It has been awhile since I've posted to the blog. You know how it goes, blah blah blah excuse excuse busy-pants.
Now that that's out of the way... I've come to the blog today to talk about muffins. There is indeed a basic methodology and platonic ideal muffin to which we create endless variations. We then seem to try to present each of these as it's own unique recipe rather than, as a composer would, variations on a theme. I really feel that we could all be more confident, competent, complex cooks if we understood better that when we bake especially, we deal mainly in methodology with variants rather than myriad unique recipes. So, today, I offer the Mighty Muffin in it's raw, unvarnished form.
Here's the straight skinny on Muffins:
Muffins belong to the Quick-Bread family. They are chemically leavened by baking powder and/or baking soda, mixed and baked immediately rather than created with yeast and a glutinization (kneading) process like standard breads. Specifically, muffins belong to the drop-batter subset of quick-breads. Another example of a drop-batter quick-bread are fritters.
Drop batters do not pour readily, but drop in a soft moist mass from a spoon or much be shaken or helped free of the bowl. Drop batters typically use 1 cup of liquid with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour, approximately 1 tablespoon of leavening agent, a small amount (1/2 tsp) salt, one to two eggs, a small amount (1-2 Tbsp.) of fat such as shortening, oil or butter, and a small amount of sweetener depending upon whether a savory or sweet product is desired or if additives, such as fruit or nuts are present. Muffins bake in moderate to hot ovens ranging from 350-425F usually for 20-30 minutes.
Muffins are mixed using, not surprisingly, the Muffin Method. In the Muffin Method, dry ingredients are sifted together, wet ingredients and eggs (if using) are combined and added to the dry till just moistened. Muffin mixtures should be stirred and beaten only enough to combine ingredients and baked immediately. the chemical begin acting as soon as the wet and dry ingredients come together and tunneling and/or toughness can occur in the finished product in the batter is over-mixed or allowed to sit before baking.
Basic Muffin:
2C Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1Tbsp. Sugar
1Tbsp. Baking Powder
1C Liquid
1 Egg
2Tbsp. Melted Butter
Basic Muffin Method:
Sift flour, salt sugar and baking powder together. Combine remaining ingredients and add to dry ingredients. Stir just enough to dampen the flour. Pour into greased pans, filling 2/3 full. Bake at 425F for 20-25 min.
To vary this with pineapple:
Add 1/2C flour ( soaks up added moisture from pineapple), 2 T sugar (now producing a sweet rather than neutral or savory muffin), 2T shortening (slows down carmelization in pineapple, helping to prevent burning), and 14oz can of crushed pineapple. Bake as directed for basic muffin.
Here are another pair of interesting variants on the muffin:
Corn-Meal Muffin
1C Corn Meal
1C flour
1/2t salt
1T baking powder
1C milk
1 egg
2t Butter
Sift dry, add wet, then egg, then melted butter bake at 400 for 20-25minutes.
Notice how the corn meal and flour are totaled together to make 2C of flours.
Raisin Bran Muffin
1C Bran
1/2C Flour
1T baking powder
1/2t salt
1 1/2T molasses
1T melted butter
1/2C raisins
1/2milk
1 egg, well-beaten
Sift dry, add remaining ingredients one at a time, bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Notice how the bran affects the cooking time and need for blending. The addition of molasses will act as a color, flavor, browning agent and liquid in this recipe. Quite a work horse that molasses no?
I hope this gets you thinking and gets you cooking and helps you to understand that underneath each recipe there is an underlying set of rules, a science that makes it go. The rest is just window dressing, and cinnamon. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...if by hippopotamus, you mean a candy thermometer that works. I hear these are not hard to come by, that they come in many a variety and type and that everyone has an opinion on their favorite one. There are glass ones, digital ones and even infrared ones. I'm intrigued by the infrared variety as their use applies to candy making. They measure surface temperature. I wonder how that varies from internal temperature of a boiling napalm like sugar syrup? I am inclined to find out.
I currently possess a large glass thermometer from before my goddess-y days that I have recently discovered is as reliable as a weatherman. Reliability and accuracy are not required in all things in life. I'm okay with the occasional 'ish'. We'll be there at 9-ish, bring a coat it's chilly-ish. In candy making though, 'ish' just will not do. Soft ball and hard crack are two completely different chemical states and produce two completely different results in a finished product.
