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Homemade Marshmallows
May. 29th, 2011 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
red_trilliumI'm cross posting this from my journal. I made the recipe & it turned out good despite making some mistakes! If you have food allergies or preferences you may be able to do some substitutions. I've had a couple people comment about corn allergies & the possibility of using tapioca starch. The ingredients are minimal so if you experiment and a batch doesn't quite turn out you don't have a lot invested.
My comments & changes are in itallics in the body of the recipe.
(Cross posted entry)
I came across a recipe last night and it sounded easy enough so I gave it a go this morning. Baking: How to try to destress on a weekend. This came out of the Countdown store's "Indulge" magazine that has recipes and product info. I think it's the most recent one as it's a 2011 one and has midwinter recipes in it (no date on the darned thing). The recipe is called Vanilla Marshmallow Stars, but for reasons about to become apparent I'll call it something else.
This would make a perfect, low-cost and quick gift idea. You can make them simple or you can go a bit more on the fancy side for flavours. You can package them in cellophane or a nice box or tin on their own or couple them with a box of Fairtrade hot cocoa mix & a nice mug or put it together with graham crackers (or vanilla or other simple, plain cookies) & a bar of chocolate & instructions. Because you control what goes in these you can experiment to adapt it to your dietary restrictions. Could be a gluten free recipe but check your corn flour (corn starch) to be sure none has snuck into there.
The best thing for me is not only is it quick and easy, but I have flubbed the recipe and they have still come out yummy.
Homemade Marshmallows, or LoveMallows
Total work time is about 30 to 40 minutes (depending) & total time before eating/serving is about 1 hr 30 min to 1 hr 40 mins.
Supposedly makes 16 but depends on the size you cut and how thick you spread it.
Ingredients
-Olive Oil, to grease (I messed up and didn't use this, no harm done).
-1/4 cup water
-2 teaspoons gelatine powder (I don't know if there is a vegetarian version to gelatine, if so you might need to adjust the amount if it gives a harder/softer set)
-1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or you can use flavours that you would use in baking: ie--1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla or lemon or .....)
-1/3 cup caster sugar (or super fine sugar, I wonder if you can also use honey or other non-sugar sweeeteners, may need some experimentation to get the texture & set right)
-cornflour (cornstarch) to dust (approx 1/3 cup and you can also add about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon or just a bit less of a spice--I used ground ginger)
Brush a baking tray with oil to grease (this is the part I missed & did something else, didn't seem to make a difference to the finished product). Line with non-stick baking paper.
Place the water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle with the gelatine & set aside to soften for 1 minute.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod (or add flavour to the water and gelatine mix). Add the sugar (or other sweetener??). Place over low heat and stir until the gelatine and sugar dissolve. (Another part of the instructions says this should be simmering but I didn't see that and mine wasn't, didn't seem to have any ill effect but you want to be sure your gelatine is dissolved.)
Transfer the mix to a large bowl. Use an electric beater and beat for 10 minutes or until light, thick and fluffy. (Note: Don't overwhip or go too long as the gelatine then starts to set and you can't spread it well. Yeah, guess what else I did wrong in this recipe....)
Spread the thickened mixture over the prepared tray to form a 2cm thick (about the width of your thumbnail or so) and 16cm square. Smooth the surface. Set aside for 1 hour or until set. (I just put mine on the counter, it doesn't say anything about the fridge and this worked fine)
Lightly dust a sheet of non-stick baking paper with cornflour. Turn the marshmallow onto the prepared paper. Lightly dust the top of the marshmallow with cornflour. (Yeah, did something different here too, not a big deal, whatever works for you!)
Use a 3.5cm shaped pastry cutter (or a sharp knife) dipped in cornflour to cut 16 stars (or squares) from the marshmallow.
The directions don't say how to store or how long, I'm keeping mine in a airtight container and if it lasts a week I'll be lucky! :) I made lemon flavoured 'mallows with ground ginger. They're my "sorry you don't feel well" 'mallows since I wasn't feeling well today. I think next time I'll try to cut back the sugar and put some honey in for lemon-ginger-honey ones.
