All too often in my life, my dad was walked up to me, grabbed my skinny, lanky arm and said some form of: You couldn’t to a pull up if your life depended on it or You couldn’t do a pull up if a million dollars was on the line.  I’m a little to proud to say he’s right, but I will reluctantly admit that the odds are 90/10 in his favor.

So, when I updated my Facebook profile the other week with the comment, I broke my thumb playing football, my closest friends immediately commented back: You. Football? or You were playing a sport that required coordination…and a ball?

I know but I really did.

And this little fracture has made cooking quite the adventure. I’ve been very creative about using tools to prop, balance and handle bowls and utensils.  In retrospect, I could have made something different than sticky gooey marshmallow popsicle.

But I couldn’t help it.

Thomas Keller’s Marshmallow Recipe

Supplies

* large mixing bowl

* 9×13 baking tray

* Hand blender

* Pizza cutter or knife

* Cooking spray

* Candy thermometer (optional, but can be handy)

Ingredients

* 3 pouches of gelatin

* 1/2 cup (120 mL) water

* 2 cups (400 g) sugar

* 2/3 cup (160 mL) corn syrup

* 1/4 cup (60 mL) water

* 1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) salt

* 1 Tbs. (15 mL) vanilla extract (don't forget this! Otherwise, your marshmallows will literally taste like blood from the gelatin)

* Starch or powdered sugar to coat the marshmallows (it's your choice what you use. Powdered sugar = sweeter marshmallows, starch = less sweet)

Directions

1. soak gelatin in a large mixing bowl for 10 min in 1/2 cup water and let it bloom

2. very lightly grease up the 9×13 pan. I like rubbing cooking spray onto it. Then I sprinkle starch or powdered sugar on it.

3. bring water, sugar and corn syrup to a boil for 1 min or let it get to 250 degrees

4. (this is where it gets tricky and a little dangerous. Molten sugar = third degree burn central, so be careful!) Put your hand blender on the lowest setting and slowly pour the sugar mixture into the bloomed up gelatin. As the mixture turns more white and opaque, you can speed up the blender.

5. Pour in vanilla and blend for about 10 minutes or until the mixture gets the consistency of Fluff.

6. Pour into pan and let it cool. Some people like letting it sit out overnight. I tend to just let it cool for an hour or two before cutting.

7. Cover the top of the marshmallow with powdered sugar or starch, then invert pan onto a clean surface.

8. Cut into squares with pizza cutter.

9. Coat marshmallows with powdered sugar or starch.

via Thomas Keller’s Marshmallow Recipe: Review of Marshmallows at Lunch.com.

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I think I learned some great house keeping habits growing up, but I can and often sleep peacefully with dishes in the sink. Now it never fails, in the morning when I get up, I’ll complain, “Why didn’t I take care of those last night!”

Did you catch the title of this post? Spam. Truffles. Let’s just say if you need motivation to do dishes before bed, whip up a batch of Spam Anything for a gag at a Hawaiian themed birthday party! You won’t want one single dish in the sink!

I had it in mind to make a batch of beach themed cupcakes for the birthday party. Let’s face it, that’s what I do. Cupcakes. Everyone should know that if it’s a bring your own dish party, it should always be assumed that I’m going to bring cupcakes. But then out at dinner on Friday (before the party on Saturday) someone said, “I’m going to try to make Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cupcakes.”

It left me speechless! I had to think of a plan B. You can’t have two batches of cupcakes at the same party. And that’s when it came to me. I should make something with Spam.

Here’s the motley crew of ingredients that would turn into Spam Truffles. Oh boy!

It was pretty darn interesting working with Spam. If food is about the senses, Spam really does cause a reaction on all five. I would even say it plays with your sixth sense as well (you get the feeling that there’s just something not right about it).

