S'marshmallows

At the risk of sounding too much like Rachel Ray, with her overly perky demeanor, abbreviations to drive you mad (e.v.o.o), and trenchant abuse of portmanteau words-- I made s'marshmallows. What is a s'marshmallow? A delightful combination of homemade marshmallows, neatly affixed to soft graham cracker, then slathered in creamy milk chocolate.

It all started with my very first taste of homemade marshmallows. Sweet Adeline is a sunny, fairly new, bakery that opened near me. On my last visit, I tried their version of homemade marshmallows-- pillow-soft, clouds of pure white fluff, rolled in confectioner's sugar. They were delicious, so delicious in fact I decided to go home and make some for myself. A quick internet search led me to the Barefoot Contessa's recipe; with only 1 1/2 cups of sugar (some recipes called for up to 3), I figured these wouldn't be too cloyingly sweet. Well, I was correct about them not being overly sweet, but I had no idea what a sticky mess I would be in for.

Now I am not schooled in the ways of candy making, but I will give anything a shot once, especially if the final product is to be consumed with gusto after a meal. It wasn't that anything was particularly difficult about the instructions, set gelatin to bloom in the bowl of a mixer while the rest of the ingredients are brought to a boil and cooked until 240 degrees is reached. The next step seemed almost simpler, slowly pour the syrup into the gelatin and beat at high speed for about 15 minutes. Certainly I can leave a machine to do the work for me; I am a member of this highly-automated society. It was just getting this sticky, now white, sugary dream out of the mixer and into the prepared pan that had me yelping for mercy in a confectionery confusion.

It seemed that every object that I touched, was soon to have large smudges of fluff on it. The mixture had so thickened during the beating, that pre-marshmallow now clung steadfastly to both the whisk attachment and the bowl. I did my best at extracting the mass from the bowl, but it was like The Blob-- the more you touched it, the more it grew. Finally, the bowl was about as clean as I knew that I would get it. I quickly pushed the mixture into every crevice of the pan, doused the marshmallows with more confectioner's sugar, then waited the requisite 12 hours before consuming.

And for all of the trouble, the toiling, and back breaking labor (alright, it wasn't that bad), they were scrumptious. Enjoyed plain, or souped up to make a bite-size s'marshmallow, I can honestly say, I would make them again. I just have to figure out a way to enjoy homemade marshmallows, and still maintain my sanity.