Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

(this has a lot to it, so if you just want the recipe, skip down)

Several years ago, I learned to run using a walk-jog 13-week 10K program. As a girl who had always tried to hide in a closet with a book whenever her mother mentioned the word "outside," and who could never sprint further than the distance between two telephone poles... this was nothing short of a miracle to me. I'd accepted and embraced the "unathletic" label, and just assumed that is how it would always be. So to learn to run changed my life. I learned to do something impossible. It was overwhelming and spilled confidence into many other areas of my life ... and I started tackling the impossible everywhere.

I wanted to share this joy and offered to be a running buddy / coach to anyone who wanted to commit to do it. I was loosely friends with D at the time, but she took me up on my offer. While others would pull no-shows and frustrate me, D would show up, day after day, week after week. She also never considered herself athletic and had her own childhood issues with P.E. She had more discipline than I did, and was always on time, ready to meed me. And she DID it. She learned to run. She also tackled the impossible and came out victorious. I was so proud of and happy for her. We continued to jog and walk together every week for years.

In the midst of forming this long, slow-cooker, deeply enjoyable friendship, D showed me how to make marshmallows. I may have been a few steps ahead of D in the running world, but she was a bold explorer into the culinary ... and she was making candy!

Candy has always intimidated me: thermometers, exact timing, burning sugar... I mean, you look away for ten seconds and your caramel sauce turns into jawbreakers. Or something like that.

D took the fear out of candy for me by inviting me to make marshmallows with her. I think the first time we made them, it was Christmas time, like now. She lived near a neighborhood that competed for highest electric bill in December, and their lights and yard decor for Christmas were incredible. So we hatched an idea... to make marshmallows, and put them in spiked hot chocolate for a tromp in the Christmas lighted neighborhood. (Not only was D a seasoned culinary experimenter, she also was an intrepid cocktails-and-liquors explorer... and I owe my love of tequila to her and her husband.)

Needless to say, it was a smash success that we repeated. While what I treasure most is the memory and friendship, I have to say the marshmallows are the crown on the experience.

I moved, and D and I no longer have our weekly walks. I live nowhere nearby to do Christmas and marshmallows.

I did bring the recipe with me, however, and her legacy lives on in my current regime.

These vanilla marshmallows, it turns out, are the Achilles Heel of my husband's perfect healthy eating lifestyle and self-discipline. While he will say 'no thanks' to any dessert or unhealthy food, even if it means not eating for days... he has a weakness for these marshmallows in Mexican Hot Chocolate and specially requests it.

As a sugar addict desperate for company on a sugar-binge, of course I oblige him. I love it.

Cheers to you, D! Thank you for the hundreds of runs and walks over the years. Thank you for chili and jalapeno cornbread, thank you for all the post-walk cocktails, thank you for the olive oil cake, thank you for good talks, thank you for showing me Cake Wrecks and Simon the Cat, and thank you for teaching me to make marshmallows! Merry Christmas to you and your little family! I hope you get to drink lots of hot chocolate and enjoy Christmas lights all through the season.

Stephan's Achilles Heel:

- Ibarra hot chocolate (yellow octagonal box in the Mexican food section usually. "Abuelita" also works great)
- organic nonfat milk (hey, it helps him feel better. If you want to go for whole or 2%, do it!)
- vanilla bean marshmallows (recipe after this)

1. Measure milk in cups (2 c. per person). Pour into a sauce pan on the stove, and put the heat on medium or high.
2. For each cup of milk, use a square of chocolate. So, for Stephan and I, we make 4 c. milk, and put 4 wedges (half a round) of chocolate in the pan.
3. Let it warm up enough that the chocolate gets soft ... and whisk it into the milk.
4. Pull it off the burner when it is as hot as you want it. If you boil it, it will get a skin (no biggie).
5. Add marshmallows!

If you want... spike it. With brandy, or tequila, or bourbon/whiskey, or whatever else you think would be good. I liked it with Tullamore DEW, the whiskey used in Irish Coffees.

Vanilla Bean Marshmallows (adapted from Alton Brown's Food Network recipe)

STOP! You must have a Kitchen Aid and a candy thermometer. If you don't have these, I don't now how you can do it. You miiiight be able to do it with an eggbeater rather than Kitchen Aid. Be prepared, it will be a lot of work if you do.