Now, I must admit that having no candy thermometer does not take this Goddess completely out of the game. There is always the water test. When sugar is rapidly cooled in cold water it will tell you how it will finish. Each of the common stages of cooked sugar has a name like soft ball and the evil, 'you blew it' black jack. To truly appreciate this magic trick, check out this chart:
http://www.baking911.com/candy/chart.htm
For extra mad scientist fun, try creating something from each stage of the chart. (except black jack - no one should do that to an innocent smoke detector) Get a feel for the sugar's look, smell, taste and character at each stage as well. It's amazing. Now, find someone to share all this candy with before you send yourself into a diabetic coma. And for goodness sake - if you are the family of the Pastry Goddess, get her a decent d**n candy thermometer for Christmas.
I currently possess a large glass thermometer from before my goddess-y days that I have recently discovered is as reliable as a weatherman. Reliability and accuracy are not required in all things in life. I'm okay with the occasional 'ish'. We'll be there at 9-ish, bring a coat it's chilly-ish. In candy making though, 'ish' just will not do. Soft ball and hard crack are two completely different chemical states and produce two completely different results in a finished product.
Now, I must admit that having no candy thermometer does not take this Goddess completely out of the game. There is always the water test. When sugar is rapidly cooled in cold water it will tell you how it will finish. Each of the common stages of cooked sugar has a name like soft ball and the evil, 'you blew it' black jack. To truly appreciate this magic trick, check out this chart:
http://www.baking911.com/candy/chart.htm
For extra mad scientist fun, try creating something from each stage of the chart. (except black jack - no one should do that to an innocent smoke detector) Get a feel for the sugar's look, smell, taste and character at each stage as well. It's amazing. Now, find someone to share all this candy with before you send yourself into a diabetic coma. And for goodness sake - if you are the family of the Pastry Goddess, get her a decent d**n candy thermometer for Christmas.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bread is Life, Life is Bread
Lets talk about bread. It's a process that cannot be rushed, but we try. It's a basic set of ingredients and steps that absolutely work, yet we relentlessly monkey with them. It's a simple, yet complex thing involving no small amount of magic. Each culture has a bread of it's own. Each family has bread associated with certain times of year. Bread is involved in a variety of religious rituals. Bread is life, life is bread.
Bread is this. Grain flour, a liquid, yeast, food for the yeast, a lubricant, time and heat. Everything else is decoration. Don't get me wrong, some of that decoration is very tasty and quite pretty. We endlessly create with the medium of bread in shapes, flavors, colors and textures. It is a bakers dream canvas and an eaters dream come true.
I must admit that I didn't emerge from the womb a fully formed bread master. I began my adventures with bread in my twenties and failed over and over. It wasn't till my thirties that I mastered it. I really think it was a combination of quality ingredients, and a different ability to focus that broke through for me. I also credit a deeper understanding of the chemistry of food and a better understanding of the difference between a process and a recipe. A process is a set of steps, a recipe is a specific set of ingredients to create a certain iteration of a process. Cake is a process, German chocolate cake is a recipe. Pie is a process, apple pie is a recipe and also delicious!
Once I had the basic concepts under my belt I began my love affair with bread. It's such a calming thing to make. I have the best results when I do it all by hand. I think the energy is different and it helps me to maintain the quality of the product by developing a feel for it. I like to use the kneading time to meditate. It seems that when my hands are occupied, my mind wanders better. Not to be too chicken soup for the soul here but I think it makes my mind clearer, my heart lighter and most of all, my bread better. On a technical point, kneading is less tiring if your brain is occupied and you're not clock watching. It's wonderful to take a break from clock watching now and then. On an additional practical note, bread making goes well with doing other things around the house like chasing the child, scaling Mount Washmore and washing Mt Dishmore, or cooking other things.
This brings me to my current adventure with bread. I want to bake bread far more often than my little family can eat it. Once again, I'm out seeking enablers for my baking problem. So many people are so busy these days and get by with a shelf stable derivative of a bread-food product. There's no 'there' there. My solution, the Bread Club. The Bread Club delivers or ships a fresh white or wheat loaf (or loaves) to you weekly with a specialty loaf once a month. You can sign up for just one week a month, just the specialty loaf, or just the weekly loaves. I can also do vegan breads and gluten-free breads although the specialty breads won't fall into these categories for now. I will deliver within 30 miles of my house and ship to anyone else. Feel free to request more information about this in the comments or by email. You know you want to. Also, you should because it's good for you and the Pastry Goddess said so.
