Thursday, December 15, 2011

New Things

I took the girl to Crest for groceries tonight and found some fresh herbs grown hydroponically. I am hoping to keep them alive until spring. I had rosemary make it through the horrible summer and so far it seems to be doing well in the house. I guess we'll see. Hopefully I can set them and my pineapple plants out on nicer days.

I also like to buy mangoes on occasion but rarely do because they are such a pain to cut. Not any more! I found a mango splitter at Williams-Sonoma. I didn't get it there, but this was the first time I had seen one. Later in Target I saw they had them (and for less) soI picked one up. It is awesome and I will be buying more mangoes from now on!!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Honey Marshmallows

Someone asked for my recipe, so here is my foavorite.  I like it because it doesn't require you to keep an eye on a candy thremometer (But you do have to wattch to make sure it doesn't boil over) or an extra step of whipping egg whites.  It is a firm marshmallow, so it is good for roasting.  You also don't have to use as much corn syrup because much of it is replaced with honey.  But let's face it, we aren't makiing these for health reasons anyway ;-)

Enjoy!  It's the bonfire time of year!


Honey Marshmallows

2 ½ tablespoons unflavored beef gelatin

½ cup+ 3 tablespoons water (divided)

½ cup light corn syrup

¾ cup honey

1/8 tsp salt

3 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Powdered sugar

Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with aluminum foil, slightly overlapping edges.  Spray foil with nonstick coating or use shortening, butter, or coconut oil.  Coat evenly.

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water.  Stir and let stand.

In a heavy 3-4 quart saucepan over med-high heat, stir together sugar, corn syrup, water and salt until well blended.  When the sugar dissolves, raise the heat and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring.  Boil for 30 seconds then stir in the gelatin mixture and extracts.  The mixture will boil up a bit when the alcohol evaporates from the extract.  Cook and stir for another 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Pour mixture into a large bowl being very careful, this is HOT.  Preferably with a wire whisk attachment on your mixer, begin beating mixture on low, slowly raising to high speed.  Beat mixture until stiff, white and very fluffy.  With a hand mixer this can take up to 10 minutes.

With an oiled silicone spatula, scrape mixture into baking dish.  Allow to stand uncovered for at least 6 hour or overnight if possible.  I put it in my microwave to keep the pests away or you could cover it with a dishtowel, but you want it to be able to get some air to it.

To cut the marshmallows, grease a pair of kitchen shears (or any scissors).  Turn marshmallow onto a cutting board covered with powdered sugar.  Sift more powdered sugar on the top of the marshmallow.  Cut to desired size and roll in more powdered sugar.  I like to have a zippered bag with some powdered sugar in it and just drop them in and shake them to coat.  Then take them and shake off excess sugar.  Store in air tight containers.  These freeze very well and are great for roasting.