Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Homemade Marshmallows

The other night we had s'mores outside by a campfire. We had a package of peeps and one actual marshmallow. I obviously needed to restock. We were at the market yesterday and once again, I looked at the ingredients and this time I didn't give in and get the bag with the artificial colors and flavors and stuck to my word and made homemade marshmallows. It's the exact same process as the 7 minute frosting I like so much, except marshmallows have the added gelatin. I didn't do as some and get gelatin from grass-fed cows. I had a bunch of Knox from long ago and put that to use.

After looking at several recipes online, I decided to give David Lebovitz's a try. I did see the post by Smitten Kitchen, and was careful not to let my compulsion to scrape overtake the process. I can't do her experience justice and recommend you read it yourself. It's a very funny cautionary tale. I'd like to try the no-egg white version (what she used) next time. I'm not thrilled using so much gelatin, but they look really good and I probably don't have to worry so much about them not drying out, as the humid day kept mine from doing. I also couldn't wait to eat them and didn't let them dry out for as long as recommended - 4 - 24 hours. I thought 8 hours would be enough and on a dry day, probably would be. Regardless, they tasted great, if they did end up being a little foamy after heating. They weren't as hard as they should have been but I from reading more, I found out one pouch of Knox gelatin is 7 grams, and the recipe said to use 17 grams or 2 packets, not specifying a brand. So more gelatine next time.

Still, it was easy and much better than the artificial stuff.

gently spread out on the cornstarch/confectioners sugar, drying

hard to decide which to have - orange, sea salt, or chili chocolate

awaiting the torch

again, Alan happy with any excuse to use the torch

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