Marshmallows

Every since I threw my friend a rubbery ducky themed baby shower a few weeks ago and decorated the cupcakes with billions of peeps I've had marshmallows on the brain. I think I had had a peep one or two times in my life but when while decorating I ate one and wow, was that gross! I knew there had to be a better marshmallow and I remembered how amazing all the marshmallows that Tuesday's With Dorie did a while ago looked and so I decided to give them a try. And make them pink!

They were really quick and easy to make actually and everyone who had them was skeptical at first but after trying them said they were just like regular marshmallows. I guess that's a good thing! If I ever make them again I would definitely make them flavored in some way since they are so plain. Some melted dark chocolate stirred in would be wonderful, or maybe a little bit of strawberry puree....mmmmm

I wish I had let them sit longer before cutting them because I think I could have used cookie cutters and made some cute shapes, mine came out very 'rustic' (ie ugly) don't you think?

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give them a try

Marshmallows

Adapted From :Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 cup cornstarch

¾ cup cold water

1 ¼ cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 ¼-ounce packets unflavored gelatin

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Line a rimmed baking sheet – choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high – with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 ¼ cups sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup – without stirring – until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquify it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy – don’t overbeat the and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl.Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won’t fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They’ll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you’ll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you’d like – into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they’re cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you’ve got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

and here are some variations that Dorie recommends:

Raspberry Marshmallows: Fruit purees are excellent for flavoring these candies. For raspberry marshmallows, you’ll need a generous 1/3 cup of puree; reduce the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon. After the batter is mixed, gently fold in the puree with a rubber spatula. You can use the same measurements and technique for other purees, such as strawberry, mango, and passion fruit.

Cappuccino Marshmallows: Sift ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder, and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon together into a small bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and mix until smooth. Reduce the vanilla extract to ½ teaspoon, and add it to the espresso mix. After you add the sugar syrup and gelatin to the meringue, beat in the espresso mixture and continue.

Light Chocolate Marshmallows: Melt 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and stir in 2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Reduce the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon, and after the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the chocolate mixture with a large rubber spatula.

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows: Whisk together ½ cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground allspice. After the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the spiced pumpkin with a large rubber spatula.

Chocolate - Better Late (and Dark) Than Never

Sorry for the late posting of this weeks Tuesday's With Dorie, but life is as always full and wonderful (and fantastic).

Yet again, it's chocolate on the menu. This week may have put me over the top for my chocolate quota, eating uncooked brownie will do that to you. Yup, the center of these fudgy brownies never cooked for me (even after adding 7 minutes to the cooking time). I mean, they say they are delicate and should be gooey but I honestly felt sick after eating the center piece. Ugh. That said, they were delicious really. Just watch out for that gooey center piece. They fulfilled all brownie, ooey gooey chocolatey desires I had (and frequently have).

I liked how this recipe was different - you divide the egg mixture in half, one half you mix into the chocolate and the other half you whip until it's doubled in size and then carefully fold into the batter. I think it was this subtle difference that made these brownies fudgey but not dense. Decadent but still delicate. Mmmm. They were much appreciated in this household - can you tell?

Thank you to Tanya at Chocolatechic for choosing these and as always check out the rest of the TWD bloggers here.

Milk Chocolate Mini (notquite) Bundt Cakes

My dad doesn't think Tuesday's With Dorie is ever anything but chocolate, I keep telling him it's not always chocolate, but this week I have to prove him right - it's chocolate. Good good good chocolate. Chocolate on chocolate with a nutty chocolate swirl. yummmm.

Of course I didn't have a mini bundt cake on hand so I improvised and used some old pans I had in the cabinet. Sort of look like mini bundt cakes right?

This recipe really intimidated me in the book, I think part of the reason the TWD recipes often intimidate me is that there are like 3 separate recipes, one for the filling, one for the cake, and one for the topping and they all have multiple ingredients. but when I actually get in there and start it's really simple, it's just mixing a few things together and setting them aside in a bowl for later use, not that hard. Basically it was a nice simple chocolate cake recipe (that I didn't despise for once!) and a mix of nuts, cocoa and sugar and then a bittersweet chocolate top to drizzle over the mini cakes. Mine were so small that instead of making 6 mini bundts I had 16 mini whatever these are. They overflowed a good amount too, and I had a hard time with putting one scoop in and then some of the nut mixture and then another scoop in because my pans were so little! it was like, put a tablespoon (or even less!) of batter in and then another tablespoon on top of the nut mixture. Luckily, they turned out wonderful! They slid right out of the pans and were so cute. The topping didn't really work out for me that well. It was supposed to be some chocolate, some light corn syrup and then optional nuts (that I omitted) and then drizzled over the cakes. Well the chocolate looked lovely and then when I added the corn syrup it got all thick and grainy and there was no way it was gonna look pretty or drizzle over the cakes. I scrapped that and just melted some bittersweet chocolate and drizzled that over the cakes. I think it came out looking lovely and tasted even better! who needs corn syrup?! not me!

