Choc chip marshmallows

Not only my readers are the sweetest people ever, they also give me wonderful ideas – Barbara left me a comment once about homemade marshmallows she used to order and told me that her favorites were the chocolate chip ones. Hey, that is one marshmallow flavor I hadn’t tried yet! :)

So I made choc chip marshmallows, inspired by the lovely Barbara. And for the record, they became my sister’s favorites, too. :)

Choc chip marshmallows
adapted from here

2 tablespoons powdered gelatin
½ cup (120ml) warm water
330g caster sugar
½ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons glucose syrup
1/3 cup (80ml) water, extra
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

For rolling the marshmallows:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon corn starch, sifted

Lightly oil a 20cm (8in) square cake pan and dust with icing sugar.

Place the gelatin and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer, stir well to combine and set aside. Place the sugar, glucose and extra water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring for 5-6 minutes or until soft ball stage (115°C/240°F) on a sugar thermometer.

With the mixer running at high speed, gradually add the hot syrup to the gelatin mixture. Add the vanilla and beat for 10 minutes or until thick and fluffy. Fold in the chocolate chunks – some of them will melt lightly, causing the marbled effect. Pour into prepared pan, cover with foil or baking paper but do not let it touch the marshmallow. Set aside overnight in room temperature.

Place the icing sugar and corn starch in a bowl and stir to combine. Turn the marshmallow onto a surface lightly dusted with a little of the icing sugar mixture and carefully remove the pan. Cut into squares with a lightly oiled knife.

Dust with remaining icing sugar mixture and store in an airtight container.

Makes 36

Orange blossom water marshmallows

I told you I’m absurdly partial to sweet recipes and I’m sure you’d noticed that already. :)
I love making spoon desserts and cupcakes, for instance, but there’s something that really makes me extra happy: to share what I make. Maybe that is why I’m such an avid cookie baker – they’re easy to package and to carry around; place some cookies in a bag and you can really make someone’s day nicer.

Marshmallows are the same – that’s why you always see them around here. :)

Orange blossom water marshmallows
adapted from here

2 tablespoons powdered gelatin
½ cup (120ml) warm water
330g caster sugar
½ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons glucose syrup
1/3 cup (80ml) water, extra
1 tablespoon orange blossom water

For rolling the marshmallows:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon corn starch, sifted

Lightly oil a 20cm (8in) square cake pan and dust with icing sugar.

Place the gelatin and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer, stir well to combine and set aside. Place the sugar, glucose and extra water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring for 5-6 minutes or until soft ball stage (115°C/240°F) on a sugar thermometer.

With the mixer running at high speed, gradually add the hot syrup to the gelatin mixture. Add the orange blossom water and beat for 10 minutes or until thick and fluffy. Pour into prepared pan, cover with foil or baking paper but do not let it touch the marshmallow. Set aside overnight in room temperature.

Place the icing sugar and corn starch in a bowl and stir to combine. Turn the marshmallow onto a surface lightly dusted with a little of the icing sugar mixture and carefully remove the pan. Cut into squares with a lightly oiled knife.

Dust with remaining icing sugar mixture and store in an airtight container.

Makes 36

Cinnamon marshmallows

I’ve been watching my SATC DVDs again and am surprised by how differently I feel about the show now: I still love it, Samantha continues to be my favorite girl, but Carrie is the biggest pain in the neck ever – my goodness, the woman is annoying!

I cried like a baby watching Charlotte and Harry getting together at the synagogue – I’m such a marshmallow... Some things never change. :)

Cinnamon marshmallows
adapted from a Donna Hay magazine vanilla marshmallow

½ cup (120ml) water
1 ½ cinnamon quills
2 tablespoons powdered gelatin
½ cup (120ml) warm water, extra
330g caster sugar
½ cup + 1 ½ tablespoons glucose syrup

For rolling the marshmallows:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon corn starch, sifted
¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon

icing sugar extra, for dusting the pan

Oil a 20cm (8in) square cake pan and dust well with icing sugar.

Combine ½ cup water and cinnamon quills in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, set aside to cool then remove the cinnamon quills.
Place the gelatin and warm water (extra) in the bowl of an electric mixer, stir well to combine and set aside. Place the sugar, glucose and 1/3 cup (80ml) of the cinnamon infusion in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring for 5-6 minutes or until soft ball stage (115°C/240°F) on a sugar thermometer.

