Mess is S'more

Everyone looks to find their place in life; what feels right, what works, what you enjoy, what you love.  This applies to both the professional and personal aspects of one’s life.  You go through life making choices to build upon and to get things moving and shaking.  I’ve been an “adult” now for almost ten years (really hard to stomach and really scary) and I’m still searching.  I haven’t found my niche in any aspect of my personal or professional life, but at the very least I rent a cute apartment, in a Stanley Cup toting city, I hang out with my awesome friends, have sweet adventures with my Kitchenaid mixer, I was published in ReadyMade magazine this year, and summer has finally arrived.

I am extremely grateful for what I have been given, earned, and figured out.  I know people who have found their niche in life and I’m incredibly jealous because sometimes I feel like it’s staring me right in the face I could reach out and kiss it, but it’s not in the form of a boyfriend or anything remotely decipherable.  It’s a complete tease and a total bummer.  It may not be time for me to grab the brass ring just yet, but one day it will be.

And now this is starting to sound like a Jewel poetry reading gone awry.  But there is one light at the end of the tunnel I’ve been able to master, one niche I can truly call my own and with it, my life, is infinitely more complete and that is S’mores.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I haven’t had just a minor romantic connection with S’mores – we have had a full blown love affair.  There have been casualties (store bought marshmallows are out) and there have been adventures (remember when I was a S’more for Halloween?) and through the highs and lows we’ve remained true to each other.

I have a group of girlfriends from college and I would say we have a similar relationship and bond, just like my bond with S’mores.  Some of them have found their spots in different aspects of their lives, others are trying out new roles (mother, wife, girlfriend) and we all learn from each other and we’re all there for each other.  We’re not the Sex and the City girls, any of the Real Housewives, or that Red Hat Club.  (And I am WAY happy for that.)  We have a secret handshake, but that’s only because we were in the same sorority in college.  After ten years of friendship, our relationship has become a handy go to recipe when you have a last minute appetizer you have to make for a party.

So we get together, at the very least, on a monthly basis and have girl talk and martinis and hang out.  It’s great because they know things about me that other friends don’t and we’ve all known each other through our crazy times, bad boyfriends, good boyfriends, mean girl phases, and all day drinking marathons.  Every spring we have a special girl’s night, complete with desserts, specialty drinks (mango bombs, blueberry vodka), pizza (or some other kind of unhealthy, delicious fast food), girl talk, and this year a fabulous trip to the martini bar Blue Stem.  (Lefko at Blue Stem does for martini’s what I do for S’mores.  She is a phenomenal mixer and an all around character.)

So I hang out with a group of pretty awesome and special ladies and this year, having promised my friend, Nicole, a S’more dessert (S’mores are her favorite too!) I created the S’more of all S’mores for them – S’mores Tart.  I based if off the S’more pie I had at Uncommon Ground over a year ago and took bits and pieces from different things I’ve made in the past.  S’more Tart was a success at the sleep over.  The homemade marshmallows really hit the spot and I fell in love all over again with S’mores.  I was so happy with them I made S’mores Pies for a work event. 

In my opinion, you can’t make a bad S’more.  I also think it’s the only acceptable kind of messy out there.  So experiment, have fun with them.  Who cares if you haven’t found your perfect perch in life, S’more somehow make it all better and serve as a reminder that everyone’s path is different, you can be in more than one figurative place at once, S’mores still taste as good the 30^th time around as they did the first, but it’s the friends you share them with that make them taste even better!

S’mores Tart

Ingredients:

Building Blocks Marshmallows – ½ a batch will cover one tart

Crust:

1 ½ cup – graham cracker crumbs

1 stick – unsalted butter, melted

¼ cup – sugar

Chocolate Filling:

1 ¼ cup – heavy cream

9 oz – semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 – large eggs

1 tsp – wonder flavor or vanilla extract

¼ tsp – salt

Directions:

Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar until combined.  Pour the crust mixture into an 11” tart pan.  With a cold metal measuring cup press the graham cracker mixture evenly along the bottom of the pan and up the sides.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.  (The crust will be a little thick and crumbly.)  Let the crust cool completely before filling it.

Chocolate Filling:

Keep the oven heated at 350 degrees.

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl and set aside.  Pour the cream into a small pot and set over a burner on low heat until the cream begins to boil.  Once it begins to boil, remove it from the heat and pour it over the chocolate.  Let the cream/chocolate mixture stand for 5 minutes without stirring.  After 5 minutes, gently stir the mixture until smooth.  In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, wonder flavor, and salt.  Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.  Pour the filling into the cooled graham cracker crust.

Bake the tart 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set on the edges, but a little wobbly on the inside.

Assembly:

If serving right away: This dessert is best served warm.  As soon as the tart comes out of the oven place the marshmallows right on top of the tart.  Squeeze them in there, the more marshmallows the better.

If serving later: Do not put the marshmallows on right away, you don’t want them to get stale, but wait until you’re ready to serve the tart.

Fire up a pastry torch and burn the marshmallows to the desired char.  (Great party trick!)  If you don’t have a pastry torch, turn on your oven’s broiler and place the tart in the oven to brown the marshmallows.  Keep an eye on them, you don’t want them to burn too badly.

