Monday, July 27, 2009

I Can't Make Marshmellows

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.

After that intro, you may be wondering why I don't have a mouth-watering picture of chocolate-dipped marshmallow cookies. Or perhaps you were expecting crispy delicate Milanos. The answer is quite simple ... there aren't any.

How exactly did this experiment go down? I decided to go for the harder, more interesting, cookie: the mallows.

I knew things were going awry when I couldn't roll the dough to 1/8 inch. It was warm here, and the dough started to melt. I did improvise my way out of the mess by rolling the sticky dough into logs, freezing and then cutting off thin slices. I have to admit that I was a little puzzled as to how a recipe for approximately two dozen cookies yielded over 100, but I decided to push onward.

The marshmallows. Geez, from reviewing the posted pictures, I must be the only Daring Baker that can't make marshmallows, but there is absolutely no doubt that mine were a failure. When I attempted to mix the hot sugar syrup with softly whipped egg whites, the whole thing immediately deflated, leaving me with a sticky, sugary, egg white mess. This went the only place it could, down the drain.

I debated dipping my tiny, naked cookies in chocolate, but at this point I was batting so low, I thought I probably shouldn't waste the chocolate.

Not every daring challenge can be a success. Maybe next time!

1 Responses (Leave a Comment):

Renato said...

Hey there! I understand how you feel... Many times have I sent all my cookies to thrash, or a failed chocolate sauce, or anything like that. By the way, I almost did that to my milano cookies this month! Hahahah
Anyway, I think you may find this link interesting:
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/01/rose_and_chocolate_marshmallows.php
She gives a detailed process for making marshmallows. Maybe your whites deflated because they weren't whipped enough, or you poured it too fast, while still beating, dunno...
But better luck next time! And congratulations, you have a very nice blog!