The Great Marshmallow Experiment

Ok, so y'all know that I made the sugar free marshmallows on Saturday (and I'll be making another batch tonight...more on that in a few).  I also made a batch of regular marshmallows on Sunday and then yesterday I got an idea in my head... Flavored marshmallows.  Over the past 3 days I must have made around 200 marshmallows!!

I have a recipe for Cherry almond cupcakes that looks amazing.  My only problem?  I'm allergic to Maraschino cherries (not the cherries, but the sulfates that are used to preserve them) so even though technically I can make them, I wouldn't be able to eat even one so that kind of kills it for me.  I started to browse around for recipes for flavored marshmallows and learned that you can use fresh fruit like berries, bananas, and peaches.  You can Not use pineapple, kiwi, mango, or guava because of a particular enzyme that breaks down the gelatin so the mallows won't fluff up at all.

I also don't like to use food coloring.  I try to avoid it as much as possible because I think it adds a weird flavor to the marshmallows and I try to keep things as pure as I can. I make my own Vanilla extract and I'm going to make my own almond extract soon too since that stuff is seriously expensive.

I had a thought in my head yesterday and wasn't going to let it go until I got home and did it and I was So happy that I went through with it because even my kid said they were the best marshmallows that he'd ever had!

I bought a packet of dried cherries and put about 1/2 cup into my food processor and chopped them really fine.  I put the chopped up cherries back into the measuring cup and added 1 tsp of almond extract and just let it sit and steep while I made a batch of regular mallows.  I added the cherries in the last minute or so of whipping up the mallows and they came out a very very pale pink with little bits of cherries in them.

Absolute Perfection!!  I'm going to make a batch of cherry almond sugar free ones tonight and I'll also let y'all know how those turn out.

I'm thinking the next batch will be orange vanilla.. or strawberry vanilla... or maybe.... banana coconut?  I'm not sure... there are so many options :)

Banana scones with brown sugar glaze

I love banana bread, but I wanted something a little diffferent.  I saw a recipe for banana scones the other day, but I didn't have a few key ingredients to make that specific recipe so I decided to wing it and try one on my own.. they came out Fantastic!

Banana Scones

2 1/4 Cups + 1 tablespoon All purpose Flour

1/3 C Brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3 Tbs Unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 Large banana

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs milk

Preheat oven to 400°f

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice.  

Cut in the butter until it becomes fine crumbs and set aside.

In a small bowl mash the banana and add the egg, milk and Vanilla

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixing until just combined.  Knead dough 12-14 times until smooth and pat into about a 7 inch round about 1 inch high on parchment lined baking sheet.  with a serrated knife cut into 8 slices and separate slightly.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Brown Sugar Glaze:

In a small bowl combine 1/3 C powdered sugar, 1 Tbs brown sugar, 2 Tbs milk and 1/2 Tsp vanilla.  stir to combine and drizzle over scones.

Lemonade cookies

I am still in shock that Easter is this Sunday.  Even though it's later than usual this year I'm still kinda stunned, lol. It doesn't quite feel like spring here in NY yet, let alone the fact that it's almost May.

I bought up a bag of lemons at the grocery store on Friday for the Chicken with Lemons & Olives (which to me was a great lesson in paying attention while shopping as 3 loose lemons were $4 and a bag of 6 lemons was $3.49.)  I took the lemons home, washed them and they're sitting on my kitchen counter, waiting for me to use the rest of them up. (yea, you read that right, I washed them.  I always wash all my produce before I use it or put it in the fridge... don't you ever wonder where the fruit flies come from? *shudder*)

I wanted to make lemon bars, but I'll save that for another day when I have a little more time.  I'm taking off work towards the end of the week so The Kid can get a break from coming to the office with me and I can get a break from the madness too.

I knew I had this recipe somewhere and it turned out to be in the recipe binder (which I will also be going through and tabbing this weekend)  I'm so glad I found it because I've been thinking of these cookies all.week!

I'm making these tonight.. Pictures will follow :)


Lemonade Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar + ½ cup for dusting the cooled cookies
 1tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350̊. F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl combine flour, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest.

 Add butter and vanilla and beat together until a soft dough forms.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheet leaving about an inch in between each one.

 Bake one sheet at a time for 12-15 minutes, until cookie bottoms are golden brown.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

After the cookies have completely cooled you can move on to the next step:

Place the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in a quart or gallon-sized zip-top bag.

Carefully drop 12 cookies at a time into the sugar and shake to coat.

Store cookies in an airtight container or zip-top bag.

Soft Pretzel Bites

While I was browsing through Foodgawker the other morning at work on one of the days I was there at 7 (yea, I was at work at 7am 3 days last week.. kid has review classes for math and science) I saw a pic of these little pretzels and I couldn't wait to make them!  I'm not a huge pretzel lover, but every once in a while I like a good soft pretzel with some cheese or some good mustard.

These were really pretty easy to make and The coolest thing happened while I was waiting for the yeast to bloom.. there was a just a minute or two left and I peeked into the bowl and was all "hmm, it's not bloomed yet, I hope the yeast is good"  when BAM!! it started to bloom right before my eyes.  I've never seen that before and it really was cool. (Yes, I'm a dork... so?)

The Original recipe that I sorta followed called for Much more salt than the one I'm going to post here.. and these IMHO are just salty enough before being overly salty.

Soft Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 T light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
Vegetable Oil (for the bowl)

10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda

coarse sea salt

Directions:
Combine the yeast, brown sugar and warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Let it sit for 5 minutes until foamy.

Add the melted butter and salt to the mixture and combine. Add the All Purpose Flour while the dough hook is going then add the Whole Wheat flour and mix until the dough has formed a large ball.

Remove from the bowl and let rest in an oiled bowl for an hour, covered with a kitchen towel.

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Place a large pot with 10 cups water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add the baking soda. Be careful because it looks like it's almost going to bubble over, and it WILL if your pot isn't big enough.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12" long. Cut the rope of dough into little bite sizes pieces about 1" long.

Using a slotted spoon, add about 10 to the boiling water at a time. Once they rise to the top of the water, about 30 seconds, remove with your slotted spoon to a paper towel to dry. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Transfer the bites to parchment lined baking sheets.

Sprinkle with sea salt. Transfer to the oven and bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.

I stuffed a few with cheese, by The Kid's request I used Pepperjack cheese and it was.. ok, but I probably will use another cheese next time.

The Hummus experiment

OK, maybe it wasn't so much of an experiment as it was a learning experience. I grabbed some little Sabra hummus snack packs while i was grocery shopping one day, I hadn't had hummus in ages and they were $1, so it was worth trying a few different flavors out and something handy to toss into my bag to snack on at work. Roasted red pepper by far was my favorite, the roasted garlic one tasted like paste to me but the kid liked it.

Over the past few weeks I've tried a few different hummus brands and I've made my own which was pretty darn good too. But as far as the store bought varieties go, Sabra is the best, it's got good flavor and doesn't go overboard in the spice department. I've tried both Tribe and Athenos Hummus brands and both in my opinion were not that good. Athenos was particularly bad as soon as I took the first taste all I tasted was cumin, and that's all I tasted. Tribe was also heavily spiced but with a mixture that I wasn't particularly pleased with.

Yeah, it's easier to make it yourself.. but sometimes you've just gotta have it now.. or, if you happen to know my kid, it's already open as soon as he's sitting down in the car, lol.

Sabra's the store bought winner hands down in my book though.