Mint Marshmallows

I have sort of a thing for marshmallows.  I love to try out the seasonal varieties like gingerbread, chocolate, and french vanilla in the store when I find them.  Nothing, however, beats a homemade marshmallow.  After making (and eating) a batch of homemade marshmallows, I have a hard time going back to store bought.  This is another perfect recipe for Christmas time.  I use a basic marshmallow recipe from Alton Brown, and put my own spin on it.  Don't be intimidated by the thought of homemade marshmallows.  They are unbelievably easy, and well worth it.

The mint is interesting and a bit unexpected coming out of a marshmallow, and the red swirl gives this sweet confection a festive flair.  In a giant mug of hot chocolate, these marshmallows just melt away into nothing, creating a rich minty flavor.  Can it get better?  I'll let you know. 

Mint Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
12 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon mint extract
red food coloring
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

In the bowl of a stand mixer (using the whisk attachment), place the gelatin along with 1/2 cup of the water.  In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of water, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and let it continue to cook until it reaches 240F (use a candy thermometer, or monitor closely with an instant read thermometer).  Once the mixture reaches 240F, remove from heat immediately.

Turn the mixer on low speed, and slowly pour the sugar syrup (while mixer is running) down the side of the mixer bowl into the gelatin.  Once all of the syrup is added, increase the mixer speed to high.  Continue to whip on high for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very thick and is just warm.  During the last minute of whipping, add the mint extract.

While the marshmallows are whipping, lightly spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch.  Dust the bottom and sides of the pan with the cornstarch mixture to cover completely, then return any extra mixture to the bowl.  When the marshmallow is through whipping, pour into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula to spread it evenly.  Place drops of red food coloring all over the top of the marshmallow (working quickly before the mixture sets up too much to swirl), then take a toothpick and run it through the marshmallow and food coloring to create a swirl effect.  Dust the top of the marshmallow with enough of the remaining cornstarch mixture to lightly cover, saving the rest for later.  Allow the marshmallows to sit, uncovered, for 4 hours or overnight.

After the marshmallows have set up, turn them out onto a large cutting board, and using a pizza cutter, cut into 1-inch squares.  Once cut, roll the marshmallows in the remaining cornstarch mixture.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks (I store mine in an airtight container in the freezer).

Note:  You can use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment to make these marshmallows, but be prepared to hold the mixer for a long time, and it may stress your mixer quite a bit.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

These are such pretty cookies, and perfect for Christmas.  If you can believe this, coming out of the oven, they actually smelled like the chocolate glaze on a fresh donut...?  Wow.  So incredibly good.  They are kind of like a chocolate thumbprint cookie with a maraschino cherry inside the thumbprint and covered with a chocolate-cherry ganache.  Making the thumbprint was a perfect job for my two hungry puppies, and their little fingers were the perfect size.  The best part?  They finally got the okay from me to stick their fingers in the cookie dough.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 10-oz. jar maraschino cherries (drain cherries (about 30) and reserve juice)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Melt the butter and mix in the sugar.  When the mixture has cooled off a bit, add the egg and beat well.  Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and cocoa, then beat carefully (or you  might get a cocoa cloud) until well combined.  Add the flour and beat until incorporated.  The dough will be stiff.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Press down in the center of each ball to make an indentation.  Place one cherry in each indentation.  You probably won't use all of the cherries.

Melt the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk together, being careful not to scorch the chocolate. Start adding in some of the reserved cherry juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the sauce is thick, but will still drop off of a spoon.  Spoon a small bit of the sauce over the cherry in each cookie, just enough to cover the cherry and not run down the sides.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 30 cookies.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

I enjoy mint.  I also enjoy chocolate.  Mint goes well with Christmas.  Chocolate goes well with any time.  These cookies combine the richness of dark chocolate with the coolness of mint.  The texture is soft and fudgy, but please don't overbake as a cakey texture will result.  This recipe is supposed to make a dozen perfect sized cookies (extremely large), but for the sake of Christmas giving, I used a small cookie scoop to make smaller cookies.  I will include both baking times in the instructions.

Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (10 ounces) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (2 ounces) dark cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) all purpose flour
Large pinch of Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well-incorporated.  Carefully, with mixer on low speed, beat in cocoa powder.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder, then add to creamed mixture and beat slowly until just combined.  Gently stir in the baking chips. 

For one dozen perfect sized (large) cookies, divide the dough into 12 equal portions and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes, being careful not to overbake.  For quite a few more smaller cookies, use a small cookie scoop to drop the dough on the baking sheets.  Bake for 6 minutes, being careful not to overbake.  Let cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Black Forest Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies really remind me of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies, but with a twist.  In this oatmeal cookie recipe, white and semi sweet chips, dried cherries, and sliced almonds come together to create bites of flavor similar to a black forest cake.  Don't think that these cookies will taste like black forest cake.  They taste like oatmeal cookies with black forest components, and are quite good.

