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Will you be mine?

February 7, 2009 by Rebecca Leave a Comment

Valentine’s Day is next weekend already. That means it is time to brush off your baking skills and turn out some sweet goodies. Whichever way your sweetheart’s sweet tooth leans, we have you covered with the recipes for Foodie With Family’s sweetest dessert recipes…

For the chocolate or vanilla lover in your life:

Velvety Chocolate and Vanilla Pots de Creme

Zebra-vo cake! Chocolate and vanilla zebra striped cake stuffed with vanilla ice cream and topped with decadent hot fudge. Easier than it sounds!

Dark Chocolate Truffle Brownie Bites. One bite of this and the chocolate lover in your life will give you whatever you want. Maybe. Well, they should. These are unbelievably good.

Have a Scottish sweetie? Woo him or her with a bit of bannock topped with homemade ice cream, raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce.

...Really. It's much easier than it sounds. Please try it. Please.

For the non-chocolate lover (wha? They make those?) in your life:

Blueberry and Vanilla Bean Tapioca Parfait. Take a little help from the slow cooker.

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Grand Marnier Cream Cheese Icing and Dulce de Leche. It'll make them putty in your hands.

Blueberry Love Muffins

Sweet, pretty and powerful(ly healthy!) A healthy treat for your sweet.

Don’t forget to check back in all week for new sweet treats from your Foodie With Family Valentines…

Coming Sunday:

A grapefruit midway on its road to glory.

Individual Grapefruit Tarts. A little bit of sunshine in the snow.

…And on Monday:

15 minute Beignets. I can't think of an easier way to start Valentine's Day. Feel free to dunk these in coffee. I know my sweetheart will.

15 minute Beignets. I can't think of an easier way for a sweet start to Valentine's Day.

How about Tuesday? Well you’ll just have to stop back. Rest assured, it’ll be worth the visit!

Filed Under: Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes, Uncategorized

Power Juicy Jigglers

January 13, 2009 by Rebecca 8 Comments

My kids ate so many sweets over the holidays that I really thought maybe they’d be tired out on them. No way, Jose! Not even close. So back into the file I keep on (relatively) healthy snacks. I suppose everyone has their own idea of what constitutes healthy eating, so just for the record let me explain my criteria:

Minimally processed. I prefer to make food from scratch both for the sake of our tastebuds and the sake of our health. With a few notable exceptions (wine, cheese, dry-aged beef, etc…) most foods taste best and contain the most nutrients when they’re fresh. I do, however, hit the fish sticks pretty hard at least twice a year. It’s a weakness.
No artificial colorings or flavorings. I’m not freaky strict about this. I’ve been known to enjoy gummi bears and the occasional Shamrock Shake, but I am of the opinion that less is more in this category. Not that everything natural is good for you (think belladonna and digitalis, par example…) In most situations, though, adding color is completely unnecessary. Unless we’re talking ‘red velvet cake’, in which case it’s positively, very, very necessary… (I’m not eating it, though. Ew.)
Use the real stuff. It is easier for the body to metabolize butter rather than margarine, olive oil (or canola, vegetable, peanut, etc…) than Olestra, sugar than High Fructose Corn Syrup, and so on. It is far better for you to eat less of the offending item.
Variety is the spice of life. Instead of worrying about the food pyramid, food octagon or fifty servings or this or that we’re supposed to calculate and consume daily, just strive for variety: Variety in color, texture, preparation style, and taste will almost ensure your health. My sister shoots for something green and something orange at every meal. I shoot for brown and not-brown. (I.E. Beef and Snow Peas on Rice, Pork Roast and Sweet Potatoes with a Salad, Venison Stew with Potatoes, Carrots and Celery.)
Anything you can do I can do better. I guess this is just the stubborn in me. I like to prove to myself that I can make nearly anything better from scratch than it can be bought in the store. It started with soft pretzels and has escalated past pickles and homemade pasta to homemade Worcestershire sauce. The Worcestershire sauce was a project for my sister’s family who deals with some pretty extreme food sensitivities. Ever try finding a Worcestershire sauce sans corn syrup or soy? Yeah. I made it in my kitchen. Not bad.
Are you a good fat or a bad fat? The good fats are in almost every meal here. Think olive oil, avocados, canola oil, nuts, salmon, and more. The bad fats, well the saturated fats, make less frequent appearances in the forms of bacon, butter, cream cheese and half and half. The really bad fats, the trans fats, (non-dairy creamer, shortening, packaged snacks, and the dreaded margarine) almost never show up on our table.