These were sooo yummy. I probably should have cooked them for a few minutes less than I did, but even so they were delishhh. I even had one for breakfast!

Super big thank you to Kristin of I'm Right About Everything and as always check out the other amazing bloggers here

Chocolate For Breakfast

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was Cocoa-Nana Bread chosen by Steph of Obsessed With Baking. She has the recipe (and some much prettier pictures) over on her site.

Again, I wasn't thrilled about making this weeks recipe, but I'm a total convert now. When I read Dorie's intro to the recipe about trying to make chocolate acceptable breakfast food I knew I'd be sold. I think chocolate for breakfast is a genius idea, and a way of life we should all adopt.

The recipe was super easy to come together and looked like such pretty chocolate icing as I was scooping it into the loaf pan. Speaking of which....

Instead of a 9x5" loaf pan I used a 8.5"x4.5", I didn't think it would be too big of a problem but it definitely overflowed...

and the top came off when I was trying to get it out of the pan. Strangely the top was fairly uncooked but the rest of the bread was perfect - moist but not doughy and undercooked. I guess I'm glad the top came off! even though it wasn't very pretty....

It was tasty though! It's not super chocolatey which I actually really liked. I also didn't taste the bananas at all but I could tell it gave the bread a lot of moisture, I'm sure you could do this with other fruit, maybe applesauce or pumpkin in place of the banana.

As always, check out the rest of the TWD blogroll to see all the other amazing bakers who baked this weeks recipe.

Almost-Candy Bars

This weeks Tuesday's With Dorie was baked in the very last moments of the day, eaten for dessert and then packed up for the coworkers to enjoy tomorrow. Lillian of Confectiona's Realm chose the recipe this week - Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy bars. I was only slightly excited about this, it just sounded sort of boring to me honestly.

Although I wasn't particularly inspired by this weeks recipe I do love me some chocolate and oatmeal and was looking forward to being wowed by this bars. I wasn't. I probably could have tweaked them some and enjoyed them a lot more. They are basically a chewy oatmeal bottom (with chopped up peanuts in it) with chocolate fudge on top, topped with some crumbled oatmeal/peanut mixture and baked. I wish either the bottom layer was more crispy and less chewy, or that the chocolate layer was thinner, darker and less sugar-y sweet (mostly due to the sweetened condensed milk).

Either way, these aren't sticking around the house or else they will get eaten. They are already packed up and ready to go to B's coworkers tomorrow. I'm hoping for 'wife of the year' award 2 years in a row.

As always, check out the other amazing bloggers here at the TWD blogroll. Lillian has the recipe posted over at her site if you want to check it out.

Mrs. Vogel's Scherben

What a bizarre name for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie!


But really these are not bizarre at all. It's basically funnel cake, but instead of all together it's small pieces/sticks/scherben - shards.


The dough is incredibly simple and these would have been SUPER quick to make except that I had to let the dough cool, cut it, then cool again, then fry it. By itself the dough is incredibly bland, but deep fry it, roll it in cinnamon sugar and then top with confectioners sugar and yum!

I liked these more than I thought I would, which isn't saying a lot because I thought I'd hate them. But really, isn't everything good if you put cinnamon sugar and confectioners sugar on it?


I think so.

As always, check out the other amazing TWD bloggers here.

Happy Birthday

to Tuesday's With Dorie!



Today is the second anniverary of the start of Tuesdays With Dorie - a weekly blog even where bakers/bloggers bake the same recipe out of Dorie Greenspan's cookbook 'Baking: From My Home To Yours'.

This week we had the option to bake either the tarte tatin or the cocoa-buttermilk birthday cake. Because I just baked the tarte tatin this fall (during all that apple baking I did) I chose to go with the birthday cake.

Unfortunately, I don't think I like chocolate cake. I'm embarassed to admit it but it's true and this cake was no exception. I thought maybe it was just me who thought this cake lacked chocolate flavor and was a bit too sweet and turns out, it was. My husband said it's delicious and will be taking the rest to his co-workers tomorrow. I think I just like chocolate in creamy rich forms - mousse, ganache, ice cream, bar. Mmmmmmm.

