Wednesday 6 April 2011

Lemon and Ginger Marshmallows



Prior to my last post, I had an entire weekend of baking fails.  Macarons that formed a giant sticky sheet of macaron.  Sticky ‘moist’ ginger muffins that would have been suitable substitutes for clay pigeons and I don’t want to talk about the lemon ‘cake’…

So I decided to have a go at marshmallows.  I’ve been itching to dust off my sugar thermometer and play with some hot sugar… That sounded crazy, but I’m waiting for this to turn up and I am overly excited…

Basic marshmallow recipe from Delicious Magazine

Ingredients
120ml boiling water
Grated zest of one lemon
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated finely
1tsp honey
160ml golden syrup
440gr golden caster sugar
23gr powdered gelatine
Yellow food colouring
Vegetable oil for greasing
Couple of tablespoons of cornflour and icing sugar mixed together. 

Method
1, Put the lemon zest, grated ginger and honey into a jug.  Pour on the boiling water and leave to cool.  When this is cold, sieve out the zest and ginger so you are left with a ginger and lemon cold infusion.  Put this into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, and add in the gelatine to the cold infusion and leave it to sponge.
2, Add the sugar and golden syrup into a medium sized saucepan and add enough cold water to cover it.
3, Turn the heat to low and stir until the sugar melts.
4, Using a damp pastry brush remove any rogue sugar crystals from the edge of the pan.  You don’t want these falling in as it might trigger the syrup to crystallise.  Turn the heat up high
5, Bring the syrup to a boil and continue to heat it until it reaches 130o/c on a sugar thermometer.  Remove from the heat and leave to one side for a minute. 
6, Turn your stand mixer on and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the bowl.  Be careful not to hit the spinning whisk. 
7, Beat until it goes white and fluffy and add in a couple of drops of yellow food colouring.
8, Whilst its beating, line an 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Brush that lightly with vegetable oil and then dust with a little cornflour and icing sugar.  Make sure you oil up the sides and dust those also.
9, When the marshmallow is ready, it will take on the consistency of really sticky bubblegum, carefully pour it into the prepared tin.  Using a tablespoon dipped in water smooth the top out and then dust the top with some more of the cornflour/icing sugar mixture.
10, Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours until it has set.
11, Cut into squares and roll in more of the cornflour/icing sugar mixture.  These will keep for around 2 weeks in an airtight container.  

6 comments:

  1. This looks so good. I've never bothered making my own marshmallow but lemon and ginger sounds really tempting.

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  2. Hi! They look delicious! I'm glad for having found your blog!
    Tantekiki.blogspot.com

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  3. Oh my goodness! These look and sound amazing! I'm so terrible at baking, I'm afraid to try these but they sound so good I just might. Have you ever had rosemary marshmallows? I did this winter. I didn't make them and at first they tasted strange but at the same time so good. Thanks for prevailing, succeeding and sharing your recipe!

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  4. thanks for the comments guys!
    Lin Ann - rosemary marshmallows!?! They sound crazy but I might have to try and track some or a recipe down!

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