or wax paper. 

Leave them out to dry for 2 or 3 hours, flipping them halfway through.  It is important to flip them, as the bottom side will remain wet if not exposed to the air.  I prefer to let them set out for a day or more, as this allows them to grow chewier the way I like them.  If you put them in an air-tight container after 2 or 3 hours, they will remain fairly soft.  You can place them in a fine sieve and shake them out in order to remove some of the extra coating prior to packaging them away.  I actually enjoy letting them dry with excess powdered sugar on them, as the sugar forms small crisp clumps of sugar on the surface of the marshmallow, which adds a little crunch on top of the chewy lightness.  These should keep for a few days in an air-tight container.

The last step is one of my favorites: chocolate dipping.  Once the marshmallows are dried to your preference, you can melt some chocolate (dark, white, whatever!) and dip the finished squares in it, again setting them to dry on parchment paper.  I usually melt chocolate in the microwave for convenience's sake, even though that is not the best for the chocolate, but you have to be careful to not heat the chocolate chips or squares in the microwave for any longer than 30 seconds at a time, and stir well between heating bouts.  It is easy to burn chocolate in the microwave if you heat it for any longer at once.  I've also taken to adding a splash of canola oil to melted chocolate to allow it to remain smoother and softer when it is coating something; just mix in approximately 1/2 teaspoon of canola oil per 4 ounces of chocolate after the chocolate is completely melted and dip away.  If you add the oil, it will take longer for the chocolate to solidify, so that process can be sped up by placing the tray of marshmallows in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.  This means also that the oil gives it a lower melting point, so that it will melt on your fingers when you pick them up.

Serve plated, package as a gift for friends with individual squares in candy papers, wack out your blood sugar and eat them all yourself, make a pyramid of guimauve, or otherwise get creative!

*gelatin sheets are available primarily in Europe, although apparently specialty stores in the States also carry them.  I will be picking up some sheets when I'm in Paris in two weeks, so stay tuned for my report on them!

**metric amounts for all the ingredients may be found in the Chocolate & Zucchini version of the recipe.

***I reduced this from 1 C 2 T sugar; C&Z says you can try to reduce it more, but try reducing it only by 1 T at a time.  I had to use raw cane sugar for about 3 T of this amount one time, and it turned out fine, although I normally use all refined sugar.