I'm so excited about this new adventure especially as the new year approaches. I think it will be a wonderful opportunity to bake to my heart's content and to make so many people so happy and full and full of life. Bread is Life, Life is Bread.
To Life,
The Pastry Goddess
PS - December's Specialty bread will be Panettone - Italian Christmas Bread
Bread is this. Grain flour, a liquid, yeast, food for the yeast, a lubricant, time and heat. Everything else is decoration. Don't get me wrong, some of that decoration is very tasty and quite pretty. We endlessly create with the medium of bread in shapes, flavors, colors and textures. It is a bakers dream canvas and an eaters dream come true.
I must admit that I didn't emerge from the womb a fully formed bread master. I began my adventures with bread in my twenties and failed over and over. It wasn't till my thirties that I mastered it. I really think it was a combination of quality ingredients, and a different ability to focus that broke through for me. I also credit a deeper understanding of the chemistry of food and a better understanding of the difference between a process and a recipe. A process is a set of steps, a recipe is a specific set of ingredients to create a certain iteration of a process. Cake is a process, German chocolate cake is a recipe. Pie is a process, apple pie is a recipe and also delicious!
Once I had the basic concepts under my belt I began my love affair with bread. It's such a calming thing to make. I have the best results when I do it all by hand. I think the energy is different and it helps me to maintain the quality of the product by developing a feel for it. I like to use the kneading time to meditate. It seems that when my hands are occupied, my mind wanders better. Not to be too chicken soup for the soul here but I think it makes my mind clearer, my heart lighter and most of all, my bread better. On a technical point, kneading is less tiring if your brain is occupied and you're not clock watching. It's wonderful to take a break from clock watching now and then. On an additional practical note, bread making goes well with doing other things around the house like chasing the child, scaling Mount Washmore and washing Mt Dishmore, or cooking other things.
This brings me to my current adventure with bread. I want to bake bread far more often than my little family can eat it. Once again, I'm out seeking enablers for my baking problem. So many people are so busy these days and get by with a shelf stable derivative of a bread-food product. There's no 'there' there. My solution, the Bread Club. The Bread Club delivers or ships a fresh white or wheat loaf (or loaves) to you weekly with a specialty loaf once a month. You can sign up for just one week a month, just the specialty loaf, or just the weekly loaves. I can also do vegan breads and gluten-free breads although the specialty breads won't fall into these categories for now. I will deliver within 30 miles of my house and ship to anyone else. Feel free to request more information about this in the comments or by email. You know you want to. Also, you should because it's good for you and the Pastry Goddess said so.
I'm so excited about this new adventure especially as the new year approaches. I think it will be a wonderful opportunity to bake to my heart's content and to make so many people so happy and full and full of life. Bread is Life, Life is Bread.
To Life,
The Pastry Goddess
PS - December's Specialty bread will be Panettone - Italian Christmas Bread
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Croissants:The Day that Fail Built
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Yesterday was just not the day to make croissants and was on it's way to being the day that FAIL built. It started with a nearly missed doctor appointment for baby flu shots, a trip to the wrong store for what I really needed, and an ill advised time deadline for a new customer. To sum up, my mojo took a leave of absence. Even my darling friends the yeastie beasties were not on my side.
Lest we forget, the mysterious and illusive croissant requires a four to six hour process involving a basic yeast dough, a metric ton of butter and lots of waiting. It is not a pastry for the patient. For the impatient pastry gal, you want pate de choux, better known as puff pastry to Americans. Croissants are a wholly bizarre other animal. Once again, I digress.
Here's how the croissant failure happened. Basic dough attempt number one did not rise properly putting me about and hour and a half behind schedule for the day. Attempt number two rose but had a terrible texture. If this were a test batch, which it should have been, I'd have thrown it out. The looming deadline and a desire to deliver on it drove me to continue against my better judgment. So what happened? I blame the yeast. I used a brand that I don't usually use and while it did proof, it had these really large granules that I think did nothing but sit there like little, texture killing interlopers.
I pressed on. Really pressed. The butter incorporation process, with all of the roll, fold, wait, roll, fold, wait for croissants is one of those things that really makes you wonder who sat around and thought that up. Bless them, but it was someone with more time and patience that I had yesterday, that's for sure. Press after press, turn after turn, I kept hoping and wishing, pleading, cajoling and even attempting to bribe the product into submission. It just wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't give up though. I took these little dough monsters all the way through the bake stage and got un-servable glop for my now 8 hours of work.
