Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Tuesdays With Dorie - Marshmallows Into Cookies

Judy, of Judy’s Gross Eats, chose a really fun recipe for this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie: Marshmallows. At least I thought it would be fun…

I’ve made marshmallows before and they were terrific. My usual recipe doesn’t call for egg whites though and that’s where things went a bit haywire for me. My first attempt turned into marshmallow soup with bits of cooked egg white because I was distracted and my syrup’s temperature went too high. My bad.

My second attempt went really well, the marshmallows were puffy and beautiful. I made half the batch into cappuccino marshmallows and kept the rest vanilla just so I could compare with another batch I’d made with my usual recipe. Once they’d set and cooled and had been cut and rolled in icing sugar, we tasted a few, thought they were delicious, so I put the rest away and came back a few hours later to take some pictures. I was greeted by a mess of soggy, unappetizing and un-photogenic marshmallows. The vanilla ones weren’t too bad but the cappuccino ones were a real mess, like the egg had separated from the rest of the ingredients. Was it the icing sugar? Who knows? I couldn’t salvage the cappuccino marshmallows. I even tried to make Rice Krispies Treats with them. Let’s just say, it wasn’t a success.

What did I do with the vanilla marshmallows? I made a batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies, replaced some of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder for half the batch, used pecans instead of walnuts and made Rocky Road Cookies, Two Ways. Those were a success, oh, yes. They still need to be tweaked though as some of the cookies ended up looking like lace cookies because of the marshmallows melting but once I got the idea to put the dough in the refrigerator for a while, they came out a lot better looking. They all tasted incredible though, even the weird looking ones. So, am I going to make marshmallows again? Yes, but not with Dorie’s recipe. My all gelatin recipe, which I found over at What Geeks Eat, is just so much simpler and they keep for at least a week at room temperature. Those I took pictures of! I hope the other Tuesdays With Dorie members had better luck with their marshmallows than I did! For Dorie's recipe, I'll let you visit the other members' blogs for the ones who were actually successful in their marshmallow making journey!


Marshmallows Recipe

What Geeks Eat

3 envelopes of Knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dredging

In the bowl of an electric mixer (preferably a stand mixer), sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for 10 minutes. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. Add vanilla and incorporate into mixture. Brush your

spatula with oil and scrape the mixture onto a sheet pan lined with foil brushed with oil and spread evenly. Cover with another piece of foil brushed with oil.

Let mixture sit for a few hours. Remove from pan, dredge the marshmallow slab with confectioners’ sugar and cut into equal pieces with a chef’s knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in powdered sugar or dip in chocolate.

Rocky Road Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar

3 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup marshmallows (leave them in big chunks, that will prevent them from melting too much)

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and espresso powder. With a wooden spoon, mix in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, drop tablespoonfuls of the dough about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Note: To make the Chocolate Rocky Road Cookies, replace 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

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48 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Mine kept soaking up the cornstarch - every time I go back to them, they're all sticking together! I'm glad I'm not the only one. The cookies look fabulous!

Sarah said...

Gorgeous! They look just like Dorie's!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Your marshmallows are perfect, LyB! And the idea of adding them to cookies is genius!

amanda. said...

They're beautiful!

Mine became soggy after just a couple hours too. They tasted fine, they were just limp and gross looking. Oh well, live and learn.

Marie Rayner said...

Your marshmallows look really scrummy! So nice and fluffy. WEll done! I opted to make some S'mores with mine as well, except I used homemade peanut butter cookies. They kind of ended up like moreish Peanut Butter cup s'mores.

LyB said...

Thanks you guys! But I think I need to reiterate that those are not Dorie's marshmallows pictured there but another batch I made with another, all gelatin, recipe. I didn't take any pictures of Dorie's because, well, they were icky looking! I did make the cookies with them though! :)

ostwestwind said...

Your's look great, a bit firm. The egg whites are the culprit, who keeps the "dough" wet and soaking up the starch.

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Isabelle Lambert said...

une bonne idée les biscuits...j'y avais pensé mais ça faisait tellement longtemps que je n'avais pas fait de barres aux rice krispies :)

Mumsy said...

I LOVE the cookie idea! Great save. I was really worried about mine after reading all the comments.

The other marshmallow are perfection.

April said...

I am sorry that they didn't turn out for you, but at least they didn't go to waste!

Mumsy said...

I LOVE the cookie idea! Great save. I was really worried about mine after reading all the comments.