I want to make clear that I’m not going to freak out and commit ritual suicide if my kids ingest a L’il Hug and a Ho Ho at a friend’s house, but I’m going to make sure to balance it out here at home.

In the spirit of balancing out some of what they’ve inhaled the past few weeks I’m back at it in the kitchen. Want sweets, do they? Alrighty then. It’s time to bust out the classic Knox Blox with a bit of a twist. There are a great many juices from which to choose in the markets these days and many of them would work admirably here. I applied the criteria given above and eliminated 2/3 of the juice right off the bat. Look at those labels if you haven’t before. You might be shocked at how many of them have High Fructose Corn Syrup and food coloring! Most often, something labeled ’100% juice’ is a good bet. This time I chose “Apple and Eve Fruitables Strawberry Mango”. It is a blend of fruits and vegetables and is loaded with vitamins and minerals. Why not pack a snack with nutrition if you can? The best part of this is that you can let the kids eat as much as they want. There doesn’t need to be any added sugar and it’s juice, for Pete’s sake!

Who needs food coloring when it looks like this without help?

Power Juicy Jigglers

I think it probably goes without saying that I doubled this, but I’ll say it anyway. I doubled this. I’d imagine you could even triple it easily if you’re feeding even more kids than I do…

Ingredients:

4 ’1/2 oz’ Envelopes (or 4 Tablespoons) unflavored gelatine
1 cup cold 100% fruit juice or fruit and vegetable juice blend
3 cups 100% fruit juice or fruit and vegetable juice blend, heated to boiling
2 Tablespoons honey, optional (I did not use this!)

Sprinkle gelatine over cold fruit juice in a large bowl. Allow it to sit, undisturbed, for 1 minute. Add the hot juice and stir for about 5 minutes, or until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Pour into a 13″ x 9″ pan or molds and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

To serve, cut into desired shapes and watch the kids dive in. My kids are low maintenance here and like small cubes. Every now and then, my need to fuss with food takes precedence, and I find myself cutting the jigglers into stars, cowboys or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Yeah. Betcha I’m one of the few folks out there who has a Yooper cookie cutter, right???

Filed Under: Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Uncategorized Tagged With: 100% juice, fruit snacks, healthy snacks, jello alternative, juice snacks

Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning: Quick and Easy Foodie Gift #15

December 21, 2008 by Valerie 4 Comments

This is truly quick and easy–inspired by having this seasoning used at Beccy’s house on various meats and roasted veggies, but unable to find it at our local markets, I went online (of course) to see if I could find a homemade version, and low and behold, I did! There are a few sites in cyberspace that specialize in finding ways to mimic foods that you enjoy, like these spice mixes, restaurant favorites, etc. and I have nearly always been able to find what I’ve been looking for.

CD Kitchen was the first site I found that offered this particular blend. Since I didn’t have exactly the forms of the herbs and spices involved, I threw everything into a pint jar, attached it to my blender base and gave it a whirl. Everything was perfectly ground up, and the flavor was fantastic! We tried it on chicken legs, just rubbing the seasoning on each leg all around and roasting at 350 till done, turning the heat up to 425 for the last few minutes to make sure the skin became good and crispy. I also cut up some potatoes and onions, tossed them with some baby carrots, olive oil and more of the seasoning, and roasted those alongside the chicken. This made for a wonderful winter meal, and we enjoyed every bite.

This seasoning is good on most meats and poultry, as well as on roasted and grilled veggies. And it makes a nice savory gift for friends who don’t have an appreciation for all the sweet goodies that appear around this time of year. Enjoy!

Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons salt (I used Kosher)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon dehydrated onion
1/2 tablespoon dehydrated garlic
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1tablespoon dried rosemary leaves
2 teaspoons fennel seed

Directions:
Place in blender jar or pint sized mason jar, blend for several seconds till well ground.

Here is the original recipe from CD Kitchen:

McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com

Category: M – Copy Cat Restaurant Recipes
Serves/Makes: .5 cups | Difficulty Level: 1 | Ready In: < 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dehydrated onion
1/2 tablespoon dehydrated garlic
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
1/2 tablespoon dried fennel

Directions:
Mix together and store in a shaker. Shake or rub 1 tablespoon seasoning onto 1 pound steaks, pork chops and hamburgers before grilling or broiling.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Christmas Pickles (a.k.a. Fire and Ice Pickles…) Foodie Gift #14

December 17, 2008 by Rebecca 3 Comments

Have you seen ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean’? I love Mr. Bean. If I weren’t married to the suave and debonair Evil Genius I might have a crush on Mr. Bean. I’m just that kind of dork. And one of my favorite Mr. Bean lines ever comes from this , my favorite, episode. Can someone please explain to me why it’s so darned funny when Bean says”Christmas socks.” Is there any reason why it should double me over in laughter?

Val and I haven’t forgotten our promise to provide a new homemade gift idea for each day leading up to Christmas. In between Val preparing mass mailings for the camp, me ferrying kids to and fro, and all the other tap dancing that comes this time of year, we’ve been busy cooking our bums off. Actually, the reality is more that we’re cooking our bums bigger. If we could ‘cook them off’ we’d be in serious business and the world would beat a path to our doors. As it is, we’ll be content if everyone puts on a ‘winter coat’ of padding along with us. But we digress…

What we mean to say is that while we’ve had a couple of days interlude between the last recipe and this one, we’ll make up for it. If you approach this like a politician we’re not in a recipe deficit at all. We’ll just back load our recipes and call it even, eh? After today’s we owe you 10 more recipes. And unlike politicians, we’ll deliver!

Price Breakdown: (rounding up)

$4.00 2 jars, 32 ounces each, hamburger dill slices

$1.00 4 cups white sugar from a 5 pound bag

$0.10 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

$0.25 2 Tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

$0.50 3 large cloves of garlic from a head of garlic bought in the produce section

$5.85 Grand Total for 3 pints of Christmas Fire and Ice Pickles or $1.95 per pint.

Christmas Fire and Ice Christmas Pickles: Foodie Gift #14

A jar of these come dressed for Christmas with the crushed red pepper flakes among the green pickle slices. This sweet and slightly hot pickle is fantastic on roast meat, cold cut or meatloaf sandwiches. It also complements corned beef beautifully. Unless you live in Amish country you’re not likely to be able to find these in the stores very easily. A jar of these pickles makes a wonderfully unique and tasty gift. Be prepared to share the recipe!

The fact that the recipe is super simple to make -starting with store bought pickles- and don’t require boiling water or pressure canning adds to its charms.

For best results, prepare these at least one week -but preferably two- prior to serving and allow them to age in the refrigerator. You may need to keep a stick handy to beat people away from them while the pickles age. They will keep up to 8 weeks after aging in a tightly closed jar in the refrigerator.

Yield: 3 pints

Ingredients:

2 jars, 32 oz. each, hamburger dill slices or dill pickle spears
4 cups sugar
1-2 Tablespoons hot sauce (We use Frank’s Red Hot in this)
1/4-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
3 large cloves, or 6 small cloves, garlic, lightly smashed and peeled

Pour pickles into a colander over the sink. Allow to drain briefly.

Add pickles, sugar, crushed pepper flakes, and hot sauce to a large mixing bowl.

Mix gently until everything is evenly distributed.

When it looks like this you’re done mixing.

Cover tightly and allow to rest at room temperature for four hours, stirring every so often. After four hours, evenly divide the garlic cloves between three impeccably clean pint jars. Spoon the pickles into the jars and pour the liquid over the pickles to within 1/4″ of the lid. Screw lids in place tightly and allow to rest in the fridge for at least one week -but preferably closer to two weeks- prior to serving.

And what do these pickles have to do with Mr. Bean? Nothing more than both of them make us feel all Christmasy inside. Make some Christmas pickles and watch some Mr. Bean and put on your Christmas socks. Merry Christmas.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Gifts, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Uncategorized, Vegetarian Tagged With: christmas gifts, holiday gifts, host gift, hostess gift, Mr. Bean, spicy pickles, sweet and hot pickles, sweet and spicy pickles, sweet pickles

Homemade Nutella: Foodie Gift #11

December 12, 2008 by Valerie 1 Comment

Okay…I love hazelnuts, I love chocolate, sugar ain’t so bad, I’m okay with vanilla as well. Soooooo….I’m loving this recipe for homemade Nutella-like butter which is amazingly close to the original product in texture and in taste. I could not believe it when I found it–Nutella has been a favorite treat for many members of our family for many years, and to be able to make it so easily is going to allow me to make a lot of people very happy this Christmas!

I found the original recipe on site hosted by a woman named Jessica Su, who provided a post with two variations on the her basic recipe for this chocolate hazelnut spread. On her blog, SuGoodSweets, she gives some nice background and info on Nutella, as well as providing excellent instructions on how to make these. The first is very simple, and I think it tastes much more like Nutella than the other. The only tweaking I did was to cut way back on the oil. By the time everything was mixed up in the food processor, I only needed to add a teaspoon or two of oil to have it at the right consistency. The second recipe requires making caramel and then pulverizing it after it hardens–this is the sweetener for this variation. This second batch had a nice dark chocolate taste to it, but the texture was a bit grainy because of not being able to completely break down the caramel. It’s a good and interesting option, but if you are looking for something close to the original Nutella, recipe 1 would be the way to go.

Here are the recipes, as they appear on SuGoodSweets:

Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread (easy version)

Yield: about 12 ounces (1 1/2 cups)

2 cups whole raw hazelnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
up to 1/4 cup vegetable or nut oil (I only used a teaspoon or so)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.
Since the skin is bitter, you’ll want to discard them. Wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel, and rub until most of the skins have come off. Don’t fret if you can’t get off all the skins.
Process nuts in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. First, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, then a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade, and it will seem like you only have a solid mass. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils, and you will get hazelnut butter!
When the nuts are liquified, add in the sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spreadable consistency. Since the mixture is warm, it will be more fluid now than at room temperature.
Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for1-2 months. For best results, stir the chocolate-hazelnut spread before using.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread (caramel base)

Caramel instructions from Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts by Alice Medrich

Yield: about 12 ounces (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups whole raw hazelnuts
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Preparation: Line a baking sheet with foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the caramel: Combine the sugar and water in a 3- to 4-cup saucepan. Do not stir again during the cooking. Cover and bring sugar and water to a simmer over medium heat. Uncover and wipe down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush or a wad of paper towel dipped in water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, or until the sugar is completely dissolved. Uncover and cook until the syrup turns a pale amber. Test by spooning a drop or two of the syrup onto a white saucer. Swirl the pan gently, continuing to cook and test the color until the syrup darkens to a medium amber color.
Pour the caramel immediately onto the lined baking sheet. Tilt sheet to spread caramel as thinly as possible. Let harden completely, about 15 minutes.
Toast the nuts: Meanwhile, place hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast in the oven until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.
To get rid of the bitter skins, wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Rub until most of the skins have come off, but don’t worry if some remain.
Make the nut butter: When the caramel is completely cool, break it into pieces and pulverize in a food processor. Try to get the caramel as fine as possible at this stage (it won’t get finer once you add the nuts).
Add the nuts and process until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Be patient; the nuts will go from a fine meal, to forming a ball around the blade, to nut butter. Add the cocoa, vanilla and salt and process until smooth.
Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for 1-2 months. For best results, stir the chocolate-hazelnut spread before using.