I called the customer. I explained the lack of mojo and the fail floating around like smog in my kitchen. She will get a free dozen after the Thanksgiving dust has settled. The game-show noise for a Price is Right looser kept playing and replaying in my head. Do di do dum ...waaaaw. My yodeler had fallen off the cliff.
Did I get to crawl under the bed and play 'fort' till I felt better? Nope. I still had work to do. But here's where the silver lining appears...brandy balls! Heck yeah, I said it. Let me say it again BRANDY BALLS! Great Googily Moogily! Chocolate work always makes me feel better.
After the client phone call I decided to whip out some ganache for truffles to take to the familial Thanksgiving feast. Given the foul funk of fail in the kitchen, booze immediately came to mind as the flavoring of choice. In this case the flavoring combination is Triple Sec, Brandy and Extra-Dark Cocoa. I also used the disher that was officially deemed 'too big' for truffles. So now I have giant, boozy, yummy treats. This went some great way to improving my mood. I found homes for homeless loaves of bread, I made a delivery of sugar-free pecan clusters, had a nice meal with the family and went grocery shopping with no more fail. Who else has a job where booze fixes everything? A sommelier I suppose, but still, it's pretty fun...even when it's made of fail.
Lest we forget, the mysterious and illusive croissant requires a four to six hour process involving a basic yeast dough, a metric ton of butter and lots of waiting. It is not a pastry for the patient. For the impatient pastry gal, you want pate de choux, better known as puff pastry to Americans. Croissants are a wholly bizarre other animal. Once again, I digress.
Here's how the croissant failure happened. Basic dough attempt number one did not rise properly putting me about and hour and a half behind schedule for the day. Attempt number two rose but had a terrible texture. If this were a test batch, which it should have been, I'd have thrown it out. The looming deadline and a desire to deliver on it drove me to continue against my better judgment. So what happened? I blame the yeast. I used a brand that I don't usually use and while it did proof, it had these really large granules that I think did nothing but sit there like little, texture killing interlopers.
I pressed on. Really pressed. The butter incorporation process, with all of the roll, fold, wait, roll, fold, wait for croissants is one of those things that really makes you wonder who sat around and thought that up. Bless them, but it was someone with more time and patience that I had yesterday, that's for sure. Press after press, turn after turn, I kept hoping and wishing, pleading, cajoling and even attempting to bribe the product into submission. It just wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't give up though. I took these little dough monsters all the way through the bake stage and got un-servable glop for my now 8 hours of work.
I called the customer. I explained the lack of mojo and the fail floating around like smog in my kitchen. She will get a free dozen after the Thanksgiving dust has settled. The game-show noise for a Price is Right looser kept playing and replaying in my head. Do di do dum ...waaaaw. My yodeler had fallen off the cliff.
Did I get to crawl under the bed and play 'fort' till I felt better? Nope. I still had work to do. But here's where the silver lining appears...brandy balls! Heck yeah, I said it. Let me say it again BRANDY BALLS! Great Googily Moogily! Chocolate work always makes me feel better.
After the client phone call I decided to whip out some ganache for truffles to take to the familial Thanksgiving feast. Given the foul funk of fail in the kitchen, booze immediately came to mind as the flavoring of choice. In this case the flavoring combination is Triple Sec, Brandy and Extra-Dark Cocoa. I also used the disher that was officially deemed 'too big' for truffles. So now I have giant, boozy, yummy treats. This went some great way to improving my mood. I found homes for homeless loaves of bread, I made a delivery of sugar-free pecan clusters, had a nice meal with the family and went grocery shopping with no more fail. Who else has a job where booze fixes everything? A sommelier I suppose, but still, it's pretty fun...even when it's made of fail.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Truffle, or Bliss-face Induction Unit
I've had a love affair with ganache for quite some time. If you're not familiar with ganache, it's one of the better things to do with chocolate known to man. That thing is to add fat. Yummy yummy fat in the form of butter and cream. One of the cool things that happens when you add butter and cream to chocolate is that you get shape shifting, state changing, stable, pliable chocolate that has yummy yummy fat in it - don't forget that part. The magic happens with the room temperature state of all of the materials involved. You get an intensely rich, chocolate thing that is not hard nor is it a liquid at room temperatures. You can use it as frosting, you can shape it, you can flavor it - oh my god you can can flavor it, but I get ahead of myself there.
