I took a break after my incredibly sad month to refocus, to heal. To breathe. (Something I often forget to do). I needed to grapple with sudden heartache and cancer’s grip stealing people, and I needed to do it in private.
But this pause, this time out, has given me a chance to refocus. I started seeing friends I hadn’t seen in ages. I spent time with my family celebrating 3 high school graduations (we haven’t celebrated the two college graduations yet…more parties, yay!). I let my big secret out at work (the reason for my surgery last fall). I went to a design conference and came back with a head so full of ideas, I thought my brain might explode.
I have ideas and plans. I have set the release date for ebook #2 as July 15, and this time it is all about cakes! I am going to finish the illustrations for my second children’s book (also about food 🙂 ). I also am going to be changing up the design of this site when I can get some free time together. Some free time that I don’t decide to bake something…
Like this weekend, I had some free time, but I spent it making gluten-free maple muffins (recipe to come later this week) and these cherry chocolate chip marshmallows.
Cherry clouds with bits of chocolate. Inspired by my dad’s favorite candies and Joy the Baker.
| Gluten-Free Cherry Chocolate Chip Marshmallows |
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- 1 cup(ish) (about 225 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 cup cold tart cherry juice, divided*
- 3 (1/4 ounce) packets of unflavored gelatin
- A small amount of pink food coloring (optional)
- 2 cups (400 grams) sugar
- 2/3 (315 grams) cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (1 – 12 ounce bag or 340 grams) semi sweet chocolate chips**
- Grease an 11×17″ (an 8″x8″ will work) cake pan and shake the powdered sugar inside so that you have a light coating of powdered sugar. (Like you are greasing and flouring a cake pan) and set aside. Put the extra powdered sugar in a bowl, you will need it again.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment, pour 1/2 cup of the cherry juice, food coloring (if using) and sprinkle with the gelatin and let it sit while you move on. This is called “blooming”.
- In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining juice. Stir gently until the sugar is dissolved (the liquid becomes clear instead of cloudy), and then with the help of a candy thermometer, boil the sugar mixture until it is 240 degrees. You know you are getting close when it starts to foam up and then settles back down. Do not over cook the sugar or you will have caramel.
- BE CAREFUL! You are going to be handling hot sugar.
- You are going to pour this into the gelatin mixture in about 4 small additions, whisking the previous amount in completely and then stopping the mixer and adding a little more. You could stream it in down the side, but it wont hurt anything to stop and start, and you will end up with less sugar on the sides of the bowl.
- Once all of the hot sugar has been added, you are going to slowly increase the speed on your mixer to high and then let her rip for about 15 minutes. The marshmallow will start to be thick and glossy.
- If your mixer has a glass bowl, adding the mini chips now will make them melt. You want the mixture to be only slightly warmer than your hands before you add in the chips.
- Spread the mixture into the pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. If it is sticking too much, wet the spatula.
- Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and let sit for at least 4 hours.
- Cut into 24 pieces if you are using the 7×11.
- You can toss them in a little more powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together, but you will want to make sure that any excess is tapped off. You only want enough to make them not sticky. You can skip this part if you plan on dipping them in chocolate.
- They will keep, tightly sealed at room temperature for…well they were all consumed within 48 hours
*Regular cherry juice is significantly sweeter and less cherry flavored, so if you can find it, go with tart cherry juice for the best flavor.
**In the marshmallows photographed, I used the Enjoy Life Mini Chips. These melt really fast, so if you don’t want the swirl (I like it!), you can use a different chocolate chip. I used some Callebaut milk chocolate chunks in a different batch, and they didn’t melt at all. If you want to use the mini chips and not end up with a swirl, pop them in the freezer a few hours before you start.
Glad to hear you positively reacting.
And ooh, a children’s book? Please share the name when it’s done!
Can’t wait try this recipe, it sure would be fun gathered around a campfire. 🙂