With the mixer running at high speed, gradually add the hot syrup to the gelatin mixture. Beat for 10 minutes or until thick and fluffy. Pour into prepared pan, cover loosely with lightly greased non-stick baking paper and set aside to firm overnight.

Place the icing sugar, corn starch and ground cinnamon in a bowl and stir to combine. Turn the marshmallow onto a surface lightly dusted with a little of the icing sugar mixture and carefully from the pan. Cut into squares with a lightly oiled knife and dust with remaining icing sugar mixture.
Store in an airtight container.

Makes 36

Lemon marshmallows

My brother JP used to be a wonderful company back in my days as a single lady - he’s funny and witty and would always be ready to go to the movies with me even though to this day he doesn’t know who Martin Scorsese is. :D

One thing he didn’t like was going through the trailers prior to watching the actual movie - he didn’t understand how much fun I had watching the trailers at the theater and searching for more later on at home. “Don’t you ever get tired of that?” he once asked.

Now it’s my turn to ask my readers: are you tired of my marshmallow recipes? I just can’t get enough of them... :D

Lemon marshmallows
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

25g powdered gelatin
1 lemon, finely grated zest
¾ cup (180ml) lemon juice
500g caster sugar
1 tablespoon liquid glucose
2 egg whites
icing sugar, sifted, for dusting

Combine gelatin, zest and lemon juice in a small bowl and stand until lemon juice is absorbed (1-2 minutes). Fill a bowl with boiling water and place bowl of gelatin mixture on top and stand until gelatin has dissolved (1-2 minutes). Keep warm.
Combine sugar, glucose and 200ml water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, then brush down sides of pan using a wet, clean pastry brush and cook over medium heat until syrup reaches 125ºC/257ºF on a sugar thermometer (5-10 minutes).
Meanwhile, whisk egg whites using an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and whisk to firm peaks. With motor running and mixer speed on medium, slowly and simultaneously add syrup and gelatin mixture in a thin stream. Whisk until mixture cools to blood temperature. Spoon into a baking paper-lined* 20cm-square cake pan, smooth top using a wet palette knife and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours). Remove marshmallow from the pan and place it on a cutting board heavily dusted with icing sugar. Carefully remove paper. Using a sharp knife lightly brushed with vegetable oil, cut into cubes, roll in icing sugar and place in an airtight container. Marshmallows will keep refrigerated for 1 week - I usually keep mine in room temperature but they never last that long. :D

* I saw that Deb used an oiled pan dusted with icing sugar (no paper involved). I’ll try that next time

Makes 64

Lavender marshmallows

It seemed like a good idea – something delicate, almost ethereal. But it did not turn out as I expected...

Have you tried lavender marshmallows? I remember seeing a photo on a magazine, months ago, but there was no recipe – it was an ad from a bakery or something. I decided to use a vanilla marshmallow recipe from DH mag #36 adding the dried lavender instead of vanilla extract.

The marshmallow was actually quite good – delicious and fluffy. But the problem was biting into the lavender buds – they tasted sort of bitter. Maybe grinding them with the sugar before making the syrup would solve this problem – I would love to hear your opinion about it.

Lavender marshmallows
adapted from Donna Hay magazine

4 tablespoons powdered gelatin
1 cup (240ml) warm water
660g caster sugar
1 1/3 cups glucose syrup
2/3 cup water, extra
3 tablespoons dried edible lavender*
200g confectioners’ sugar, sifted
35g (about 3 tablespoons) corn starch

Place the gelatin and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer, stir well to combine and set aside. Place the sugar, glucose and extra water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook without stirring for 5-6 minutes or until soft ball stage (115ºC/240ºF) on a sugar thermometer.
With the mixer running at high speed, gradually add the hot syrup to the gelatin mixture. Add the lavender and beat for 10 minutes or until thick and fluffy. Pour into a lightly greased 25x35cm (10x14in) baking dish lined with non-stick baking paper, cover with lightly greased non-stick baking paper and refrigerate overnight (I used regular baking paper and oiled it very well).
Place the icing sugar and corn starch in a bowl and stir to combine. Turn the marshmallow onto a surface lightly dusted with a little of the icing sugar mixture and carefully remove the paper. Cut into 5cm (2in) squares – to make cutting easier, dip the knife in boiling water and wipe dry between each incision.
Dust with remaining icing sugar mixture and store in an airtight container

Makes 25 - I halved the recipe above, used a 20cm (8in) square pan and got 36 smaller marshmallows