Passion Fruit Marshmallows

Just like I did with Smitten Kitchen's caramels, I wanted to try to make her marshmallows with my own personal favorite flavor:  passion fruit!  It turned out to be incredibly easy; I just substituted the 1/2 cup of water that you dissolve the gelatin in with a 1/2 cup of passion fruit puree!

 
Passion Fruit Marshmallows
Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup passion fruit puree, thawed but cold
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
Yellow gel food coloring (optional)

 
Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners sugar.

 
In bowl of a standing electric mixer sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold passion fruit puree and let stand to soften.

 
If all the gelatin does not dissolve, gently combine with a spoon so that none of the gelatin powder is left dry.

 
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

 
With standing mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes.

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks.

 
Beat whites into sugar mixture until just combined.  At this point, if you would like to color your marshmallows, you can add a few drops of yellow food coloring.  This also helps let you know when the egg whites have been fully combined in the mixture.  (I only added 1 drop, and you can barely tell in these pictures that the marshmallows aren't white.)

 
Pour mixture into baking pan.  This is probably the trickiest part of the whole operation.

 
Try to smooth out the marshmallow fluff as best you can.  I take it back; this is the trickiest part.  It's okay if you don't get it perfectly smooth because then it's super obvious that it's homemade!

 
Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top.

 
Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

 
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes.

 
Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and working in batches, roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

 
These marshmallows were all that I hoped they would be:  soft and bouncy and tart and sweet.  They taste like pure sunshine to me.  If I had an experience with a Dementor, I'd eat one of these afterwards, and it would make me feel better than chocolate could.  ^_^

Three years ago:  Lemon Pudding Cake

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Vanilla & Cinnamon Marshmallows

I begged my friend, Andy, to throw a "Winter Warmer" just so I could have an excuse to make these marshmallows.  They're perfect for dunking in hot chocolate, toasting over a flame, or even just eating by themselves.

 
Vanilla & Cinnamon Marshmallows (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
Ground cinnamon

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

 
In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.  (It's not written in the SK recipe, but see how the top layer of gelatin powder doesn't get wet?  Don't leave it like that; stir it around a little so that it's all combined, which I failed to do with this batch, although if you forget, it's not the end of the world.)

 
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.  (At this point it's going to smell really bad, and you're going to wonder if the marshmallows will even be edible.  They will be, trust me.)

 
With standing mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes.

 
In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla into sugar mixture until just combined.

 
Pour mixture into baking pan. Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top.

 
Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

 
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.)

 
Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.  (I found it was easiest to do this in batches rather than all at once.)

 
Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

This is where the recipe from Smitten Kitchen stops.  I tasted the marshmallows at this point, and they were perfect in texture--springy and fluffy just like she promised.  The taste was just a little too...one dimensional for me, though.  Vanilla in its other definition.  It was too late to add any wet ingredients like another flavor extract, but then I thought, what if I just toss it with some cinnamon?  Cinnamon and sugar are such a great flavor combination already (think cinnamon toast or snickerdoodles), it couldn't hurt to try.  So I plopped a few marshmallows in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and sprinkled in a few dashes of ground cinnamon.  A few shakes later, the cinnamon was pretty evenly distributed.

 
It came down to the taste test:  would it be enough?  Too strong?  It turned out perfect!  The cinnamon added just enough spicy heat to give the marshmallows some depth while still remaining light and airy.  Unfortunately I didn't measure out how much cinnamon I tossed in there; it was literally just a couple of shakes.  I'd say start off with a little, shake, and taste.  If you want, you can always add more, but it's pretty hard to remove the cinnamon if you add too much.

Next time:  Passion Fruit Marshmallows!
Four years ago:  Toasted Coconut Ice Cream with Sesame Brittle and Crystallized Ginger

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Vanilla Passion Caramels

When I went to Paris for the first time this past summer, one of my friends gave me a list of food recommendations, and one of the most highlighted items were the mango passion caramels from Jacques Genin.  So Ellen and I made sure to make it one of our first stops in the city, and omg, was it so worth it.  You already know about my obsession with the passion fruit ice cream, and this caramel was basically the best caramel ever infused with the purified sunshine of passion fruit and mangoes.

I've been hoping to try to recreate this treat but all my web searches only turned up really complicated recipes that needed some weird ingredients or recipes for making passion fruit caramel sauce.  I wasn't confident enough to try adapting a regular butter caramel recipe since the only other time I had made caramels were the bacon fat caramels, but then I saw Smitten Kitchen's apple cider caramels post.  First I made the apple cider caramels according to her recipe to get familiar with the process and figure out how soft the caramels were.  They turned out exactly as she had promised--a burst of apple cider and buttery goodness--except that I ended up with a mouthful of cinnamony sharp salt at the end.  I'm guessing it's because I used Maldon salt (as recommended in the recipe), which has pretty large salt crystals, and you don't add it until the very end along with the cinnamon so there isn't a lot of time for the salt to dissolve.