Spam Truffles
Adapted from this recipe from Spam.com

Ingredients

* 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1 package (7oz) sweetened shredded coconut
* 7 tablespoons cream of coconut
* 1 (16oz) German sweet chocolate, broken up
* 12 tablespoons softened butter
* 10 tablespoons pineapple, finely diced dried
* 1 can (12oz) SPAM® Classic, chopped in blender

Directions

1. Heat sweetened condensed milk,don’t boil
2. Turn heat to low
3. Add cream of coconut and chocolate, stir until melted
4. Whisk in butter until smooth
5. Add pineapple and stir
6. Add SPAM
7. Stir until mixed
8. Pour mixture into large glass casserole and refrigerate until thick, but not stiff (20 min.)
9. Using a teaspoon, shape into one inch balls
10. Roll balls in coconut
11. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet
12. To store, keep in a tightly covered container wrapped in lots of foil (will last one month in refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer)
13. The truffles hold their shape best when they’re cool.

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I really did want to go knock on a few doors to see if they’d be willing to part with a few crates of fruit, but wouldn’t that be weird?

Instead, I looked for an opportunity to swipe a few fruits from trees that were hanging over the fences. Is that legal? More so, it that right?

I suppose there are worse things in life. I’ve got to tell you the adrenaline rush from the whole event was amazing and for whatever reason this bundle tasted a little sweeter.

I turned this batch into Candied Citrus Peels (link to Martha below for full recipe). I had read about them in Craft Magazine (you see I’ve become very crafty this past year and us crafty people read things like Craft Magazine) and with mounds of fresh citrus sitting in my kitchen, I was looking for recipes and projects for them.

Using a paring knife, make 6 slits along curve from top to bottom of each citrus fruit, cutting through peel but not into fruit. Using your fingers, gently remove peel. Reserve fruit for another use.

Slice each piece of peel lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Using a paring knife, remove excess pith from each strip and discard.

Place strips in a large saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then drain. Repeat twice.

Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Stop stirring. Wash sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Add strips to boiling syrup, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until strips are translucent, about 1 hour. Remove from heat, and let strips cool in syrup. (Strips in syrup will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 weeks.)

Using a slotted spoon, transfer strips to a wire rack placed on a rimmed baking sheet. Wipe off excess syrup with paper towels, then roll strips in sugar. Arrange in a single layer on a wire rack, and let dry for at least 30 minutes. Sugared peels will keep, covered at room temperature, for up to 2 weeks.

Cook’s notes:

One method I found online preferred to the citrus peels “dry” out over night. I chose to do this also. What I didn’t take into account is that Arizona is dryer than most other places so the peels dried a little too much. I’d watch for that if you’re making your own batch and adjust drying time for the weather.

I used grapefruit, oranges and lemons. The taste in the peels is very mild, so don’t let the more tart flavors scare you away.

I feel I could have easily doubled the amount of citrus peel in this recipe and kept the same sugar to water ratio when boiling.

Candied Citrus Peel recipes on the net:

Martha Stewart (this recipe adapted from this site)
A Steno Pad for my Thoughts
Cooking Debauchery

PS: Hey Kelli, I feel a Jars of Renewal project! Yay!

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What I love about small towns, is that it was familiar to have the doorbell ring once a night with someone dropping a homemade batch of something and looking forward to your favorite treat to be delivered. My mom LOVES this Cheerio nut mix Mrs. Gold makes. So much so, that its placed in a cookie jar away from all the other treats, just so it doesn’t get consumed too fast.

I love my mom’s Pralines

My doorbell doesn’t ring so much in Phoenix, but I suppose that’s okay. I still make treats for friends. This year, it’s Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix. Enjoy!

Alton Brown’s Hot Cocoa Mix
Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Hot water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (I used my food processor) and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.

Other Homemade Gift Ideas

Assemble a “Green Kit”
Homemade Shower Cap
Homemade Gift Tags

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Making marshmallows does seem pretty daunting, I must admit. The first time I had read about making them, they seemed so gourmet and advanced, I knew I was getting in over my head. But to my surprise, they turned out really tasty and weren’t that hard.

Messy and tasty.

Lesson (1) learned from last time, DON’T SKIMP ON THE POWERED SUGAR AND BUTTER. Marshmallows are really sticky and last time my kitchen looked like I had spun a web of whipped sugar goodness.

Lesson (2) a pizza slicer works better than a pastry cutter. And a metal one works better than one with a silicone blade.

