DB: Mallows

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I was really late starting this challenge, so here are some prelim results. So far, the cookies are yummy and easy to make. I do have a small qualm with the recipe.It takes longer than the recipe says. Five min for prep, ten for active time and ten for baking?? Not here. I gues if you have all the ingredients out and measured you can bang it out like that, but theoretically that should be part of the prep time. Dunking the cookies in chocolate alone takes more than 10 minutes! Also I had tons of cookie bottoms, not enough marshmallow and not enough chocolate to cover them. Sigh. Running out of chocolate is a real downer! Overall though, they are delicious, and fun to make! I love piping the marshmallow. I made my marshmallow blue... just for fun! no real reason. More pictures to come!! be sure to check out my partner in kitchen crime Diana at pashfunfroot

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 10 min

Inactive Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Beets and Peanut Butter Cookies

We're currently in the progress of cleaning out the fridge in preparation for VACATION! WOOHOO! My mom and little bro came over for dinner. We had some leftover Tikka Masala Chicken, Sri Lankan Cabbage and Thai Soup. My brothers eat like 2-3 times a normal serving, so I also made a Miso Glazed Salmon and roasted some golden and red beets. I thought the beets were pretty, so I photographed! I love the DEEP pink color of the beets, and the concentric circles the alternating dark and light colors make. I'd never seen golden beets before so I had to buy some of those. They tasted good, but they weren't quite as tasty as the red ones. Boy were they pretty though!

Roasted Beets
Clean beets with water and a clean rag to get all the dirt off. Trim tops to an inch or less. Wrap individually (or a few small beets together) with a bit of olive oil drizzled over and salt. Bake at 375 until fork pierces easily. Or if you run out of time like us, put on a microwave safe plate and nuke em until soft. Slice and enjoy!

After dinner, 15 year old kid brother wanted to make some cookies, so we snagged a peanut butter cookie recipe by Alicia of Confessions of a Bakeaholic. It looked so good on Tastespotting that we decided to give it a try. We followed the recipe exactly as she did except for the addition of a little granulated sugar (as Alicia noted) and we accidentally melted the butter instead of softening it...oops! Oh yeah, and we didn't cool the batter. We're way to impatient for that!

Peanut Butter Cookies
These were the December 28th Cookie of the Day: Martha Stewart
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
  
• about 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. Sift together flour, salt and baking sodea, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add peanut butter, and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture, and beat on low until combined.
3. Form each cookie into a ball using about a tablespoon of dough. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.
   
4. Press fork slighty into the cookies to make a decorative top.
5. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack until completely cooled.

They turned out very well. Very tasty. My only complaint, as with most peanut butter cookies I make is that the texture turns out sort of chalky. Not very moist and chewy. Maybe this is my fault due to the melted butter, or the non-chilling, I'm not sure. If you have ideas, please let me know. I'd love to figure this out. They never come out moist, gooey or chewy like chocolate chip cookies for example, and I'm not sure why. Hm... Either way, we put chocolate chips in the last batch and they were even better.

This is my poor runaway dog Lily, who came home after a 5 day excursion with an enormous abscess on her neck and although it has been drained she still cant quite extend her neck to look up...she just looks side to side with her head down. so tragic.