That’s a good question, reader Jay. Marshmallow is one of the simpler foams, but still an interesting object to contemplate. It’s primarily a sugar syrup with lots of air whipped into it, though it wouldn’t hold up for terribly long if it didn’t have some sort of support. That support is usually gelatin.
READ ONReader Rainey writes:
READ ONFor years I’ve wondered about the Peeps of my childhood in the 50s. I distinctly remember marshmallow chicks that were molded. They actually resembled chicks standing on legs. They were ever so much more attractive than the blobby current offerings. And they actually did get stale producing a wonderful crunchy crust. But it’s affirmation of the molded chicks I’m after and no one else o the bloggosphere seems to remember this.
Doesn’t corn syrup or glucose help to prevent crystallization in marshmallow? Indeed so, reader Lauren. Those individual sugars work almost like little ball bearings, getting in between the sucrose molecules and preventing them from stacking up on each other like LEGOs and forming crystals. The things is, in a Peep a little crystallization isn’t such […]
READ ONMade-from-scratch marshmallow is truly a creation to be celebrated. Tell people you make your own and they’ll stare at you in disbelief. How is it that a mere mortal can dare to make something so ethereal, so elemental at home? Next he’ll be telling he makes his own small-batch artisan air! Truly, for many, to presume to make one’s own marshmallow is to try the very patience of the gods. In point of fact marshmallow is no big whoop. If you have a stand mixer you can make it easily. Nothing more than a sugar syrup and egg white foam reinforced with gelatin.
READ ONThe thing about a Peep is, it needs to be able to stand up. The head of a Peep needs to stand fairly tall and the beak needs to stick out without drooping too much. Thus standard marshmallow isn’t really up to the task…the egg white and corn syrup make it just a bit too fluid. This one is pretty much just sugar and gelatin, which makes for a more erect Peep.
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Wow, this blog really doesn’t accommodate that color palette very well. But I hope, reader Karl, that this answers your question. I’m willing to bet that 99% of Americans know what a marshmallow Peeps are: little chicks made of marshmallow dusted with colored sugar, classically yellow, pink or purple. They usually appear in Easter baskets, though the Peeps line has long since transcended that particular holiday. These days there are Christmas Peeps (trees, reindeer, stars and snowmen), Halloween Peeps (jack-o-lanterns and ghosts), Valentine’s Peeps (hearts) and who-knows-what else.
READ ONI’ve been wanting to try these for years, but have kept forgetting (typical me). Maybe it’s because we have a jump on spring this year, the idea had plenty of time to sink in. On another note, sorry I didn’t get any posting in this week. All the business travel was murder! Back Monday tanned […]
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This is my perfect whoopee pie: a flat, tender, not-overly-chocolate-y “bun” combined with a less is-more mock buttercream filling. Put the two together and you have sweet-yet-not-too-rich snack that is, in a word, happy-making. Wait, was that two words? Oh well, too late to go back and fix it now. I’ve got to travel tomorrow…I need to pack! Start by preheating your oven to 375 and sifting the dry ingredients together like so:
READ ONReader Tina writes:
You say that it’s taken cooks decades to ‘go modern’ and start using gadgetry and techniques that pastry chefs have been using for years. Do you have a theory as to why that might be?
Tina, I have a cockamamie theory about pretty much everything. However I think it’s possible to make an argument that cooking is going modern because it has no other choice.
READ ONFor all you mad scientist bakers out there, now there’s a log book specifically created to help you capture ongoing experiments in pastry. It’s simply called the Baker’s Composition Book. I got one in the mail a few minutes ago and I can tell you I’ll be using it tonight! Thanks, reader Joe, you’ve created a real cool thing!
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