Notes:

Please use whole raw nuts, and toast them yourself to intensify the flavor. Pre-toasted or pre-chopped nuts are often spoiled.
To further intensify the nut flavor, use unrefined nut oil (for version 1), which is tan in color. Refined nut oils have the color and flavor removed. Peanut oil is especially cheap in Chinese supermarkets. I bought 20 ounces for $2.38! There’s a lesson: if you’re looking for a “gourmet” ingredient, try an ethnic market.
To make any standard nut butter, use this procedure but omit the powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and extra oil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tbsp granulated sugar. Try making your own cashew butter: you may never go back to peanut butter again!

Well, there you have it…and her last note on making other nut butters inspired me to try some of these…check out Foodie Gift #12!

Filed Under: Recipes, Snacks, Uncategorized, Valerie Tagged With: chocolate, hazelnuts, Nutella

Viennese Rounds: Foodie Christmas Gift #6

December 7, 2008 by Valerie 2 Comments

The first time I had these cookies was in the home of a friend in a little college town I lived in for several years. Houghton, NY was the town, and Barbara Woolsey was the friend. We have lost touch with each other since I left Houghton several years ago, but every time I make these cookies I think of her and her lovely family. And I thank her for sharing this recipe!

These are simple cookies, but take a little more time than some. Like the cookies mentioned in my last post, these are nut and butter cookies, no eggs involved, but they are sandwich cookies and take a little more time to form and decorate. But they are certainly worth it. The one change I have made is to toast the nuts before grinding them.

Viennese Rounds

1 cup butter

1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar (divided)

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup ground toasted filberts (hazelnuts)

red food coloring

1 c. red raspberry preserves

Cream butter and 1/2 c. sugar until well blended in large bowl; stir in flour, vanilla and nuts. Roll into teaspoon sized balls and place 2 inches apart on creased cookie sheet (or use parchment if you have it). Lightly grease bottom of measuring cup and dip in sugar, pressing each ball to a 1 inch round. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until goldn around the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to wire racks and cool.

Beat remaining 1 cup of confectioners sugar with a few drops of water until smooth, tint with a drop of food coloring. Spread half of the cookies with preserves, top with remaining cookies. Decorate tops with pink icing spirals.

Again, we hope to have photos of these added soon! And Barb, should you stumble across this site, again accept my many thanks, both for the cookies and the years of friendship!

Filed Under: Desserts, Gifts, Recipes, Uncategorized, Valerie Tagged With: Christmas cookies, cookies, filberts, Food gifts, hazelnuts, Viennese

Browned Butter Cardamom Cookies: Foodie Christmas Gift #5

December 7, 2008 by Valerie 3 Comments

First, let me apologize for the continued lack of pictures. As soon as I have camera action again, we’ll get pictures of these up.

One of my favorite Christmas cookies to eat or to give claims many lines of descent: Swedish nut balls, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding cakes–I know I’m missing some other names–these are simple butter cookies, shaped into balls and rolled in confectioner’s sugar after baking. Lovely bite sized cookies, always melt-in-your-mouth with a nice crunch at the same time. Another plus is that they freeze well, and with another quick toss in the sugar before serving, they are as good as to eat as when they were first made.

I’ve always made them with finely ground pecans or almonds, but this year I came across a recipe that does not use nuts, and the flavor comes from an unusual mix of browned butter and ground cardamom. These are both a couple of my favorite flavors, and to combine them in a cookie just felt like the right thing to do. And now that I’ve made them, I’ve gotta say I’m glad I did!

I would definitely encourage you to try these out, and play around with the spices if you don’t like cardamom. They are a good holiday cookie to share with friends who may have problems with nut allergies, and these cookies, as well as all the nutty variations I mentioned above, would be a nice treat for a friend of mine who is allergic to eggs.

Hope you enjoy! This recipe was taken straight from the Land O’Lakes website, and I highly recommend it.

