Archive for: marshmallow
A fluffernutter is a sandwich that is filled with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff or marshmallow cream. The combination of sweet and salty works extremely well, making this gooey sandwich a favorite of just about any kid who has even had one. It’s the kind of thing that I don’t necessarily eat on a regular basis as an adult, but I still can’t resist the combination when it comes up and get a craving for it every now and then. These Fluffernutter Whoopie Pies are inspired by this delicious sandwich.
The whoopie pies have cake-like rounds of peanut butter cookies as their foundation, and they are filled with a mixture of marshmallow cream and peanut butter. You get a great peanut butter flavor and the marshmallow adds just the right amount (which is to say, quite a bit) of sweetness to make the whoopie pie exactly what you would expect to get from a fluffernutter. The peanut butter cake/cookies are actually quite good on their own, and they stand up well to the filling. You can use smooth peanut butter, but I prefer to use crunchy so that there is a little bit more texture in these.
Regular, national brand peanut butters work well for both the cake and the filling, since they tend to have a good salty-sweet balance. Natural peanut butters also work, but tend to get a little bit gooey in the filling since they have a softer texture, so you might want to pack a few extra napkins. The marshmallow fluff also gets a bit messy in the filling – although I tend to think that it is part of the fun of eating a fluffernutter! – so I recommend filling these just before you intend to serve them. The cookies will keep very well when stored in an airtight container, so you can even make those a day or two in advance and fill them at the last minute.
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Sweet potato casserole is a must-have Thanksgiving side dish for many. It isn’t one that my family ever served when I was growing up, but after you’ve had a taste of one it is easy to see why the sweet side dish is such a favorite. I used it as inspiration for this Sweet Potato Bread Pudding with Marshmallow Topping. It’s a tribute to that side dish – complete with a layer of toasted marshmallows on top – that is meant to be served as dessert.
This bread pudding is made with sweet potato puree, brown sugar and a warm blend of cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. The custard mixture looks and smells a lot like a very liquidy version of sweet potato pie filling. It is poured over cubed bread and left to soak for a bit before being poured into a baking dish and baked in the oven. I bake the bread pudding until it is set, then sprinkle the marshmallows over the top and slide the dish back under the broiler for a minute to toast them. I like the look of mini marshmallows, but full sized marshmallows make a fine topping, as well.
The bread pudding is rich, but not too heavy, and you can really taste the sweet potato. The spices – especially the hint of cardamom, which I love with sweet potato – give it a really nice depth of flavor, too. The bread pudding isn’t too sweet on its own (unlike some sweet potato casseroles!), so the sweetness from the marshmallow is a nice finish for this dessert, and also means that you don’t need to make a separate sauce for serving.
I typically use challah when I make bread pudding, as the tender and eggy loaves make a great base for a sweet dessert. If you don’t have challah, you can use something like brioche or even plain white bread. While you can pretty much use any kind of bread to make a bread pudding, I prefer not to use whole grain breads because some of them have a strong flavor and take away from the dessertiness of a sweet pudding. And since you’re topping this particular bread pudding off with a layer of toasted marshmallows anyway, you might as well not worry about whether you’re getting whole grains in it when you’re indulging in a slice.
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Marshmallows and marshmallow swirls are common additions to ice cream, adding a sweet swirl and a unique flavor that you just can’t get any other way. Believe it or not, marshmallows can also be used to make ice cream. I originally found a variation of this recipe in an old recipe notebook that my grandmother kept, probably clipped out from an ad or an article in a magazine (there was no attribution), and she clearly saw it as a way to get some more use out of a bag of store bought marshmallows. As a big marshmallow lover, I couldn’t resist giving the idea a try.
To make this ice cream, you simply melt a generous amount of marshmallows into some milk, then chill the mixture and fold in whipped cream. I used mini marshmallows and they added a nice amount of sweetness and thickened the milk very slightly as they melted, due to the dusting of cornstarch that keeps them from sticking together. The recipe works very well and you end up with an ice cream that really captures the flavor of a marshmallow! It is tasty on its own, but it is better when used in an ice cream sundae or an ice cream sandwich, where the marshmallow will add a new dimension to the dessert.
You’re going to want to use storebought, jet-puffed marshmallows for this recipe to get the best results. This is a no-churn ice cream that can be made without an ice cream maker, thanks to presence of the whipped cream, which adds a lot of air to the ice cream base. For variety, you can fold in shredded coconut, chocolate chips or anything else you can think of before freezing the mixture, too.
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As a pumpkin fan, things that call for pumpkin pie spices always catch my eye, though I am always surprised to see the wide variety of foods that get an infusion of fall flavor through pumpkin spice flavoring. These Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows were no exception. The jet puffed marshmallows are made by Kraft and appeared on the shelves in the baking aisle at stores in my area just a couple of weeks ago. Pumpkin pie spice is made with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, and this combination of spices is so closely associated with pumpkin pie that it will give just about anything a dose pumpkin pie flavor. When I picked up the marshmallows to give them a try, I wasn’t sure how the flavor would come through, but the marshmallows actually tasted great. They had a distinct pumpkin pie spice flavor without being too strong, and they had a nice sweetness to them that actually made them turn out to be a pretty good snack. The marshmallows were smaller than your typical jet puffed marshmallows, and were shaped like little orange pumpkins, too.
I’ve made homemade marshmallows with a variety of different flavors and typically have very good results. These are probably the most successful commercially available flavored marshmallows I’ve tried – and because of that, I’m glad that I did! These are great in hot chocolate and other pumpkin spice coffee drinks, and I suspect that they might make a good marshmallow topping for that classic marshmallow topped sweet potato dish that is a Thanksgiving staple for many, too.
Update: Use these to make Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispy Treats for a fall twist on a classic childhood treat!
Rocky Road ice cream is a flavor with a great story behind it. It was created in March of 1929 by ice cream makers Joseph Edy and William Dreyer, who put marshmallows and walnuts into chocolate ice cream. After the big Stock Market Crash in December of 1929 (which started the Great Depression), the partners gave the flavor it’s current name – Rocky Road – “to give folks something to smile about in the midst of the Great Depression.” Even the story puts a smile on my face, and the ice cream itself is one of the most popular flavors out there almost a century later.
Rich chocolate ice cream, crunchy walnuts and sweet, fluffy marshmallows are a fantastic combination for an ice cream flavor. I start my Homemade Rocky Road Ice Cream with a classic chocolate ice cream base. The basic custard is made with milk and cream, and thickened with egg yolks. The chocolate flavor comes both from semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder, so it has a really balanced chocolate flavor that is neither too dark nor too sweet, but just right for a batch of rocky road. You’ll need an ice cream maker to get the best, creamiest results with this recipe – and with most homemade ice cream recipes, so it is worth investing in one if you’re an ice cream lover planning to make it yourself on a regular basis.
My biggest complaint with rocky road ice creams that you can buy at ice cream shops or at grocery stores is that they don’t have enough stuff in them. Not that there is anything wrong with chocolate ice cream on its own, but if I wanted plain chocolate I would buy that! Fortunately, when you’re making your own ice cream you have a lot of control over how many add-ins you can add. I like to put in a lot of miniature marshmallows (homemade will work, but I tend to prefer the lighter store-bought minis for ice cream) and plenty of nuts. Walnuts are classic for rocky road, though I will often use a combination of toasted walnuts and pecans when I’m making it at home.
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