The other marshmallow are perfection.

Anonymous said...

Gosh those cookies look yummy! I am so amazed at everyone's creativity in making things with the marshmallows after they are done. I would have never thought to do cookies, or rice krispies, or s'mores!

Hallie Fae said...

Cookies look great, so do the marshmallows. I think I would be terrible at make them, you have to watch so closely, I would defiantly get distracted by something else. Will you post the cookie recipe with all the substitutions that you made to make them Rocky Road? I would love to try them.

Heather B said...

Great use of them in the cookies! I bet they were delicious!

Heather B said...

great use of the marshmallows! I bet they were great in the cookies!

grace said...

kudos to you for salvaging your less-than-ideal creation. i love how the marshmallows melted into the batter.
i guess it's always good to try new recipes, but it seems like 99% of the time, they don't hold a candle to the old stand-by.

Mari said...

Your cookies look delicious, very creative save, well done!

Anonymous said...

Rocky Road Cookies?! Oh My!
Fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Your marshmallows look fabulous and those cookies look amazing! Mine didn't turn out well, so I'm going to have to give your other recipe a try to see if I have better results!

CB said...

Fabulous marshmallows but gimme the cookies! :)
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Anonymous said...

I admire your persistence!

Annemarie said...

Those cookies look fabulous! Nice job!

Mary said...

i'm glad you got to really enjoy eating them even if you aren't pleased with the pics....and they sound so yummy!!!

Anonymous said...

My usual marshmallow recipe doesn't have egg whites in it either and I like it better. I made the pumpkin version and I liked the flavor, but the texture left a lot to be desired and I ended up with some bits of scrambled egg white here and there too.

Anonymous said...

I think they look really good, and thanks for the links to the other marshmallow recipes!

Bumblebutton said...

The cookie recipe definitely inspired. I would have tossed in the towel! Great way to make lemonade...

Ginny said...

The best bakers know how to salvage a disaster! The cookies look great! so do the marshmallows!

Whitney said...

love the cookies. Those look great

steph- whisk/spoon said...

those look great! my cappuccino marshmallows are still holding up just fine, but i have such a lot left, i was wondering what to do with them. rocky road cookies are a fab idea!!

Anonymous said...

Those cookies look really, really good!!

Natalie said...

The marshmallows look good, and the cookies sound even better!

Anonymous said...

I keep saying I'm going to make marshmallows but, never get around to doing it. Thank you for inspiring me to make them!

Nic said...

Those bottom marshmallows look great and your cookies are mouthwatering. I do like Tuesdays!!

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

Using marshmallows in cookies is a great idea and a good idea to use up any uneaten marshmallows! Thanks for the idea.

Anonymous said...

Tu en as fais un tres bon usage, ca doit etre super chewy et super bon!!

Anonymous said...

What nice looking white marshmallows!
I want those cookies!

Amy said...

Yumm! Marshmallows in cookies, I love it!

Anne said...

My Rice Krispie's died too! Lol. It looks delicious though!

Lori said...

Very resourceful and I love that you did not throw it away! The cookies look great as do the marshmallows.

Shirlie said...

Your cookies look awesome! I'm echoing the other reader tho asked for the rocky road cookie recipe. Please?!!? (with a sticky, limp, soggy marshmallow on top?!)

Liliana said...

I love the cookies! What a great idea. I will have to bake some with the left over marshmallows. (I made two batches).

Your vanilla marshmallows look good!!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

So sorry your marshmallows didn't turn out well. I've always used the gelatin method, so I wondered how the egg white ones would turn out. I think you're brilliant to put the failures into cookies!

kimberly salem said...

sorry to hear that you had problems... but what a delicious solution :) the cookies look great!

Helene said...

I am the gelatin marshmallow king girl too (boy, say that 3 times fast!). Never fails and they do keep longer. Great idea to pu them into cookies!

LyB said...

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! I've now included the Rocky Road Cookie recipe for those of you who asked about it. Thanks again!

Susan @ SGCC said...

The marshmallows look lovely, but oh, those cookies! I'll take a dozen, please?

Vanessa said...

Whoa...those cookies look awesome...I've got to have me some. Great idea.

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

I'm glad I found this! I just compared 4 marshmallow recipes... 2 had egg whites, and 2 did not. Thanks to your post, I'm gonna attempt the marshmallows WITHOUT egg whites in the recipe! :D