So you've got ganache - the magical, pliable, chocolate love machine. Why stop there? Spread it between shortbread cookies for something Pepridge Farm could never match, frost cupcakes with it, eat it with a spoon in the dark in your kitchen. There I go again...more to the point you can make truffles with it.
Ah, truffles. So what the heck is a truffle anyway? Let's start with the concept that there are two very different things running around with this name. One is a very expensive mushroom, rooted out of wild, secret areas by truffle sniffing pigs. The other is a confection that happens to resemble this magical mushroom with a magic all it's own. That magic is brought to you by ganache.
Classically, a truffle is basically a ball of ganache, possibly flavored, and rolled in cocoa. Modernly, it seems they'll call anything chocolaty and ball shaped a truffle including a recipe I saw once involving only cream cheese and Oreos. Now, I'm not saying that wouldn't be good, in a preservative filled, processed food way, but I don't really think it's a truffle.
Snobbishness aside, lets talk about the classic truffle for a minute here. So you've got your bowl of ganache, lets make take it to a level of ridiculousness that just shouldn't be legal. Thank goodness it is, or I'd be in jail right now making bathtub ganache and shivs out of stale bread. I digress. Where was I? Oh right, flavoring ganache for truffles. AKA Easy directions for induction of the bliss face in total strangers while fully clothed.
Here's how it works: Make your ganache in a double boiler or the microwave, while it's still hot add your flavorings and chill it down. This is important. The butter has changed states in the heating process and needs to go cool off for a bit before it'll succumb to shaping. Once the ganache is ready to play nice, shape it into balls with a measuring spoon, melon baller, or small disher and roll in the coating. The butter has gotten mushy from all that handling again so stick those bad boys in the fridge and keep them cool till you intend to employ them.
Here are some flavoring ideas:
Coffee Liqueur + Instant Espresso
Baileys + Vanilla Powder
Kirsch + Ginger
Orange Extract + Cloves
Cider + Cinnamon
Any Booze + Compatible Spice
Most recently, the coffee liquor, espresso variety has been a serious creator of bliss face. The espresso bean on top takes it to another level. Come to think of it, you should buy some and try them. Who wouldn't want to invest in a little self-bliss-facing? Not you certainly.
Bliss Out,
The Pastry Goddess
PS. Leave more fun flavor combos in the comments if you like, or just tell me how much awesome I am made of.
So you've got ganache - the magical, pliable, chocolate love machine. Why stop there? Spread it between shortbread cookies for something Pepridge Farm could never match, frost cupcakes with it, eat it with a spoon in the dark in your kitchen. There I go again...more to the point you can make truffles with it.
Ah, truffles. So what the heck is a truffle anyway? Let's start with the concept that there are two very different things running around with this name. One is a very expensive mushroom, rooted out of wild, secret areas by truffle sniffing pigs. The other is a confection that happens to resemble this magical mushroom with a magic all it's own. That magic is brought to you by ganache.
Classically, a truffle is basically a ball of ganache, possibly flavored, and rolled in cocoa. Modernly, it seems they'll call anything chocolaty and ball shaped a truffle including a recipe I saw once involving only cream cheese and Oreos. Now, I'm not saying that wouldn't be good, in a preservative filled, processed food way, but I don't really think it's a truffle.
Snobbishness aside, lets talk about the classic truffle for a minute here. So you've got your bowl of ganache, lets make take it to a level of ridiculousness that just shouldn't be legal. Thank goodness it is, or I'd be in jail right now making bathtub ganache and shivs out of stale bread. I digress. Where was I? Oh right, flavoring ganache for truffles. AKA Easy directions for induction of the bliss face in total strangers while fully clothed.
Here's how it works: Make your ganache in a double boiler or the microwave, while it's still hot add your flavorings and chill it down. This is important. The butter has changed states in the heating process and needs to go cool off for a bit before it'll succumb to shaping. Once the ganache is ready to play nice, shape it into balls with a measuring spoon, melon baller, or small disher and roll in the coating. The butter has gotten mushy from all that handling again so stick those bad boys in the fridge and keep them cool till you intend to employ them.