Black Forest Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (96 g) butter flavored shortening

1/2 cup (96 g) shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs
3 Tablespoons half and half (or milk, whatever you have)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups quick oats

6 ounces (about 1 cup) white chocolate chips

6 ounces (about 1 cup) semi sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cups coarsely chopped dried cherries

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large mixing bowl, combine shortenings, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, half and half, vanilla, and almond extract.  Beat at medium speed until well blended and creamy.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  Add to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until flour is incorporated.  Stir in oats, white chocolate, semi sweet chocolate, cherries, and nuts.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfulls about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.  Bake for 9 minutes, or until set.  Cool for 2 to 3 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Birthday Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Today is my best friend's birthday (Happy birthday, Best Friend!). Instead of requesting her usual German Chocolate Cake, though, she requested a gingerbread house. I was really excited about this because gingerbread houses are a tradition in my family, but I have never been the one to make the gingerbread or the pieces to the house. I started looking for templates and found one just in time for my friend to change her mind about what she wanted. She sent me this link and told me she wanted a gingerbread Christmas tree. No problem, right?

I was super excited to try this out! I used Cardamommy's gingerbread recipe (which came together absolutely beautifully) and while it was chilling, I drew and cut out all the patterns (yep, I made every single pattern I used for this) and planned more or less what I hoped it would look like. When all the pieces were baked, I started to assemble them. As it came together I got more and more excited because it was looking so good. Then it came to the icing part. I really didn't want to mess it up with this stage of the project. Being a college student, I don't have a lot of kitchen tools. Such as an icing kit. So I improvised by snipping jagged edges off the tip of a bag in order to get a textured pipe. Fortunately, my little contraptions all worked out for me and soon I was icing like crazy. For the sake of time and lack of equipment, I did not try Cardamommy's icing recipe. Rather, I simply snagged some vanilla icing from my dear friend Betty Crocker. I soon found it to be extremely soft, so i added some powdered sugar to make it a little sturdier. This was really helpful for the icicles because the original frosting was so soft it all sort of dropped off, giving me a melty effect rather than a frozen one. The resmaining frosting was  mixed with some food dye to provide clothing for our poor (previously) naked gingerbread couple or swooped around on the plate in order to create a drift-like effect. When I was finished I sprinkled my little scene ever so slightly with powdered sugar for some fresh snow.

I'm pretty proud and impressed with myself, actually. For having no cookie cutters, patterns, icing kits, mixers, etc etc and for it being the first time around, I'd say I didn't do too badly. I have to warn you, though. If you decide to do it this way, be prepared to spend 8 hours doing everything. This is coming from my very much fatigued brain (which is wondering why I'm still up at 4:25AM).

Hopefully this all makes sense. The real point, though, is to wish my absolutely wonderful and very best friend a very very happy birthday!

Love,

Coriaunty

PS--If want my pattern for the tree with specific instructions, email cardamommyandcoriaunty@gmail.com

Honey Cornbread

I love honey.  I love to eat it.  Straight out of the jar.  You think that's wierd?  Maybe you've never tried it.  So, what goes great with honey?  Cornbread, of course.  I like my cornbread a little sweet (have you noticed a trend here?), so the honey in the batter makes it just perfect.  I purchase raw local honey, which is incredibly delicious, and in my opinion kicks anything store bought out of the running (I don't eat store bought honey straight out of the jar).  Whichever you like, you will like it in this cornbread.

 Honey Cornbread

 1 cup Flour

1 cup Corn Meal
1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 cup Honey

1/2 stick Melted Butter

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a small baking dish or cake pan.

In a small bowl, combine flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder,and salt.  In a separate larger bowl, whisk together the melted butter, and honey.  Add the beaten eggs and buttermilk, and whisk until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until they are combined. Do not over mix.  Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Baked Bean Chili

This is a fast and easy chili with a shortcut.  Baked Beans.  Yup, baked beans in chili.  I like a little sweet to go along with the classic chili flavors, and this recipe does just that.  Add whichever spices you prefer in the amounts of your liking.  I use chili powder and cumin, adding a small amount first then adding more if necessary.  Remember, you can add spices, but you can't take them out.  This is a flexible recipe that works every time, even though I don't measure my ingredients.  Fewer dirty dishes that way, and my husband can appreciate that.


Baked Bean Chili

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, diced

1 lb. ground beef

1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 can (28 oz.) baked beans

1 beef bullion cube dissolved in 1 cup of water

Chili powder to taste

Cumin to taste

 

In a saucepan, cook onion, garlic, and ground beef until beef is cooked through completely.  Add diced tomatoes, baked beans, beef broth, chili powder, and cumin.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy