gelatin Archives - Healthy Green Kitchen

Chocolate Marshmallows

I competed in my second powerlifting meet this past Sunday. My goals for this one were to get more experience lifting in front of judges, and to qualify for USA Powerlifting (USAPL) Nationals in October. My lifts went pretty much as I planned and I accomplished my goals. I also got a pretty gold medal (full disclosure: I was the only one in my weight class) so I am very pleased!

One thing I am learning about meets is they are very draining for me, both mentally and physically. I tried really hard to stay super calm in the weeks before this one, trusting that my training, nutrition, and rest have all been very solid, but the day of the meet was still pretty nerve-wracking and exhausting. When it was over, all I wanted to do was get home and curl up on my couch with some hot chocolate embellished with these chocolate marshmallows. So I did just that, and I’ll be taking it easy the rest of the week, as well.

I’ve long wanted to try sweetening marshmallows with honey so when I saw this chocolate version in Brittany Angell’s new book Every Last Crumb, I knew I had to make them. I love how they turned out, and how they melt in hot drinks. I’ve enjoyed them in warm honey sweetened milk and coffee in addition to hot chocolate.

This chocolate marshmallow recipe is just one of more than 150 Paleo-inspired recipes found in Every Last Crumb. If you follow a Paleo-ish diet or have food sensitivities, I think you will love this book (though I don’t eat Paleo nor do I have food sensitivities and I am really enjoying it!). Every Last Crumb features grain-free recipes for numerous specialty breads such as bagels, croissants, and naan. But the book isn’t just about bread; Brittany shares lots of creative ideas for savory foods and treats, too.

I’m participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) which means I’m blogging every day of November, 2013!

Marshmallows are so much fun to make (and eat)…with the holidays coming up, it’s the perfect time to have homemade marshmallows around! You can use them in lots of different ways: bake them into the top of Thanksgiving sweet potatoes, melt them in homemade s’mores, float them in hot chocolate. Or just eat them plain ;)

This recipe comes from The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, a beautiful, relatively new book. The super nice people from Clarkson Potter sent me a review copy a few months ago. I have a couple of the Lee Bros. cookbooks and I really love them all!

To make homemade marshmallows, you will need a candy thermometer. I have
this one and it works great. If you are on the fence about whether you need one of these or not, I say go for it! If you ever want to make any kind of homemade candy (I give away small packages of homemade candy to friends and family during the holiday season), it’s such a useful thing to have.

I made these marshmallows with Knox brand gelatin that you buy from the grocery store. An alternative is to use grass-fed gelatin. I haven’t tried this yet, but I plan to soon.

This recipe calls for sorghum syrup, a traditional Southern sweetener. I used cane syrup instead: Lyles Golden Syrup is really lovely. Or, you can make these with light corn syrup: I’d seek out an organic brand like this one in order to avoid GMOs. (Note that corn syrup is not the same thing as high fructose corn syrup. Using the former in a recipe now and then is not going to harm you, but I do recommend avoiding things like commercial sodas that contain the latter.)

I’m participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) which means I’m blogging every day of November, 2013!

I’ve got a thing for creamy, custard-like sweets. The Italian dessert panna cotta is one of my favorites, so a recipe in this month’s Fine Cooking magazine, a Pumpkin Panna Cotta, caught my eye. The recipe from Fine Cooking features a sauce made with apples and apple cider but I decided to make the panna cotta without the sauce.

I often make my panna cotta in jars because I think it looks pretty, and so I don’t have to worry about the whole un-molding business. You are, of course, welcome to make yours in ramekins and then un-mold them…whatever floats your boat! I found this pumpkin panna cotta to be plenty sweet without the sauce, but if you try it, I’d love to hear how it comes out.