I adapted the recipe by switching in passion fruit puree for the apple cider and using kosher salt in the beginning instead of the end.  I also decided to throw in vanilla bean to partially temper the tartness of the passion fruit and also add a little crackle from the seeds.

I'm super impressed with the results:  not only does it taste super delicious, it's also pretty easy to make, for caramels.  I love that everything is cooked together instead of caramelizing the sugar first and then adding in the butter and cream.  The latter process can get a little scary when the caramel explodes in volume, especially if you underestimated the size of the pot you're using.  I would recommend using a candy or instant read thermometer because you want to make sure the mixture cooks to 252°F, right in between the firm ball and hard ball stage.  If you don't cook it long enough, the caramel will be too soft, but if you cook it too far, it will be too hard.  I've taken pictures of what the caramel looks like every 10 degrees above 220°F to give you an idea of what it looks like, and you could, of course, just drop a bit into cold water to figure out which stage the sugar is at, but a thermometer is really just the easiest way to figure it out.

 
Vanilla Passion Caramels
makes 60 pieces

1/2 vanilla bean
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup passion fruit pulp (the easiest to find is the frozen Goya brand, sometimes with the frozen fruits, sometimes with the frozen ethnic foods)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup white sugar or vanilla sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
Neutral oil (like grape seed or canola) for the knife

Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside.

 
Make a lengthwise slit down the side of the vanilla bean and open it up. Scrape out the seeds and add it to a small saucepan along with the cream and butter.  (Tip:  Instead of throwing away the vanilla bean, store it in your sugar to make vanilla sugar!)

 
Heat on medium just until the butter is melted and turn off the flame. Gently stir to break up the vanilla seed clusters. Let steep for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil the passion fruit pulp in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced in volume by half. Stir occasionally, making sure that it doesn't burn.

 
Once you are finished reducing the passion fruit pulp, remove it from the heat and stir in the salt, sugars, and vanilla cream mixture.

 
Return the pot to medium heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252°F.

 
Immediately remove caramel from heat and pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firm—about 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge.

 
Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well-oiled knife, oiling it after each cut, to cut the caramel into batons about 2" long and 3/8" wide. Wrap each one in waxed paper, twisting the sides to close.

I keep the caramels in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and let them warm to room temperature before eating.  They will also last a couple of weeks at room temperature.  These are so good, I can barely bear to share them, but if so inclined, they would make great Christmas gifts!

Three years ago:  Stuffed Delicata Squash
Four years ago:  Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

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Bacon Fat Caramels

When I first read about Humphry Slocombe's lard caramels, my first thought was, why didn't they just use bacon fat instead of lard? After all, candied bacon was all the rage already, and wouldn't bacon fat caramels sound so much more appetizing than lard caramels? And for those of you who think bacon fat caramel sounds disgusting, well, we don't have to be friends anymore. ;)

So I made sure to save as much bacon fat as I could from the bacon I used for the bacon caramel corn. I ended up with a little over 7 tablespoons of fat from about 10 oz. of uncooked bacon. I searched on-line to see if anyone else had posted a recipe for bacon fat caramels, but the only one I found used sweetened condensed milk instead of cream. I usually like sweetened condensed milk in my desserts, but it is a pretty strong flavor, and I really wanted the bacon flavor to shine through, so I ended up using a recipe for fleur de sel caramels and just replaced the butter with bacon fat.

Bacon Fat Caramels (adapted from a recipe on Epicurious)
makes about 40 candies

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons bacon fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.

Bring cream, bacon fat, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 3 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Optional: Sprinkle diced, cooked bacon and/or sea salt on top of the caramel when it is still slightly soft.

I actually didn't have any wax paper but found that wrapping the caramels in parchment paper worked fine. The caramels were pretty greasy, but I think that was more because of the oil I used to grease the parchment rather than from the bacon fat itself. I did notice that at room temperature, the caramels are really quite soft, so I would definitely keep these chilled until you serve them.

As for the taste, some people have said it tastes like bacon drenched in maple syrup. Others have said that they didn't even taste the bacon until they bit into the part that had a bit of diced bacon in it. I did prefer the pieces that I sprinkled sea salt (I used Maldon sea salt) on more than the pieces that just had diced bacon because I think the texture worked better with the sea salt. Although, I did press all the fat out of the diced bacon, so maybe if they weren't so dry, it would have worked better.

