Peppermint Marshmallows

Chilly weather always makes me think of sitting in front of a crackling fire, with a cozy blanket and a hot mug of something.  Well, we haven't got a fireplace, but I do have a blanket, two cozy kitties, and mugs waiting to be filled with that something.

 

The husband's favorite wintery combination is peppermint and chocolate.  Classic!  Making peppermint marshmallows to go with hot chocolate seemed like a fantastic idea.  You have to be careful, however, to not add too much extract to the 'mallow because if you do, it tastes like toothpaste.  Not an ideal flavor.  I started with a tiny amount (that turned out to be perfect), because you can always add more!  It's a bit tougher to take it away.

My friend, Chut, of previous marshmallow fame, suggested cutting them into circles to fit in a mug.  Adorable.  So instead of spreading it all out and then using a biscuit cutter to make circles, (and have funny-shaped leftovers), I thought I'd try my hand at piping circles. 

I lightly traced some circles on my parchment paper and used them as a stencil.  The actual piping worked... okay.  I had forgotten a key difference between frosting and marshmallow and that is... the stickiness factor.  The marshmallow didn't, however, stick to the prepared parchment paper (which is good), but then it would stick to the bag which made for some wonky circles (and lots of cursing).  At the end I just started piping individual 'dollops' which actually looked kind of cute.  Or like snowman poop.  Anyway.

Also, for fun, I finely chopped some bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled it on top of the marshmallow immediately following piping.  Because extra chocolate is never a bad thing.

I packaged these up with my favorite sipping chocolate as my holiday gift for my coworkers.  What a shock that I always prefer to give something edible!

So go ahead and whip these up to have with your family on some wintery night!

Peppermint Marshmallows
(Chut's recipe)

Cold mixture:
1/4 cup water
1 packet of gelatin
Pour water in stand mixer bowl, and sprinkle the packet of gelatin on top and let sit while you work on the syrup.

Flavoring:
1/8 tsp. peppermint extract (it seems small, but it really is enough!)
1 oz. finely chopped chocolate for garnish

Syrup:
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup hot water

Combine into saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until it reaches 240 degrees (soft-ball stage). It took roughly 10 minutes on medium-high heat. Remove from heat and pour slowly into stand mixer, with whisk attachment, and whip at high speed until it's opaque, no longer runny, and at least doubled in volume, and is much stiffer, about 10-15 minutes. In the beginning of the whipping of this, add the peppermint extract.

While it's whipping, put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and lightly spray with cooking spray, and lightly sprinkle cornstarch on it. After marshmallow is done whipping, scoop into large Ziploc bag and cut off corner. Pipe circles, dollops, or straight rows, and sprinkle chopped chocolate immediately on top. Then sprinkle cornstarch over it and let sit for at least and hour or two to completely set.

If you piped rows, use pizza cutter to cut marshmallow when set.

Pair with your favorite sipping chocolate and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Marshmallows

This time of year means lots of holiday parties, which gives me many opportunities to bake and cook to my heart's content.  Last year, at our neighbor's party I brought Oatmeal Stout Marshmallows, which were quite a hit.  This year, a different spin - sweet potato marshmallows.

Now, I can't take the credit for coming up with the flavor.  That would be my friend, Chut, who incidentally, taught me how to make marshmallows in the first place.  However, it's definitely a favorite of mine.

A holiday flavor, reminiscent of sweet potato casserole, of course.  But this is a delicate, velvety treat without any of the trouble of a goopy casserole.  If you're not necessarily a fan of eating the marshmallows straight, it works well in hot chocolate (it actually was really good, despite what you might think of the flavor).

I also tried something new for the 'shapes' of the marshmallows.  Typically I'd spread them in a prepared, shallow pan and then cut them with a pizza cutter.  It works fine, and is definitely a 'rustic' look.  This time, I put the marshmallow in a Ziploc bag, cut off a corner, and piped a few rows of it so I'd just have to 'slice' them instead of cutting out squares.  It made for more uniform marshmallows and was quite a bit easier and an easy cleanup.  The perfection of technique continues!

The recipe below is actually a halved recipe of the original.  But unless you have an army to feed, I'd stick with the smaller amount, as a little goes a long way with these treats.

Sweet Potato Marshmallows
(Chut's recipe)

Cold mixture:
1/4 cup water
1 packet of gelatin
Pour water in stand mixer bowl, and sprinkle the packet of gelatin on top and let sit while you work on the syrup.

Flavoring:
1/4 cup, rounded, of sweet potato puree (I used canned, unsweetened puree, but if you were ambitious, I'm sure you could make your own)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
Pinch nutmeg

Syrup:
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup hot water
Combine into saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until it reaches 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).  It took roughly 10 minutes on medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and pour slowly into stand mixer, with whisk attachment, and whip at high speed until it's opaque,  no longer runny, and at least doubled in volume, and is much stiffer, about 10-15 minutes.  In the beginning of the whipping of this, add the sweet potato puree and spices.

While it's whipping, put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and lightly spray with cooking spray, and lightly sprinkle cornstarch on it.  After marshmallow is done whipping, scoop into large Ziploc bag and cut off corner.  Pipe straight rows (it was about 4 of them for me), and sprinkle cornstarch over it and let sit for at least and hour or two to completely set.

A pizza cutter works GREAT to cut the mallows, and coat all sides of mallows with cornstarch to keep from sticking all over everything.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Stout Marshmallows - Take 2!

Brilliant idea with poor execution = sadness.  Brilliant idea with perfected execution = redemption!

I love making marshmallows and am always looking for new and fun flavors to try out.  The boyfriend had a brilliant suggestion - oatmeal stout flavored.   Sure, sounds great!  The first attempt was ill-fated, and they failed to set up leaving me with a sticky, overly malleable mess with lots of curses hanging in the air.  However, I was determined because the flavor was great, even if the texture wasn't.  Take two, however, was a glowing success and they set up perfectly.  (If you want to know what the fix was - it was actually following my recipe and adding the correct amount of gelatin.  Oops.)

Perhaps I was distracted by adorable curiosity of my sous chefs?

It was fun to bring them in to work and watch people's faces as they considered tasting the marshmallow.  "Uh, stout, you say?  Hm..."  But anyone who was bold enough to try it, loved it!  It reminds you of the creamy head of a lovely, poured stout (and the bit of booze included is a lovely perk).  Yum!

Oatmeal Stout Marshmallow
(adapted from my friend Chut's recipe and technique!)

1/2 cup oatmeal stout (oops, guess you'll have to drink the rest!)
2 packets of gelatin
Pour stout in stand mixer bowl, and sprinkle the 2 packets of gelatin on top and let sit while you work on the syrup.

1 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water
Combine into saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook until it reaches 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).  Remove from heat and pour slowly into stand mixer, with whisk attachment, and whip at high speed until it's opaque,  no longer runny, and at least doubled in volume, and is much stiffer, about 10-15 minutes.  You can't really over-beat them - a relief!

 While it's whipping, put parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and lightly spray with cooking spray, and lightly sprinkle cornstarch on it.  After marshmallow is done whipping, spread on prepared parchment (as much as possible, it WILL be sticky), and sprinkle cornstarch over it and let sit for at least and hour or two to completely set (overnight is great, especially when you decide to make them late at night like me).  There will be some sticking in the bowl and on the spatula - but you need to try it out for quality assurance, right?!

A pizza cutter works GREAT to cut the mallows, and coat all sides of mallows with cornstarch to keep from sticking all over everything.

Enjoy!