Lesson (3) When pouring the marshmallows, to help even them out in the pan, wrap your hand in plastic wrap and spray it with cooking spray. It makes all the difference in the world.

Peppermint Marshmallows
Active time >45 minutes, Total Time 5 hours

3 Tbs. gelatin
1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar boil
2/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar
Peppermint candies or canes

Blend 3 peppermint candy canes and powered sugar. Place peppermints and at least 2 cups of powered sugar in a food processor. Reserve.

Prepare 9×13 inch Pyrex with lots of butter and dust with peppermint and powered sugar mixture.

Soak the gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water for 10 minutes.I used the mixing bowl for soaking.

Boil sugar, corn syrup and water to 250°F

Pour hot sugar mixture into bowl with the gelatin. Using the paddle attachment, mix until fluffy, at least 5 minutes up to 8 minutes.

Pour into prepared Pyrex. This is where I used my plastic wrap glove to help even the mixture out in the dish.

Leave uncovered for 1 hour. At one hour, sprinkle top of marshmallows with peppermint powered sugar mixture. Allow to set for 4 more hours.

Remove from dish and slice.

Other Marshmallows on the Web:

Cooking for Engineers

Epicurious

My first marshmallow attempt.

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Their website is nice and simple. It features cute shots of kids eating their vegetables with Pop’rs sprinkled on top. I thought the pop’rs would make great cupcake sprinkles and I had a birthday coming up that required a special cupcake, so I decided to place an order.

You have to order the Pop’rs in a set. The set has eight different flavors; Cocoa, Cinnamon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Color Burst, Butter, Taco and Buffalo. Since this was my first try, it didn’t bother me too much that I had to buy a whole box for $29.95 + shipping. But I must admit that it did seem a little steep.

I was coming up on two weeks since my order and the product still hadn’t arrived. And I was getting nervous. I put the shipping address to my office because in Arizona you don’t anything shipped to your house unless you’re there to pick it up. (it’s so hot here that things literally melt when left on your doorstep).

On day 10 after my order, I placed a call to the number. No answer. What  I heard sounded like a simple answering machine. So, I decided not to leave a message, but to email instead. I sent the email and didn’t get a response until the next day. And it was kinda vague.

I think it shipped. I will check. (no name attached)

Now I had all sorts of ideas floating around my head. Was this a small company that got picked up by a huge machine like Rachael Ray and they couldn’t keep up and they were going to shut their doors before I got my sprinkles and I was out $30 bucks? Was this just their idea of customer service? What’s going on here! I sent another email requesting confirmation that my product shipped on Day 11 and didn’t hear back. Ugh!

Then on the afternoon of Day 11, I received a call from Jim. He works for the manufacturing company that distributes Pop’rs. He asked me about my email. I told him my situation and he offered to ship me a box of sprinkles overnight from Wisconsin! And he called me the next day to confirm that the package arrived. Can you believe it!?!

Within an hour of that phone call, the box was delivered to my office. How cool! We immediately tore into the package. We decided to be bold right out of the gate, we sampled the buffalo flavor first. And guess what? It totally tastes like a buffalo chicken wing. I’m not kidding!

So, what was the big fuss about? Why did I have to get this package come hell or high water? It was Holly’s birthday. She had been leaving me subtle and not so subtle messages for a whole month. She wanted cupcakes and she wasn’t shy about wanting them to be delicious and unique. Heck, she even said she wanted a blog post!

I think adding these sprinkles was a huge hit. There were times I’d walk by her office and see people with heads tilted back taking shots of sprinkles and pounding their chests like King Kong afterwards (men are so strange).

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!!!!!

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When I think of marshmallow’s contribution to my life I think of Easter Peeps and chocolate covered marshmallows shaped like eggs. The marshmallow made a come back a few years back when Oprah listed these fudge dipped marshmallows in O magazine as one of her favorite things.

Without having ever thought about it, marshmallows are made with gelatin, which means that if you’re a Vegetarian or Vegan, you’ll have to shop around for all no animal product marshmallows heck, if you keep a Kosher diet you’ll also have to pay attention to these little fluffy guys. Who knew there was so much to consider with a little marshmallow!