Here are some flavoring ideas:
Coffee Liqueur + Instant Espresso
Baileys + Vanilla Powder
Kirsch + Ginger
Orange Extract + Cloves
Cider + Cinnamon
Any Booze + Compatible Spice
Most recently, the coffee liquor, espresso variety has been a serious creator of bliss face. The espresso bean on top takes it to another level. Come to think of it, you should buy some and try them. Who wouldn't want to invest in a little self-bliss-facing? Not you certainly.
Bliss Out,
The Pastry Goddess
PS. Leave more fun flavor combos in the comments if you like, or just tell me how much awesome I am made of.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Holy Marshmallow
So(you may ask yourself), why start a blog with a rhapsody to the marshmallow? Why not tell us who you are and what you do? To this I say: we'll get to know each other soon enough, right now I'm on a marshmallow kick.
So what is a marshmallow really? It is a sugar syrup, a magical concoction in it's own right, combined with the awe inspiring weirdness that is gelatin, sometimes also combined with that powerhouse of evil goodness, the egg, and beaten beyond hope. Oddly enough, this tastes good and has a texture like nothing else. It is at once, smooth, airy, sweet, light, slippery, foamy and so wrong that it's just right.
Why am I mooning over marshmallows? Well, if you're asking that question, then you've never had a fresh one. The dessicated, shelf-stabilized, things in the grocery store are not the real McCoy. Like any pastry or candy item, hand made and fresh is a whole other, and wholly better, animal. An animal that I have taken into my home and made into my beloved pet.
Here are some interesting things that I have discovered about marshmallows:
*They can be made with or without eggs. This is a boon to those who are meringue challenged as well as those who lack kitchen space.
*They can be piped into shapes but it is a labor of love, disposable pastry bags and, again, kitchen space.
*They must cure at least overnight before cutting or dusting.
*Once cured, they can be re-liquified - making the most insane rice cereal treats you've ever had.
*They can be flavored. Orange extract produces a Creamsicle taste, peppermint schnapps - well just say yes. Dip in dark chocolate and look out Molly!
Here's where the kitchen McGuyver action happens. Vegan Marshmallows. You heard me. Vegan. No eggs, no gelatin. Skillful application of Agar makes it possible. If you've never used it, agar is a seaweed derived natural binder that, when used properly, gives that rubbery hold that could otherwise only be obtained with yummy gooey horse-hoof collagen (that's gelatin folks). I also have high hopes for instant clear jel, but I haven't tried that yet.
This is part of what I do. Food is my adventure. Marshmallows are a small part of my magical kitchen world. Who knows what I'll do next - well I do - I think it'll be homemade Moon Pies.
So what is a marshmallow really? It is a sugar syrup, a magical concoction in it's own right, combined with the awe inspiring weirdness that is gelatin, sometimes also combined with that powerhouse of evil goodness, the egg, and beaten beyond hope. Oddly enough, this tastes good and has a texture like nothing else. It is at once, smooth, airy, sweet, light, slippery, foamy and so wrong that it's just right.
Why am I mooning over marshmallows? Well, if you're asking that question, then you've never had a fresh one. The dessicated, shelf-stabilized, things in the grocery store are not the real McCoy. Like any pastry or candy item, hand made and fresh is a whole other, and wholly better, animal. An animal that I have taken into my home and made into my beloved pet.
Here are some interesting things that I have discovered about marshmallows:
*They can be made with or without eggs. This is a boon to those who are meringue challenged as well as those who lack kitchen space.
*They can be piped into shapes but it is a labor of love, disposable pastry bags and, again, kitchen space.
*They must cure at least overnight before cutting or dusting.
*Once cured, they can be re-liquified - making the most insane rice cereal treats you've ever had.
*They can be flavored. Orange extract produces a Creamsicle taste, peppermint schnapps - well just say yes. Dip in dark chocolate and look out Molly!
Here's where the kitchen McGuyver action happens. Vegan Marshmallows. You heard me. Vegan. No eggs, no gelatin. Skillful application of Agar makes it possible. If you've never used it, agar is a seaweed derived natural binder that, when used properly, gives that rubbery hold that could otherwise only be obtained with yummy gooey horse-hoof collagen (that's gelatin folks). I also have high hopes for instant clear jel, but I haven't tried that yet.
This is part of what I do. Food is my adventure. Marshmallows are a small part of my magical kitchen world. Who knows what I'll do next - well I do - I think it'll be homemade Moon Pies.
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