I do think that I'd make this again if someone asked me to make a chocolate birthday cake because it came together surprisingly quick and easy. The recipe intimidated me at first but I was actually really happy with the whole baking process for this cake, I usually have a hard time deciding if a cake is done or not and this one came out perfect.

My first week back into TWD may have been a flop for me but it's always fun to bake along with everyone and see their creations. As always check out the other amazing TWD bakers here.

Molasses Spice Cookies (AKA Gingersnaps)

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies. Perfect for the holidays! I still think that holiday bundt cake from last week is gonna win for thanksgiving day. It was so addictive and not too sweet. Sorry, back to the cookies.


I have to say that I wasn't totally nuts about these cookies. They tasted like gingersnaps to me, which is fine and good but I'm not really that crazy about gingersnaps. They were just ok for me. I ended up taking them over to my grandpa and he and his attendants gobbled them up. While I don't really care that much for gingersnaps these were addictive and I did eat a fair amount. I will definitely use this recipe again when I want to make a gingery cookie and next time I think I would even add more black pepper (that's right!) and ginger to make them even a bit "spicier".

The recipe itself came together really quickly and was super easy, there weren't any special ingredients (besides molasses) so no extra trips to the grocery store! Always a plus around here.


This weeks recipe was chosen by Pamela of Cookies With Boys, she's got the recipe on her site.

...and don't forget to check out all the rest of the bakers on the TWD blogroll.

Holiday Bundt Cake

I know I've already mentioned this but I really feel like we we went from summer straight into the holiday season and I have had a hard time adjusting. Well consider me adjusted! because this cake made my whole house smell like thanksgiving, all the pies rolled into one yummy bundt cake that I can't stop snacking on. mmmmm...


So Tuesday's With Dorie has been a little different this month. Because of the holidays there are 4 recipes for the month but each participant can cook them on whichever Tuesday they like. It's fun to see people making things I made last week and also to see what I'll be making next week. When I saw this cake pop up on other peoples blogs last week I wasn't all that excited, but I had all the ingredients on hand today so I went for it. It's pumpkin cake at the base, with nutmeg and fresh ginger that are very fragrant and delicious, cranberries, diced apple and pecans mixed in complete all the thanksgiving flavors. It was almost a one bowl cake and was super easy to make. It also wasn't super dense or rich which is a relief from some other TWD recipes.

Thank you to Britin at The Nitty Bitty for choosing this All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake and as always, check out the rest of the Tuesday's With Dorie bloggers.

A week

without posting. Bad blogger! I've had family in town from California and have been neglecting my blog. But now I have tons to blog about! We had a fantastic visit filled with tractors, walks, babies, toddlers, food and more tractors. OK, so there was only one tractor, but it was a very big deal to a certain toddler.

I tried not to neglect my apple duties while the family was in town so I made 3 apple dishes while they were here - Rhiannon's Sour Cream Apple Pie (which I actually made twice and it was devoured both times), a classic apple pie, and Tuesday's With Dorie's Cranberry Apple Crisp. How fitting that this weeks TWD was an apple dish! Of course I didn't get it posted on Tuesday... bad blogger. I also didn't get a picture of it after it came out of the oven because it was quickly taken over to my Grandfather's house where it was devoured by a very enthusiastic toddler. The same one that is obsessed with tractors, diggers, and apparently apple cranberry crisp. I did get a picture of the filling to the crisp because it was just so beautiful. sugar coated cranberries are gorgeous. It looks like sweet sparkly snow



I have to admit that I barely even tasted the crisp. The one bite I had was delicious but I left it for my grandfather. Everyone said it was good and I loved the combination of apple and cranberry. It was also a total breeze to put together and I made it in a deep dish pie pan instead of individual sizes. I'm wary of crumb toppings because I feel like they are either too buttery and gross or they aren't crumby at all. This was quick and easy and didn't have either common issue. I'll definitely make this one again, once I'm not so sick of apples.

Thanks to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for this weeks recipe! and as always, check out the rest of the amazing TWD bloggers

I love Allspice!

it's a very underrated spice in my opinion. This weeks Tuesday's With Dorie was chosen by Kayte over at Grandma's Kitchen Table. Thanks Kayte!



I thought the recipe was very simple and the batter came together very quickly with no issues. The crumb topping was super easy to make and actually came out very nicely crumbly - which isn't always the case. I had to add 5 extra minutes onto the cook time but they were perfectly done and nicely fragrant and I couldn't wait to try one.



The crumb topping rocked. Brown sugar, butter, a little allspice - what's not to like? but beyond that the muffins were a bit boring. I feel like they needed some sort of texture in them - maybe nuts? maybe some prunes? something....