BROWNED BUTTER CARDAMOM COOKIES

Cardamom and browned butter give these melt-in-your mouth cookies irresistible flavor!

Preparation time: 30 min Baking time: 10 min

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

1		cup LAND O LAKES® Butter
3/4		cup sugar
1		egg yolk
1		tablespoon vanilla
1/2		teaspoon ground cardamom
2		cups all-purpose flour
1		cup powdered sugar

Melt butter in 2-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly and watching closely, until butter just begins to turn golden brown (5 to 8 minutes). Immediately remove from heat. Pour into bowl; refrigerate until cooled (30 minutes).

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine cooled browned butter and sugar in large bowl; beat at medium speed until well mixed. Add egg yolk, vanilla and cardamom; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour, until mixture is no longer crumbly and forms a dough.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies puff and just start to turn light golden brown. (Cookies will have cracks in them.)

Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool 1 minute. Roll cookies in powdered sugar while warm and again when cool. Store between sheets of waxed paper in loosely covered container.

Filed Under: Desserts, Gifts, Recipes, Uncategorized, Valerie Tagged With: allergies, Christmas cookies, cookies

Homemade Marshmallows: Foodie Christmas Gift #4

December 5, 2008 by Valerie 2 Comments

Last year I made homemade marshmallows for the first time. For years I felt too intimidated to make the attempt, not sure why, but I’m so glad I finally gave it a whirl. These need to be started at least a day before you need to serve them or package them for gifts, so be sure to give yourself some leeway. The only change I made to the recipe I found was to use confectioners sugar alone for the coating, rather than mixing with cornstarch. I don’t like the feel of the cornstarch, and with corn allergies being an issue for some, I felt it was better without.

This recipe is for your basic vanilla flavored marshmallows, but I had success with flavoring in other ways–raspberry flavoring with a touch of red food color, mint flavoring with green, orange flavoring with a touch of yellow and red color together. I also made a spiced marshmallow, adding some ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg to the marshmallow, and also mixing some of the same spice into the confectioners sugar coating. All turned out wonderfully well. Hope you enjoy these as much as we have!

Homemade Marshmallows

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of Knox gelatin)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Confectioners sugar, Cornstarch (optional)

Line 9 x 9-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add in the vanilla extract beat to incorporate.
Scrape marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly (Lightly greasing your hands and the spatula helps a lot here). Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set.
In a shallow dish, combine equal parts cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and cut into equal pieces with scissors (the best tool for the job) or a chef’s knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners’ sugar mixture.
Store in an airtight container.

Here is the link to the original recipe, and it will give you a picture of the finished product as well. (My camera is currently on the blink, sorry!)

Marshmallow Recipe

Homemade Marshmallows: Foodie Christmas Gift #4

Author: Val Daly

Recipe type: Dessert, Candy

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 36

Creamy, lofty, light-as-air homemade marshmallows. You’ll never want another one from the store after trying these! And you can customize them to create unique flavors like chocolate, orange, coffee, etc…

Ingredients

75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of Knox gelatin)
½ cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
⅔ cups light corn syrup
¼ cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or other flavor extract)
Confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

Line 9 x 9-inch or 8 x 8-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it using your fingers or non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over ½ cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil. As soon as it is boiling, set the timer and allow to boil hard for 1 minute.
Carefully our the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, starting on low and moving up to high speed. Add the salt and beat for between 10 and 12 minutes, or until fluffy and mostly cooled to almost room temperature. After it reaches that stage, add in the extract and beat to incorporate.
Grease your hands and a rubber or silicone scraper with neutral oil and transfer marshmallow into the prepared pan. Use your greased hands to press the marshmallow into the pan evenly. Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set.
Sprinkle a cutting surface very generously with confectioner’s sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and lay on top of the sugar. Dust the top generously with sugar as well. Use a large, sharp knife to cut into squares. Separate pieces and toss to coat all surfaces with the sugar.
Store in an airtight container.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: candy, Food gifts, homemade, marshmallows