So it snowed yesterday in Florida.
Enter the Marshmallow.
Marshmallows are fun and can be made with as few as five ingredients: egg whites, water, gelatin, cream of tartar and honey.
My favorite winter comfort food is that chewy, ooey gooey white fluff we all know and love:
I'M TALKING ABOUT MARSHMALLOWS! 💖
Now, I've been attempting to create the perfect marshmallow for at least six months and I think I've just about got it down.
So last night I created an amazing batch of marshmallows. This was truly my first masterpiece in the marshmallow arena, if I do say so myself!
MARSHMALLOW TIPS
Now, marshmallows can be tricky. The secret to my recipe is leaving out the corn syrup and adding two egg whites with cream of tartar into the mixture once it's almost whipped.
“According to Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, the secret lies in whipping air into a mixture of sugar syrup and gelatin – the protein molecules in the gelatin collect in the bubble walls, and this reinforcement, together with the viscosity of the strip, stabilizes the foam structure, keeping the air in as the mixture cools.”
TO EGG OR NOT TO EGG
Felicity Cloake at the Guardian writes:
"Marshmallows are, like many so things involving eggs, a lot easier to master once you understand the basic chemistry involved. Egg white, though traditional, is not vital here, but does give softer, more delicate results.
As the name suggests, the first marshmallows were set with the mucilaginous root of the marsh mallow plant, which McGee describes as “the weedy relative of the hollyhock”. These days, gelatine is preferred, though agar-agar, derived from algae, is sometimes used as a vegetarian alternative."
I personally find that adding a sort of meringue mixture of 2 eggs whites + cream of tartar during the last minute and a half of whipping gives the marshmallows an added fluffiness that I simply must have in my marshmallow.
RECIPE ADAPTED FROM 15 SPATULAS
"Homemade marshmallows are light, fluffy clouds of heaven."
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the coconut out on a sheet pan and bake for 12-15 minutes, tossing and redistributing the coconut every 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on the coconut…it’s sort of like caramel in the sense where most of the time goes by and it doesn’t take on any color, and then a minute later it’s brown and on the verge of burning.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the gelatin with 1/2 cup of cold water. Let that stand while you prep the syrup. We’re letting the gelatin bloom and absorb liquid now so it can dissolve evenly later.
In a saucepan, combine honey and 1/2 cup of water over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, then turn the heat to high. Cook the mixture to 240 degrees F on a thermometer. Take it off the heat.
With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the syrup. Turn the mixer to high and whip for 8 minutes, then add the vanilla. Whip for another 2 minutes.
Spread half of the toasted coconut in a 9×13 glass baking dish, then pour the marshmallow mixture on top (use wet fingers to spread it out evenly, if needed). Sprinkle the remaining toasted coconut on top, then let the marshmallows sit out at room temperature uncovered for at least 8 hours, so they can dry out.
When you’re ready to cut them, grab the marshmallow rectangle from the pan and lay it out on a cutting board. Use a knife or pizza wheel to cut into squares.