If you want to tour a marshmallow factory and you’re in Las Vegas, hit the road East for 20 minutes to Henderson and you can tour the Favorite Brands Marshmallow Factory.

There was several recipes I was considering when making marshmallows, but I went with a simple recipe that had been reviewed on Cooking for Engineers by Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. I followed the C4E recipe to a T (including the decision to boil the candy to the Hard Ball stage).

As the marshmallows mix, they will begin to fluff. I mixed mine for 8 minutes and by that time I was getting the consistency I was looking for.

One thing I wasn’t ready for is how sticky the mixture was. I found myself in a catch 22 when pouring it out. Everything I touched became sticky and everything that touched me was sticky. This is one recipe that you’ll need someone around to help you pour and scrape the bowl.

After I allowed them to sit for a day, I took them out of the pan, cut them with a pizza slicer and tossed them in powered sugar. The vanilla taste is so much more pronounced in these homemade marshmallows than I’ve ever experienced in store purchased ones. And besides the days wait, the recipe was really quite easy to follow and the results were spectacular.

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There was a lot of excitement in the kitchen that year. Here was a candy recipe that didn’t require constant attention; it didn’t require a thermometer, just a wooden spoon and Pyrex. My mom’s original recipe card says it’s from B. Hill. I don’t know who that is, but she was Betty Crocker for us that year.

The trick to this recipe is that you don’t do a lot to it while it’s being nuked. Just leave the wooden spoon the dish while it’s cooking. Make sure you choose a spoon that will fit in your microwave and because the candy is pretty harsh on the spoon, you might as well just dedicate it to this recipe and use it each time you make it.The brittle has such a great buttery flavor (see the glean on the picture) and it’s just the right combination of firm on the outside and gets slightly softer in the middle. 

Microwave Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar
1 cup raw spanish peanuts
Dash of salt
1/2 cup white Karo Syrup
1 T. margarine
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda

Mix syrup, salt, peanuts and sugar with wooden spoon in a 1 3/4 quart size Pyrex
Put in microwave for 8 minutes, turning four times.
LEAVE SPOON IN THE PYREX. DONT STIR IT EITHER.
Take out of the microwave and add the margarine and vanilla.
Put back in the microwave for 2 additional minutes.
DO NOT STIR.
Take out and mix in the  baking soda.
Quickly pour mixture out onto a greased cookie sheet.
Cool 30 minutes.

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Christmas decorations were all set, a fire was burning and the stockings were all hung with care. What did she mean, “We haven’t done much of anything.”

Then I noticed it. I started investigating the cookie jars and they were almost all empty. Most notably, there were no pralines. Now, I know this might not be show stopping for most of you, but in my house pralines are an integral part of the Holiday.

My super sweet Mom, looked at me and said, “I’m making a batch today.” Yay!

This morning, my Mom and I had coffee and pralines for breakfast. It was awesome.

Pralines

Makes 3 dozen

1 t baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
2 T light corn syrup
1 stick margarine
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans

Combine all ingredients except vanilla, pecans and baking soda and buttermilk in a Dutch oven.
Disolve soda in the buttermilk and add to mixture on stove top.
Heat mixture to 240 degrees stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and add pecans and vanilla.
Beat until creamy. Drop from a spoon onto wax paper.

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But it’s not a bad thing to have happy songs running through your head. For two days in a row we (in Phoenix) had temperatures that were in the 60s. It’s Holiday-time Folks! Yippee!

Peppermint was the flavor of the day.

Peppermint Mocha Bark

Crushed candy canes, to yield 1 cup
1 pounds semi-sweet chocolate
Peppermint flavorings, optional

Place candy canes in a plastic bag and hammer into 1/4-inch chunks or smaller. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Combine candy cane chunks with chocolate (add peppermint flavoring at this point if desired.) Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet layered with parchment or waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces (like peanut brittle.)

To make the Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes I made a mocha cake recipe from Hey There Cupcake, used a white frosting and placed a piece of bark on each cupcake.

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