Chocolate Marshmallow recipe

Gourmet Marshmallows from Country Living

Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Makes: about 12 large marshmallows

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
Pam
2 (1/4-oz) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
6 T cocoa
1/4 cup cocoa
3 T hot water

1. In a small bowl, sift together powdered sugar and cornstarch and 1/4 cup cocoa; set aside. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8" square baking pan with Pam. Cut an 8x12 inch sheet of parchment paper and fit into pan so that it covers bottom and 2 sides. Spray parchment with Pam, and coat parchment and pan with half of the powdered sugar/cornstarch/cocoa mixture. Set aside.

1a. In a small bow, mix together 6 Tablespoons cocoa and 3 Tablespoons hot water until a smooth paste forms; set aside. 

2. Fill a large bowl with 1/2 cup cool water and sprinkle with gelatin; set aside. In a medium pot fitted with a candy thermometer, combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until mixture reaches 240 F., 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat reserved gelatin mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then pour in reserved sugar: corn syrup mixture in a slow, steady stream down side of bowl. Increase mixer speed to high and beat until very thick, ribbony, and doubled in volume, 12 to 15 minutes.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Using dampened fingers, smooth top. Sprinkle remaining powdered sugar/cornstarch/cocoa mixture over top. Let rest, uncovered, in a cool, dry place, about 4 hours or up to overnight.

5. Invert marshmallow onto a dry surface and discard parchment. Using a clean pastry brush, dust excess powdered sugar from the top of the marshmallow onto work surface. Dust a knife in powdered sugar from the work surface, then cut the marshmallow into twelve  1 3/4" squares (you'll have a bit extra). Dip the cut edges in the excess powdered sugar/cornstarch/cocoa mixture on the work surface.

Princess Belle Cookies and Tutorial

My niece turned 6! Belle is one of her favorite princesses. So we thought we should make some Princess Belle cookies and shoes.

So now let's get started with the tutorial!

Rolling out the dough on my dobord!

Cutting out the dough with our chosen cookie cutters!

Bake those cookies! And then outline them with a thick royal icing!

Flood your cookies with thin royal icing!

Plan where you want your flounces to go. (I marked mine with a red edible food marker. It made it so much easier to know where to pipe). Also, use the same royal icing that you used to pipe the original outline, for the flounces.

Add your first row of flounce.

Add your second row of flounce and then after that dries, go back and put a button dot on top to make it look  nicer.

Belle dresses and shoes...

Bagged, tagged, and ready to mail to my sweet niece, Hailey!

Divinity Fudge Recipe

I don't know about you all - but everyone in my family and extended family grew up eating Divinity Fudge. So if someone makes it, it's literally gone in minutes! Every scrap is literally scraped up off the bowls, beaters, and out of the pan.  

I found this recipe in a book that I purchased in 2007 at Barnes and Noble. It's called, Candymaking by Ruth A. Kendrick and Pauline H. Atkinson. I have been using their recipe ever since!    

So if you are looking for a good Divinity Fudge recipe, look no more! 

Daphne's Divinity Fudge

2 egg whites, at room temp
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
A few grains of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional
Yields: 40 pieces or 64 (1 inch) squares

1. Line a 15" x 10" jellyroll pan with waxed paper or butter an 8" square pan; set aside.
2. Place egg whites in large bowl of electric mixer; set aside.
3. In a heavy 3 quart saucepan, combine corn syrup, water, sugar, and salt. Place over low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Remove spoon. Increase heat to medium-high and cook without stirring until mixture reaches a rolling boil.
4. Clip on a candy thermometer. Reduce heat to maintain full (but not rolling) boil. If sugar crystals are present, wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush. Cook syrup to 252F (125C) or hard-ball stage.
5. Just before syrup is ready, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
6. Remove syrup from heat and allow boiling to subside.
7. With mixer on high speed, gradually add hot syrup to egg whites; once you begin to pour, don't stop and do not scrape pan. Continue beating until mixture begins to lose it's gloss and holds its shape.
8. Add vanilla and nuts if desired.
9. Drop quickly by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.




Now here are my notes: 


1. I do not leave my egg whites at room temp. I leave them in the fridge until it's time to whip the eggs. 
2. I get the egg whites ready at 244 F. And then I start mixing the egg whites at 247 F.


I do this because I have found that if I whip those egg whites at 220 F or before 244 F, then they fall flat by the time that I pour the hot fudge mixture into the kitchen aid bowl. 

Thanks for visiting! 

My Farmer's Market display...in the summer!

I can't wait until it's summer...because that's when the Farmer's Market starts back up! I was thinking about it today and decided to post a picture of my 2013 Farmer's market table. Enjoy!

Frosted chocolate chip cookies!

Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

These are one of of my favorite cookies to make for several reasons:

1. They are quick and easy. It's a cookie cake. You don't have to deal with rolling 3 dozen cookies, baking 3 dozen cookies, and then cooling and bagging 3 dozen cookies.
2. They are all the exact same size, every time, thanks to a cookie cutter.
3. They turn out beautiful every time!
4. They are delicious!

Bake your cookie cake! Let it cool and then start cutting out your cookies with a cookie cutter.

Two sizes of cookies: small and medium.

Make a circle of frosting. I start by piping to the left then down and around and back up. I then start on the second layer of frosting. (But I stopped to show you how I pipe the frosting). I piped these cookies using tip 1M.

Go ahead and make the swirl to the left again and then go around and stop piping. You now have a pretty cookie!

And now your cookies are ready to go!

Delicious Toffee!!

So every year for Christmas, I try to make some goodies for our families. This year, I made toffee and divinity fudge to put in our cute Christmas tins!

It was super delicious!So I thought that I would post the toffee recipe that I found and made!

Here's the link to the toffee recipe!
http://www.nelliebellie.com/homemade-toffee-recipe/

Enjoy!

Ringing in 2014!

Happy New Year from my family to yours! 

This is the first year that my son (bottom left hand corner, in a red shirt), has stayed awake to ring in the new year! It was fun! 

(I'm on the back row, in the middle, in the zip up, black fleece)!