A Taste of Heaven

Yes, heaven - to die for - can't live without, you get the picture! And I'm talking about homemade marshmallows! I made them on Sunday and finished cutting them and dusting them last night.

While cutting them, Remi, Sugar and Lucy were patiently standing behind me waiting to be the taste testers. As to be expected, they loved them! I think all of us had at least three each during the testing process but in the end, we all agree, the marshmallows passed the test without a doubt!

They are most delightful - light and airy and yummy, yummy, good! As always, much better than store bought!

I actually used Alton Brown's recipe which is below. The only change I did is that I added about a 1/2 teaspoon (or a tad more) of clear vanilla.

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Homemade Marshmallows (Alton Brown)

1/4 cup powdered gelatin
1 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla
2 egg whites
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more for dusting pan and marshmallows
Butter for greasing pan (I used PAM)

In a medium sized saucepan soak the gelatin in the water. After the gelatin has softened (approximately 10 minutes) add the regular sugar and then gently dissolve over low heat for approximately 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Add vanilla.

In a mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Then fold in the sifted confectioners' sugar. While the mixer is on low, slowly poor in the cooled gelatin mixture. Increase the speed and beat until white and thick. The volume should double in size.

Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with high sides with foil, grease slightly with butter (or PAM), and coat with confectioners' sugar. Alternatively, you can use a baking sheet, but the marshmallows will not be as tall. Pour marshmallow mixture in and top with more sifted confectioners' sugar. Leave out overnight or for at least 3 hours to set. The marshmallow should be light and spongy when set.

Loosen marshmallow from edges of tray and invert onto a large cutting board. Peel off foil and use a large knife to cut the marshmallows into cubes. Dredge each piece in confectioners' sugar.

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I honestly can't believe I've never made these and it's another one of those things on my list that I've always wanted to make and now I have. They are super easy and as I said, the end result is well worth it. You will probably never go back to store bought mushies once you've tasted these!!

Remi, Sugar, and Lucy are hoping we don't and that I will continue to make these wonderful sweet confections just for them! I probably will. Remember, it's all about the dogs . . .

Mushie Breakthrough!!!!

It has happened! Sugar actually consumed her marshmallow this morning. I tossed it into her crate along with two small cookies. She ate the cookies first and then turned around and lo and behold, she smurfed up the mushie! I was very surprised and ecstatic, to say the least! (It's the little things in life, you know?)

Yesterday's mushie was missing, too, but I assumed that Remi or Lucy had snuck in there after their dinner to smurf it up but I guess it was probably Sugar who ate it then as well. Whoo hoo!

This is certainly a breakthrough at the Peterson household. I'm so psyched that I think I will attempt to make a batch of homemade marshmallows this weekend. As with the English Muffins, I've heard and read that once you have homemade mushies, you'll never go back to store bought mushies.

I found this recipe for making your own marshmallows and I think I'll try it:

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the cornstarch and confectioners sugar into a bowl. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch square baking pan and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch-and-sugar mixture into it. Tilt the pan to coat the sides and the bottom. Leave any excess in the pan.

Sprinkle the gelatin into the water in a small saucepan and let soak for five minutes. Add the granulated sugar and stir over low heat until the gelatin and sugar dissolve.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the gelatin mixture, corn syrup, salt and vanilla and beat for 15 minutes on high speed, until peaks form.

Spread the fluffy mixture in the prepared pan and smooth the top. Leave for two hours or until set.

With a wet knife, cut the marshmallow mixture into quarters and loosen around the edges. Sprinkle the remaining cornstarch-and-sugar mixture on a baking sheet and invert the marshmallow blocks onto it. Cut each quarter into nine pieces and roll each one in the starch and sugar.

Place the marshmallows on a cake rack covered with paper towels and let them stand over night to dry the surface slightly. Store airtight; the marshmallows will keep for a month.

Do you suppose making the girls homemade marshmallows is spoiling them a bit too much? :)

The Plight of the Mushie

Back in the day Remi, Lucy and Sugar all adored those wonderful white, sugary, spongy, fattening, confections known as marshmallows. My friend Heather calls them "mushies", which is quite appropriate I think.

It's a known fact that kennels at Greyhound tracks use these rather inexpensive mushies as treats for the dogs. So, it's something they've known most of their lives. And they've loved most of their lives. Who doesn't like a mushie, I ask you?

Well, up until sometime in August. Specifically, I think it was August 15th (see blog post, http://patemarie.blogspot.com/2008/08/uwo-unidentified-white-object.html). Ever since that day when the mushie attached itself to Sugar's side and she ran around the backyard with said mushie attached to her, and I laughed hysterically and took photographs as evidence for the blog, and then laughed hysterically some more . . . well, ever since then she has not eaten a mushie. That is also the timeframe when her liver began having problems.

I've tried countless times in an attempt to get her to eat said mushie - tossing it in the air, making her sit for it, putting it into her food bowl, covering mushie with enticing things ie peanut butter or honey - everything and she refuses to eat it. One time she grabbed it mid-air with her mouth and immediately spit it out. She can be such a little defiant creature at times but I love her anyway! That's what makes Sugar, well, Sugar!

In my quest to get her to eat said mushie, every workday I put one in her crate with her along with a cookie. Everyone gets the same thing. Every day I come home from work to find the uneaten mushie stuck somewhere in her crate - sometimes under her crate pad, sometimes in the corner (see picture) sometimes on the side. (I'm surprised she hasn't figured out how to push it through the wires of her crate on either side of her so Remi or Lucy could enjoy the thing.)

And every day when I let them out after I come home from work, Lucy and Remi both dash into Sugar's crate in an attempt to see who reaches the uneaten mushie first (that is also hysterical). Sugar silently just stands there and watches. She really doesn't care who eats the thing because she knows, for sure, that she isn't going to!

I have found, though, that during her recent illness, there are many things she wouldn't eat then that she is eating now. Basically, what was old is new again for her. So I am hopeful, yet again, that she will eventually eat a mushie and will, once more, fall in love with the things.