1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. ice-cold water
3 packages plain gelatin (Jello aisle; Knox makes it and the smallest is a box with 4 packs)
1 1/2 c. regular granulated sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 vanilla bean (if you can't spring for it, 1 tsp. extract)
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. corn starch
nonstick spray (no flavor)

1. Put 1/2 c. ice cold water in the Kitchen Aid. Sprinkle the gelatin on top. Leave it to sit.
2. Into a saucepan put the granulated sugar, salt, corn syrup and 1/2 c. water. Turn it on HIGH, and don't stir it. Leave the lid off. Clip the candy thermometer on and make sure you can tell where 240 F is (also labeled "soft ball" for the candy terminology). It will take 7-8 minutes to get there.
3. While you are waiting, mix powdered sugar and cornstarch. This is your "no stick dusting powder" for the marshmallows.
4. Once the sugar syrup hits 240 F, take it off the heat immediately.
5. Turn on the Kitchen Aid (SLOW) and drizzle the hot syrup down the side, slowly incorporating it into the gelatin mixture.
6. Once all the syrup is in, turn the speed up to its highest setting and set your timer for 15 minutes.
7. Cut open and scrape the vanilla bean for its guts and add it to the marshmallow mixture about 5-6 minutes into its timing. If you do it too early, the mixture is so hot it will cook out some of the flavor. If you wait too long, it doesn't mix in very well.
8. While you are waiting, spray a 9x13 cake pan or similar dish (eg casserole, something with some depth) with the nonstick spray, and then dust with the powdered sugar / cornstarch mixture. It's messy...
9. Once the Kitchen Aid beating is done, it should look really amazing - like marshmallow fluff. The bowl should feel warm to the touch, but not hot.
9. Spray a rubber spatula with nonstick spray, and use it to scrape the marshmallow out of the Kitchen Aid bowl into the dish. Smooth the surface as necessary, but it looks good with a rustic, non-even surface, too, so don't stress.
10. Leave the tray uncovered in a dry place where it won't get dust for several hours (depending on how dry it is where you live, this could be faster or slower) -- 4 at least, overnight at longest. Once it has set, it will be one giant marshmallow that you can pull out of the dish in its entirety. a knife with non-stick spray and powdered sugar/cornstarch can be used to cut marshmallow squares at whatever size you prefer. Roll the stick sides in more of the powder.
11. Store in an air-tight container and I think they last forever. Not that they'll last nearly that long.

YUM!

Orange Slice Ornaments

 
Last year, I stumbled across some instructions on the easiest impatient-person-friendly ornaments ever. And they're so pretty. For my ADD, this project worked GREAT. All you need is citrus and a sharp knife, a baking sheet and an oven.

OK, so there are LOTS of instructions for how to make these out there on the internets/Pinterest, etc. But a lot of them make this more difficult and crafty ("add cinnamon! sprinkle with sugar! sprinkle with glitter!" and a bunch of complicating crap like that). Ignore them and do it the easy way and it's simpler and more elegant in my opinion.

Here's what I remember:

1. slice oranges across the sections (so they look like wheels), into 1/4" to 1/2" rounds. The thinner they are, the clearer they'll be... but you also run the risk of them tearing or getting holes.

2. Place rounds on a cookie sheet and bake at some low temperature for hours until they are dry as toast! (you probably have to turn them once to finish them off). Try 150 degrees for 3-4 hours, see how it works. Just don't turn the oven up too high or it will make them burn and turn dark.

3. THE END. Oh, get some thread and needle, and thread a loop through the orange to make it hang-able on the Christmas tree.

4. Bonus: your house smells amazing while these suckers are in the oven.

Here's my pics from last year:

 (pay no attention to the fennel on the bottom left)

 Plateful of the Martha Stewart worthy ones. Yes, you've already seen this. Yes, I'm proud of myself.

 Reality check: they don't all come out perfect. But I still like these. And if I do it again, I'll use THESE in apple cider mulling spice mix.

 See how clear they can get? Well, the lemon slices got really clear for me.

They look so pretty on the tree. The end!