Wrap up and substitutions:

As I said, this dessert is best served warm.  If you can heat the chocolate up and graham cracker up in the oven a little before putting the marshmallows on and then torch the marshmallows, it’s perfection.  I kept the crust a little thick and flaky because the graham cracker crumbs find the sticky marshmallow and chocolate and it’s easier to achieve the perfect bite through out the entire dessert.  It also keeps with the Mess is S’mores idea.

For this recipe I used pre-crumbed Graham Crackers.  I had no idea they made them already in crumb form.  They're a little more expensive than pulsing them in the food processor yourself, but it makes it really easy and less hardware to clean, which is a bonus.

It can be a pain to cut through the sticky marshmallows, so try using a warm, damp knife (which may or may not work awesomely), but just be patient, it’s worth the stick and mess.  However, once the marshmallows cool it is really difficult to cut through them (or if they’ve been in the fridge for a while), so keep that in mind.  

In the fridge, S’more tart keeps for over a week.  It’s a great reward after a long day.  Heat it up in the microwave and it’s heaven.  Just be aware that in the microwave the marshmallows become a little runny and lose their shape.

If you don’t have a tart pan handy you can for sure make it into a S’more pie.  This recipe will make 2- 8” pies.  Because they’re a little smaller they only need to be in the oven for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them because every oven is different.

If you’re crunched for time or just lazy – you can substitute the store bought marshmallows for the real deal.  However, just one time, try them – they will change your life.

Building Blocks: Marshmallows

The Basics…

When you’re a kid you’re given the foundation to make a life for yourself. These include, but are not limited to: basic math, vocabulary, reading skills. Everything else will follow once you have these. When it comes to basics, I’m a little lacking. Sure I’m a very capable reader and writer, but give me math and you’re giving me death.

I know how to balance my checkbook, which in the big picture is a pretty good accomplishment since I know some people who don’t. But I am for sure one of those kids that needs a calculator at their fingertips to get things done. I even double-check my basic addition and subtraction, because lets face it, nothing is worse than second guessing your math skills. If I had grown up before hand held calculators were the norm, I know I would have been in some serious trouble. Not to mention, I don’t think that the abacus is as easy at it sounds, there has to be a trick question in there somewhere.

The first failure I had with math (and I have had many since) was in 3^rd grade. We were studying our multiplication tables as most 3^rd graders do. I was doing really well with the 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s. I worked on flashcards at home in my free time. I practiced and tried to memorize, but then the 4’s came around. For some reason the 4’s were the most difficult of them all. Everyone had moved on to 6’s and I was still stuck on 4’s. For my 3^rd grade mind it was unbelievably difficult and incredibly embarrassing (at 8 years old, most things are embarrassing). Somehow I got through to 5’s and 6’s, only to get stuck on 8’s (of course 4 is their root). So to say I excelled in basic math would be a flat out lie.

I did end up getting through it and passing 3^rd grade math, although I still struggle with my 4’s and 8’s when multiplying in my head. Then came calculus in high school. I tried really hard to understand it and do well in it. Not to mention I loved the bowling game I had on my TI-83 calculator, but calculus was not for me. Once again, not the highlight of my academic career, but I ended up passing.

In the same vein, I’m really good at algebra concepts. Give me back yard and I WANT to calculate its area. Show me a circle and I can’t help but figure out its circumference. Once again, further proof that I have a beyond nerdy side (luckily I’m well adjusted). Blame my background in landscape, but the reality is, for some reason, I just “get” it better than any other mathematical concept.

My set of basic skills is a little skewed.

My set of basic skills in the kitchen is a little skewed as well. I take the time to make these elaborate desserts and meals, but at the end of the day I still don’t know how to cook rice. (I know – such a bummer, it always burns.) However, I have mastered a basic skill that looks and seems difficult, but is in fact REALLY easy. So easy I’ve made them four times since I first attempted them.

Marshmallows may seem a little daunting. When you’re used to the preconceived notion of Jet Puffed or Campfire marshmallows – toss that idea out the window. I’m not going to lie, there’s something incredibly pleasurable about the outer staleness of a store bought marshmallow and the stringy, sticky inside that clings to the roof of your mouth and the grittiness of the sugar that sticks to your teeth.

According to Wikipedia, here’s the basic math on marshmallows:

“According to the National Confectioners Association, Americans spend more than $125 million annually for upwards of 90 million pounds of marshmallow, a mass equivalent to 1,286 gray whales.”

Now that’s a lot of S’mores. I got the idea to make my own marshmallows when I wanted to make a S’more Tart for my friend Nicole’s belated birthday present. If I was going to make her a special birthday treat, it was not going to be made with store bought marshmallows. That would just be too easy.

So I hit the books, or more accurately the World Wide Web and found a recipe.

Since developing my S’mores tart I’ve made four batches of these puppies. I’ve flavored them, I’ve unflavored them, I’ve dipped them in chocolate and no matter which way you look at them, they happen to be DELICIOUS! (Next I’m going to dye them!)