Another gift idea would be to make strawberry, vanilla, coffee, almond, ?? flavoured ones and dip them in melted chocolate. YUM. I also want to try to use one of my herbal fruit-infusion teas (like the Pineapple Passion from Aaah!Tea), make a very strong brew in the 1/3 cup of water and use that as a light flavour instead of the ones I use for baking.
My comments & changes are in itallics in the body of the recipe.
(Cross posted entry)
I came across a recipe last night and it sounded easy enough so I gave it a go this morning. Baking: How to try to destress on a weekend. This came out of the Countdown store's "Indulge" magazine that has recipes and product info. I think it's the most recent one as it's a 2011 one and has midwinter recipes in it (no date on the darned thing). The recipe is called Vanilla Marshmallow Stars, but for reasons about to become apparent I'll call it something else.
This would make a perfect, low-cost and quick gift idea. You can make them simple or you can go a bit more on the fancy side for flavours. You can package them in cellophane or a nice box or tin on their own or couple them with a box of Fairtrade hot cocoa mix & a nice mug or put it together with graham crackers (or vanilla or other simple, plain cookies) & a bar of chocolate & instructions. Because you control what goes in these you can experiment to adapt it to your dietary restrictions. Could be a gluten free recipe but check your corn flour (corn starch) to be sure none has snuck into there.
The best thing for me is not only is it quick and easy, but I have flubbed the recipe and they have still come out yummy.
Homemade Marshmallows, or LoveMallows
Total work time is about 30 to 40 minutes (depending) & total time before eating/serving is about 1 hr 30 min to 1 hr 40 mins.
Supposedly makes 16 but depends on the size you cut and how thick you spread it.
Ingredients
-Olive Oil, to grease (I messed up and didn't use this, no harm done).
-1/4 cup water
-2 teaspoons gelatine powder (I don't know if there is a vegetarian version to gelatine, if so you might need to adjust the amount if it gives a harder/softer set)
-1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or you can use flavours that you would use in baking: ie--1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla or lemon or .....)
-1/3 cup caster sugar (or super fine sugar, I wonder if you can also use honey or other non-sugar sweeeteners, may need some experimentation to get the texture & set right)
-cornflour (cornstarch) to dust (approx 1/3 cup and you can also add about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon or just a bit less of a spice--I used ground ginger)
Brush a baking tray with oil to grease (this is the part I missed & did something else, didn't seem to make a difference to the finished product). Line with non-stick baking paper.
Place the water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle with the gelatine & set aside to soften for 1 minute.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod (or add flavour to the water and gelatine mix). Add the sugar (or other sweetener??). Place over low heat and stir until the gelatine and sugar dissolve. (Another part of the instructions says this should be simmering but I didn't see that and mine wasn't, didn't seem to have any ill effect but you want to be sure your gelatine is dissolved.)
Transfer the mix to a large bowl. Use an electric beater and beat for 10 minutes or until light, thick and fluffy. (Note: Don't overwhip or go too long as the gelatine then starts to set and you can't spread it well. Yeah, guess what else I did wrong in this recipe....)
Spread the thickened mixture over the prepared tray to form a 2cm thick (about the width of your thumbnail or so) and 16cm square. Smooth the surface. Set aside for 1 hour or until set. (I just put mine on the counter, it doesn't say anything about the fridge and this worked fine)
Lightly dust a sheet of non-stick baking paper with cornflour. Turn the marshmallow onto the prepared paper. Lightly dust the top of the marshmallow with cornflour. (Yeah, did something different here too, not a big deal, whatever works for you!)
Use a 3.5cm shaped pastry cutter (or a sharp knife) dipped in cornflour to cut 16 stars (or squares) from the marshmallow.
The directions don't say how to store or how long, I'm keeping mine in a airtight container and if it lasts a week I'll be lucky! :) I made lemon flavoured 'mallows with ground ginger. They're my "sorry you don't feel well" 'mallows since I wasn't feeling well today. I think next time I'll try to cut back the sugar and put some honey in for lemon-ginger-honey ones.
Another gift idea would be to make strawberry, vanilla, coffee, almond, ?? flavoured ones and dip them in melted chocolate. YUM. I also want to try to use one of my herbal fruit-infusion teas (like the Pineapple Passion from Aaah!Tea), make a very strong brew in the 1/3 cup of water and use that as a light flavour instead of the ones I use for baking.
