Saturday, January 15, 2011

foodpr0n: homemade cocoa marshmallows

The first thing you learn when you make marshmallows from scratch is that Ghostbusters was lying to you. That is not how marshmallow goop behaves. (They used shaving cream.) Actual marshmallow goop is far more insidious, more inexorable, more sticky than the deceptively benign horrors that our comedic but intrepid heroes faced back in 1984.

That said, the payoff of working with marshmallow goop is well worth the effort:

homemade cocoa marshmallows tumbled in a pan

I'd be posting a recipe right now, but at this point I'd just be plagiarizing Alton Brown's excellent instructions. I'll get back to you later, once I've had the chance to perfect a few wacky flavors.

These cocoa marshmallows were made exactly according to Alton's recipe, except I only made 1/3rd of the recipe (which fit perfectly in a bread pan) and added 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to the 'mallow batter in addition to the vanilla (having turned the beater speed down first and up again afterwards to prevent splatter), plus another 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to the cornstarch/powdered sugar coating mixture.

more closeup detail of homemade cocoa marshmallows

homemade cocoa marshmallows in a messy pan

Of course, s'mores had to happen immediately.

a s'more made with a homemade cocoa marshmallow and Lindt milk chocolate

The only potential downside here is that now I want to make marshmallows in all the flavors. Like banana, and espresso, and Nutella, and whiskey, and caramel, and chai, and Earl Grey. It'll be the tastiest pain in the ass there ever has been.

5 comments:

Josh said...

There's no downside. There's only gooey deliciousness.

The chocolate marshmallows were awesomely delicious!

Heidi Bryan said...

so want a smore now :) Gee thanks

Lauren V. said...

The whole reason I made marshmallows in the first place was that I'd been craving s'mores and wouldn't let myself buy marshmallows until I tried making them.

Anonymous said...

Lauren!!! I HAVE to make these. Before I knew you, I never wanted to cook or make anything. Now I am baking cookies, making brownies and boiling water. WTF. Best influence ever!! They look amazing!

Lauren V. said...

=) Hooray for making things! Am glad I can be a good temptress! Er, I mean, influence.