They’re still marshmallows, so they’re messy and sticky, BUT once you get the hang of them, they’re easy and rewarding. So we’re going to start with basic marshmallows and then in the next post we’ll hit up some S’mores pie.

Once you’ve got the foundation of marshmallows down, you’ll be able to conquer anything in the kitchen!

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients:

1 cup – Cold water

3 envelopes + ½ tsp – Unflavored gelatin

2 cups – Sugar

2/3 cup – Light corn syrup

¼ tsp – Salt

2 tsp – Wonder Flavor or Vanilla Extract or any sort of flavoring

About 1 cup – Powdered Sugar (give or take)

Directions:

Line a 13”x9”x2” rectangular, metal pan with tin foil. Coat the tin foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Connect the whisk attachment to your mixer. In the bowl of your mixer pour ½ cup of cold water. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let it stand in the mixer until all the water is absorbed.

In a heavy, medium sized saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining ½ cup of cold water. Constantly stir the sugar mixture over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. (It’s ready when the mixture starts to simmer.)

Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Make sure the tip of the thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan.

Increase the heat over the sugar mixture, bringing it to a boil. Do not stir the sugar once you’ve increased the heat. Keep an eye on the thermometer until the sugar mixture reaches the “soft ball” stage/240°F. (It takes about 8 minutes.)

Once it reaches the softball stage, turn your mixer on at low speed. Take the sugar mixture off the heat and slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture in a thin stream down the side of the bowl, while the mixer is running. (When the gelatin mixes with the hot syrup it smells kind of funny, but that’s normal.)

Gradually increase the mixer’s speed to high (I make 6 the top number on the Kitchen Aid). Beat the mixture until it’s thick and stiff, about 8 minutes after all the syrup has been added to the gelatin. The marshmallow should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add the flavoring to the marshmallow mixture and beat to blend.

Carefully scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan. Do it quickly, because the longer you wait the stringier and stickier the fluff gets. Smooth the top with a slightly wet spatula (run the spatula under warm water and dab it dry with a towel). Let the marshmallows stand uncovered until firm (at least four hours). I kept mine out for the night and they were fine. I wouldn’t keep them uncovered for a day, but 8 hours seemed fine.

To cut the marshmallows:

Sift powdered sugar onto a clean work surface (I covered my work surface with parchment paper and then sifted onto it since it is a little messy when it sticks to counter tops). The powdered sugar helps keep the marshmallows from sticking to everything. Dump the marshmallows onto the surface and peel off the foil. Sift powdered sugar onto the top of the marshmallows. Using a damp knife (same principal as the wet spatula), coat the knife with powdered sugar. (This helps with the cutting so it’s not a super sticky mess.) Cut the marshmallows into squares (as big or as small as you’d like). Once cut, make sure to coat the sides that are still sticky with a little powdered sugar. I like to bang them together to get the excess powdered sugar off of them. Make sure to store them in an airtight container/Tupperware of some sort.

To cover in chocolate:

Using a double boiler, melt about 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You’re going to have to scoop the chocolate onto the marshmallows with the help of a rubber spatula or spoon. Set the chocolate covered marshmallows on top of parchment paper until the chocolate sets. After the chocolate has set store them in an airtight container. If it’s hot, store them in the fridge so the chocolate doesn’t melt.

(My sister/kitchen assistant, Sissy Sifter (as we like to call her  - all her swashbuckling names sounds too porn star-y), had the brilliant idea to cover the marshmallows in chocolate for our Mom's birthday.  This part was her entirely her trial. It was her work that made them happen. Plus she was a fantastic helper and a great extra set of hands. She can wield a knife with the best of them!)

Wrap up and Substitutions:

At first I thought marshmallows were going to be scary and a level 10 on the trickiness scale. I was also nervous they would taste really processed and "fake", but this recipe is light, airy, and fantastically sweet. I don’t think I will ever purchase a store bought marshmallow again. I made a batch where I stuck them in foil lined heart molds and they were awesome! I accidentally forgot to add the flavoring in one batch, and while they weren’t as sweet, they were still tasty!

There are a couple things I’ve learned with the different trials and hopefully they help make yours a success:

- Go easy on the cooking spray when you are spraying the foil. If there’s too much spray they get a little greasy and too powdered sugary.

- It was hard to figure out how much gelatin to use. I used Knox's Unflavored Gelatin (and I have an entire box of little individual envelopes). Each Gelatin envelope is 1 TBSP/1 ounce, so I used three entire envelopes and a 1/2 teaspoon of the fourth. I went through a lot of experimentation trying to figure that out and it's the ratio that works best.

- Get wild with the flavors! Peppermint marshmallows sound fantastic (especially for the holidays)!

- You will waste a little powdered sugar. It’s hard knowing when to say when with it because you want to make sure the marshmallows are coated so they’re not super sticky, but you don’t want them caked in sugar where your mouth turns white from the excess. So really try to tap them together or against your cutting surface to get the extra off before you store them.

- These marshmallows crisp up awesomely under an open flame. I was worried as to how they were going to hold up when encountering fire, but they are fantastic!