I probably wouldn't make these again without adding something to the batter but they weren't bad by any means.

TWD: Split Level Pudding

This weeks Tuesday's With Dorie was Split Level Pudding chosen by Garret at Flavor of Vanilla - a simple vanilla pudding on top with a hidden bottom of chocolate ganache. Dorie offered a lot of variations you could do to spice up the vanilla pudding (mocha, rasberry, etc..) but I decided to just do the vanilla/chocolate combo. The recipe came together very quickly and was the quickest TWD I've done so far. It was a very simple dessert and yet, I managed to mess it up! The pudding was fine, my husband loved it and I was like "eh, it's pudding, whatever" but the ganache (that I've made so many times before) didn't come out the right texture at all! It just didn't get that shiny melted ganache-ness about it and so it was a little grainy in texture. Oh well. As you can see we didn't mind too much I don't think I would make this again really, maybe I'm just not a pudding person. I am however a ganache person, when done right it's delicious!

Mmmmmmmmm

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was chosen by Carla of Chocolate Moosey and was the Chocolate Crunched-Caramel tart. Thanks for choosing this one Carla! This is my second week with the TWD group and I'm loving it. So is my husband :P

I felt like this recipe was very simple really - tart crust, caramel with peanuts and then chocolate on top - simple. But it required so many trips to the grocery store! and whats with NO one carrying bittersweet chocolate anymore? and is there really such a thing as a 9" tart pan? I think not! I ended up making individual tartlettes (which I thought came out better anyhow) and splurging on nice ghiradelli 60% dark chocolate (which I also thought was better) so all in all - mega YUM. The crust was delicious even though I didn't have a food processor to make it in - I did it in the kitchenaid and with a pastry cutter thing and by hand and with a big mess to show afterwards! and 5 cute little tart pans with a beautiful flaky, crumbly crust.

The ganache was fantastic and thinner than I usually think of a ganache but delicious (which I thank ghiradelli for). I thought that since it was topped with ganache it would be served cold and need to be refridgerated but no, Dorie was very specific about only a 30 minute chill time and then being served and stored at room temp. She was very right (as usual) it was delicious at room temp with the ganache soft but not too soft. The caramel was outstanding too, and very easy to make. I didn't think I'd like putting honey roasted peanuts in it but I didn't have any of the other nuts she mentioned for variations (toasted hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts or just salted peanuts) so I went with these and it came out fantastic! All in all this was a winner. Simple and oh so elegant.

You can tell we liked it

and for all you pacman (or woman) lovers

No better time than the present

to start working on my list (even though I technically started last Thursday). I looked at the Tuesday's With Dorie list and saw that this Tuesday's recipe was cottage cheese pufflets. Like most sane people I despise cottage cheese so I immediately thought 'I'll just join next week' but then I remembered that the point of this is to make things you wouldn't normally make and push yourself. Also, I had a package of cottage cheese in the fridge somehow, I have no idea how that got there. So I decided to make those damn pufflets and this is my very first TWD post!

This weeks recipe was chosen by Jacque at Daisy Lane Cakes and you can see her blog for the full recipe. Of course you can also pick up your copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours. You do own a copy don't you? You can also check out all the other amazing participating bakers on the Tuesday's With Dorie blogroll.

Dorie wrote that the recipe was originally meant to be beaten by a wooden spoon but she called for the recipe to be made in a food processor. Since I don't have a food processor I decided to do it in my trusty Kitchenaid, I figured it would be enough if a wooden spoon was enough. Check out my helpers (my mother-in-law and my son)

The mix was supposed to look like whipped cream cheese and although mine was close, it took a good 5-7 minutes and still all the curds of my small curd cottage cheese weren't completely gone but oh well. Here's the mix wrapped up tight and ready for it's stay in my fridge overnight

My first batch wasn't as thin as it should have been and I had to increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes (and even then they were still a little undercooked). I did the first batch in circle shapes like little pies with apricot preserves filling from Trader Joe's.

The second batch I did in triangles like the recipe called for, with Lingonberry preserves from Ikea. I preferred the apricot which I think was a little sweeter, but everyone else liked the Lingonberry more. I took them to a dinner party at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house knowing they were Lingonberry fans and they liked them a lot.

I have to say that I really expected not to like these pufflets but I actually liked them a good bit. I love cookies and I love shortbread and these were sort of shortbread like. They were also not too sweet, which I really like, the cookies only had 2tbsp of sugar in them so pretty much all the sweetness came from the jam filling which was really yummy.