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 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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Mashed Potato Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Bacon

If you have any leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving, I highly recommend making this pizza.  I first had a mashed potato pizza at BAR in New Haven.  A few friends had raved about it, so I had pretty high expectations going in, and it exceeded all of them.  This pizza isn't quite as good as that one, but it's easier than driving down to New Haven.

From what I remember, mashed potatoes that they used at BAR were kind of loose and liquidy vs. thick and creamy.  While I probably wouldn't have liked that consistency in stand-alone mashed potatoes, it worked really well on their thin crusted pizza.  I usually add some bacon, garlic, and broccoli as toppings, and once the pizza arrives, top it with their signature salad, which is dressed with a light vinaigrette, for some acidity.  I used what I had on hand for this pizza, but feel free to experiment with other toppings!

 
Mashed Potato Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Bacon
makes 2 individual size pizzas

1 head garlic
Olive Oil
Kosher salt, to taste
1 sprig of fresh thyme (optional)
1 cup mashed potatoes
2-3 strips bacon
1 recipe pizza dough, divided into two balls
2 tablespoons scallions, chopped
2 small handfuls of shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400°F.

 
Peal off most of the papery skin of a head of garlic, but keep the last layer or two to hold the cloves together.  Slice off the top of the head so that the top of the cloves are exposed.  Check the cloves and discard any yucky ones.  Place the head of garlic on some aluminum foil, drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with some kosher salt, and top with the sprig of thyme, if using.  Wrap the aluminum foil around the garlic, and roast for 30 minutes until soft.

 
Once the garlic has cooled enough to the touch, squeeze out the cloves and set aside.  Reserve the garlic infused olive oil.  Increase the temperature of the oven to 500°F and place a pizza stone on a rack set in the lower third of the oven.

Place the bacon strips on an unheated frying pan.  Over low heat, fry the bacon until browned on the bottom.  Flip the bacon pieces and brown the other side.  Chop up the bacon, and reserve the bacon grease left in the pan.

 
On a large piece of parchment paper, take one of the balls of pizza dough and stretch it out.  Spread half the roasted garlic, garlicky olive oil, and bacon grease all over the top of the dough.

 
Spread half the mashed potatoes on top.

 
Sprinkle with half the fried bacon pieces, scallions, and mozzarella.

 
Slide the pizza (still on the parchment paper) onto a pizza stone.  Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the pizza, and bake for another 3-5 minutes, until nicely browned.  Repeat with the shaping, topping, and baking second pizza.

 
Let both pizzas cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Update:  I've made this pizza using Ken Forkish's Same Day Straight Pizza Dough.  That dough is so much better!

Three years ago:  Nanaimo Bars

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Magical Pumpkin Spice Latte



Now that I had my morning magical coffee routine down pat, I wanted to see if I could make a pumpkin spice latte with the magical coffee.  There's quite a few recipes on-line which use pumpkin puree, sugar, and store bought pumpkin spice, but I decided to mix it up a little and use pumpkin butter (I got mine from Trader Joe's) instead of the puree and sugar and make my own pumpkin spice since I had all the ingredients already.

For the pumpkin spice, I ground up a tablespoon of cinnamon, a half teaspoon of nutmeg, and a half teaspoon of cloves and added a teaspoon of ground ginger.

For an easy, iced magical pumpkin spice latte, I cold brew a half cup of coffee with a teaspoon of pumpkin spice, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 2 cups of water.

Then I spoon some of the pumpkin butter into a mug, add a dash of the magical coffee and stir so that the pumpkin butter is dissolved.  I add more coffee and vanilla soy milk, and if I'm feeling decadent, some coconut whipped cream and top it off with a little more pumpkin spice.

When I want a hot pumpkin spice latte, I make an extra strong cold brew since I'm going to be diluting it with a lot of hot milk.  I heat up vanilla soy milk and pumpkin butter until it just starts to simmer and then whip it up so it's nice and frothy.

Transfer the pumpkin milk to a mug and add the extra strong magical coffee, topping off with coconut whipped cream and pumpkin spice.

Since the pumpkin butter, vanilla soy milk, and magical coffee already contain sugar, I find that I don't need to add any more, but feel free to add more sweetener to taste.  I like that this homemade pumpkin spice latte isn't super sickening sweet like the Starbucks' one and doesn't have that weird fluorescent orange color either.

As another option, you can make a pumpkin spice frappuccino by blending ice with extra strong cold brew, pumpkin butter, and milk.  I've found that the pumpkin butter is also excellent on toasted amnesty bread.  =)

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Brown Butter Marshmallow Popcorn

When I saw this recipe for Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn, I just knew I had to make it.  Rice Krispies Treats are one of my favorite snacks, and well, you all know how much I love popcorn.  The only thing is, I noticed in a couple of the comments that the popcorn would get really, really hard after it cooled down, and I wanted something more like the softer texture of Rice Krispies treats rather than caramel corn.

I figured the reason it was getting hard was the addition of brown sugar, so I decided to stick with a more traditional Rice Krispies treat recipe with just marshmallows and butter.  But I couldn't help tweaking it a bit based on my friend Ilene's Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats post by first browning the butter and adding some vanilla bean and salt.

Brown Butter Marshmallow Popcorn

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 vanilla bean
1 10 oz. bag mini marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
9 cups popped popcorn (unpopped kernels removed)

 
In a large pot, melt the butter on low heat.

 
Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds.  Add to the melted butter.

Continue to cook the butter on low until the milk solids start to brown.

Remove from heat, add the salt and mini marshmallows and stir to combine.

 
Return the pot to low heat and stir to completely melt the marshmallows.

 
Once the marshmallows have completely melted, add the popcorn and stir to combine.

 
Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.  Pour the popcorn into the dish and allow to cool.

The cooled popcorn never got as crunchy as Rice Krispies Treat do, but that might be because I didn't use a full 9 cups of popcorn and the popcorn to marshmallow ratio was off.  I really loved how the vanilla bean and browned butter brought the marshmallows and popcorn to a-whole-nother level.  When I make this again, I'd probably add more salt and maybe some butter flavoring to reinforce the popcorn flavor (as well as make sure I have enough popcorn to start off with). Or just use a bag of butter flavored microwave popcorn!  =)

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