Genevieve Taylor - Marshmallow Magic

Contents

About the Book

Move over cupcakes! Marshmallows sweet, comforting, versatile and utterly delicious have arrived with style.

The childhood favourite has had an extraordinary makeover. Easy and cheap to make, and a low-fat treat that is perfect for puddings, parties and presents, these sensational, pillowy delights will leave your mouth watering. Try:

Nostalgic Marshmallows: Neapolitan squares; marshmallow and jam teacakes; chocolate orange squares...

Celebration Marshmallows: Halloween and party pops; marshmallow-frosted cupcakes; Valentine hearts and smores...

Grown-up Marshmallows: Coffee and walnut marshmallows; Turkish delight; mojito marshmallows...

With techniques and tips for making the perfect marshmallow, and with a vegetarian option, this collection of glorious artisan sweets will change the way you think about marshmallows for ever!

How to make marshmallows

Marshmallows, those light, fluffy, tongue-tinglingly sweet pillows we all loved as kids, are very much in vogue. But todays marshmallow can be an infinitely more exciting treat. Many friends, on hearing I was working on a book about gourmet marshmallows, were incredulous. What, you can make marshmallows? Well, yes, you can. Not only that, its easy, and provided you follow a few basic rules you will be able to create dozens of exciting flavours to wow your nearest and dearest.

Marshmallows have been around far longer than you might imagine. First made by the Ancient Egyptians, who combined the gelatinous sap of the root of the marshmallow plant with honey, in the nineteenth century they were adopted by the French, who abandoned sap in favour of gelatine, added sugar and whipped in air for lightness. In the twentieth century, mass factory processing took over to give us those bags of pink and white fluff. Now we are returning to the old ways and making our own, which means we can use vastly more flavoursome ingredients. Marshmallows are no longer just sweet, they are interesting too.

There is something truly magic about homemade marshmallows and they are perfect treats for giving and sharing at parties and celebrations. A pretty box or bag presented to a loved one on Valentines, Mothers Day, Easter, Halloween or Christmas will win you brownie points in a way no shop-bought tray of chocolates ever could.

Bring a little Marshmallow Magic into your life!

Ingredients

At their most basic level, marshmallows are simply made by whipping air, lots of it, into a mixture of hot sugar syrup and gelatine. To this base can be added all kinds of wonderful flavourings, such as spices, chocolate, fruit, nuts, even alcohol.

Eggs or no eggs?

In Europe, we tend to add egg whites to increase the fluffiness, while in the States non-egg marshmallows are far more common. I have made them many times both with and without egg white, and I have to say I prefer the versions with. The texture is lighter and fluffier but at the same time they set firmer and are easier to cut. If you dont like the idea of raw egg white, remember that you are whipping them up with a boiling-hot sugar syrup, so they are essentially cooked. If you still dont like the idea, you can always substitute reconstituted pasteurized dried egg whites for the fresh. I have made marshmallows with both fresh and dried and found no discernible difference.

Sugar syrup

All marshmallow recipes start with the creation of a boiling-hot sugar syrup. Many recipes call for that syrup to be made from a mixture of granulated sugar and either liquid glucose or corn syrup. The idea is that the glucose or corn syrup prevents the recrystallization of the granulated sugar as it cools. However, after much experimentation, I have not found this to be a problem, provided the granulated sugar is fully dissolved into the syrup in the first place. So I add neither liquid glucose nor corn syrup to my recipes, preferring to keep the ingredients to a minimum.

Gelatine

These recipes use leaf gelatine. If you want to use powdered, make it up according to the manufacturers instructions, using the same weight as for the sheet gelatine.

Equipment

Marshmallows are simple to make once you know how. A few bits of kitchen equipment make the process even easier and more pleasurable.

First, a freestanding food mixer is pretty much essential. The mixture needs whisking on maximum speed for around 10 minutes a job that even the most sturdy of hand-held electric mixers would find difficult to achieve without overheating, and whisking this fast, for this long, is simply not an option by hand. The wire whisk attachment is the best tool to use; failing that, a paddle beater will do but the result will not be quite as light and fluffy. Having said that, its important not to overwhisk, as the resulting marshmallow can lose a little lightness of texture and become heavy. Ten minutes whisking in a freestanding food mixer is spot on.

Another useful, though not essential, bit of kit is an inexpensive jam or sugar thermometer. This will instantly tell you that your syrup has reached the right temperature: 122C, the firm ball stage. If you dont have one, you can test for this by pouring a teaspoon of hot syrup into a glass of cold water. If it forms a firm toffee-like ball you can squeeze between your fingers, it is ready. Begin testing after about 10 minutes of boiling the syrup.

Marshmallow mixture is very sticky stuff and it will coat anything that gets in its way. Therefore it is essential that tins and moulds are well greased. I like to use a non-stick baking spray to do this. Its a handy product to have in the kitchen, especially if you are a keen baker, and is readily available in most supermarkets. Alternatively, a light brushing with a non-flavoured vegetable oil (such as sunflower) will do. Once you have greased the tin, you then coat it in a light dusting of powder, half icing sugar and half cornflour, which gives the marshmallows their classic dusty look. The cut surfaces of the marshmallows are also dusted in this powder to stop them being too sticky to touch.

A piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle is useful for recipes where the marshmallow is swirled into a mould, over a biscuit layer or into a cone. This is potentially a very sticky job. To make it easier to fill the piping bag, hang the bag in a jug, opening out the top and folding it over the edge so it stays wide open.

Shapes and sizes

One of the great things about marshmallows is that they set firm and hold their shape, so they are perfect for making in your favourite tins and moulds. These days tins and silicon moulds come in an amazing array of shapes, from hearts, butterflies and flowers to shells, zoo animals and even dinosaurs. Let your imagination run riot. This, of course, makes guessing quantities and yields from a recipe rather tricky. The classic vanilla marshmallow recipe cuts into 36 large cubes if made in a 20cm square tin. However, once you start pouring the mixture into moulds of different shapes and sizes, the yield is less predictable (unless youve measured all your volumes first). If you fill up your moulds and have mixture to spare, you need to grab something else to put it in. Loaf tins are handy for making a small batch of square marshmallows, and paper cake cases work brilliantly provided they are well greased non-stick baking spray is best for this. It is worth mentioning that marshmallows made with soft fruits have a lighter texture than those without, so they wont set quite so firm, even with a long setting time.