Thursday, December 30, 2010

Homemade Marshmallows

I made these delicious marshmallows yesterday. Never got them done this year in time for Christmas like I usually do, but we will have them with our New Year's cocoa. They are fairly easy to make and so amazingly light, fluffy and delicious, you will never go back to store bought. They are super dipped in chocolate as well!






Raspberry Marshmallows





About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Ultimate in Portable Cupcakery!



What is a LolliCake, you ask? It's only the ultimate in portable cupcakery! Who would of thought you could have a miniature cupcake, with icing, drenched in a crisp shell of chocolate ~ on a stick. Totally portable, always moist, wonderfully delicious!

Many will always love a delicious cupcake, gourmet or not, but for those wanting a modern, fun version of the cupcake, it HAS to be a LolliCake or Lolli~Truffle! Gourmet cupcakes were a hit of the past decade, and may always be the standard in sugary comfort food. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cupcake, especially if it's beautiful And delicious, but the LolliCake is for this decade.

It's the perfect size ~ children can never eat the icing and waste the cake. It's the ultimate in so many ways.

If you haven't tried a LolliCake ~ try one! You won't be disappointed.

Watch here for some exciting new flavors!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Pumpkin Bread

Thanks to my sweet sis-in-law Bonnie, for this idea! Made these for my baskets for Christmas orders and they came out deliciously. Pretty cute too!






Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Kisses




Chocolate Kiss Cookies

1-3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
48 chocolate kisses

Combine all ingredients except kisses. Mix until dough forms. Shape into balls. Roll balls in some sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. After removing from oven, place a chocolate kiss (unwrapped of course!) in the center of each cookie. Cool before storing, to set chocolate.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

How to Build a Sweet Snowman





Snowman LolliCakes ~ Super Sweet!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

My Favorite Baked Raspberry French Toast

This has to be the absolute BEST baked french toast in the world. Crunchy on top, not soggy at all. Perfection!


Saturday, December 11, 2010



Bazaar Preparations

The night before the Little Red Sled Bazaaar preparation . . . . .