Oh, and since I had two leftover butter wrappers after making the bacon caramel corn, I cut them up to wrap some of the caramels. I kind of like how they look, even though it's false advertising.

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Matzo Crack

I've been saving this post for a while now, but since it's Passover and matzo is everywhere now, I figured it was time. The reason it's called matzo crack may be because you have to crack it into pieces at the end, but I think it's really because it's so utterly addictive that crack is the only word worthy of such a treat. You can make something similar with Saltines instead of matzo, but there's something about the texture of matzo that goes really well with this confection.

Matzo Crack (from thekitchn.com)
Makes about 30 pieces

4 to 5 pieces of matzo or enough Saltines to cover the bottom of a baking sheet
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 °F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and/or parchment paper.

Okay, yes, those are Saltines, not matzo, but I love the orderliness of this picture.

Place the matzo in one layer on the baking sheet, breaking it when necessary to fill the pan completely. Set aside.

Cooking the toffee

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the mixture reaches a boil, continue to cook for an additional three minutes, still stirring, until thickened and just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and pour over the matzo, spreading an even layer with a heat-proof spatula.

Toffee on matzo

Put the pan in the oven, then immediately turn the heat down to 350 °F. Bake for 15 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn. If it looks like it is starting to burn, turn heat down to 325 °F.

Melting the chocolate

After 15 minutes, the toffee should have bubbled up and turned a rich golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the chocolate over the pan. Let sit for five minutes, then spread the now-melted chocolate evenly with a spatula.

Let cool completely, then break into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container.

You can also add some toasted, chopped nuts on top (before the chocolate sets), but I think my topping of choice the next time I make this will be some sea salt, a la David Lebovitz's version.

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Buckeyes

So in anticipation dread of the OSU victory defeat over the Longhorns in last night's Fiesta Bowl, I decided to try my hand at making buckeyes, or chocolate covered peanut butter balls. These are so ubiquitous in Ohio that they sold them in my high school cafeteria. (Among other things I actually miss from my high school cafeteria were their yeast rolls and the "Mexican pizza" which was delicious, although I'm not sure what made it so "Mexican".) They were also fun to throw up and make stick to the ceiling, only to drop sometime later on some unsuspecting fool. But please don't do that with these, although that might be an unnecessary warning as you'll probably have more issues with not stuffing your mouth with these.

The buckeye candies are so-called because of their resemblence to the nut of the buckeye tree, which is the state tree of Ohio (yes, Terry, I looked it up!). I used the recipe from thekitchn.com except that instead of edible parrafin wax, I substituted some shortening to make the chocolate a bit more workable for dipping purposes.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Buckeyes (adapted from thekitchn.com's recipe)
makes about 2 dozen

10.5 oz. powdered sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 lb. chocolate chips, semi-sweet (24 oz.)
1 tablespoon shortening (you can use butter if you have no shortening)

Add the peanut butter and butter to a medium mixing bowl and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds. You want both to soften up but not melt. Add the sugar and stir a few times so that the sugar gets incorporated and won't make a big mess when you take the electric mix to it.

Whip the mixture with an electric mixer and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour (I set it out in the snow in my backyard).

After it's chilled, roll into small, 1-inch balls. Put these back into the fridge or freezer (or snow-covered backyard) on a aluminum foil covered baking sheet.

Melt the chocolate and shortening in a double boiler, over, not in, boiling water, stirring mixture until smooth. Keep warm.

Once the balls are almost rock hard, dip balls in the chocolate using a toothpick, leaving an uncovered spot on top. Chill covered in refrigerator or freezer. When completely hard, store in the refrigerator or freezer.

I think the hardest part about making this was making sure that the peanut butter mixture and balls were sufficiently cold before moving on to the next steps. You can see in the picture of the naked buckeyes (can't wait to see what google search words are used to get to this page) that some are smoother than others. After the rolling the first few balls, my hands started getting really sticky with warm peanut butter, so I put the mixture back out to chill again. Then when it came time to dip them, the first few I tried weren't cold enough yet so they almost fell off the toothpicks. After I re-chilled the rest of the balls, it was a lot easier. Make sure that you don't let the balls stay in the warm chocolate too long or else the peanut butter will start melting into the chocolate.

Maybe, hopefully, I'll have an opportunity to makes these once again when March rolls around.... =)

One year ago:  Gaufres de Leige (Belgian Waffles)

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