Mallows; Daring Bakers July challenge
What can I say? It was probably one of those days… One of those days that I should have not gotten myself into the kitchen and let alone try and make corn syrup!
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.
Now you might think upon reading the above line that that sounds fairly simple and well, maybe it does sound fairly simple, but I didn’t find it so simple! (that is a lot of simple in one sentence…lol) Initially I thought I wouldn’t be making my own marshmallows. I am not that fond of marshmallows and then making them seemed like a lot of hassle. But over the course of the next few weeks I kept seeing people that already did the challenge and made beautiful looking marshmallows. So in the middle of making the cookies I decided why not give it a try? It’s a challenge after all, so why make it too easy for myself? Now one of the things I have found that it’s incredibly hard to find certain ingredients here. Baking soda might sound like something entirely normal to a lot of people but it’s not an ingredient you can find here in any supermarket (if you know of one then let me know!) and neither can you find it in a specialty store. I did not check online now that I think about it and I probably should have. Will do that after finishing writing this as it definitely would be good to have a source of baking soda and other things ready when needed!
I found the instructions that Audax left for making your own cornsyrup if you couldn’t find it, but that required something called “cream of tartar”. Never heard of and I was not in the mood to go and search the country for something that was likely also not to be found. But browsing the internet I saw someone mentioning that you can make it by simply adding water and sugar together and boiling untill softball state. So that is what I did, but after turning of the heat, the sugar became hard so fast that it was useless going any further. At which point I chickened out and decided I was going to use the marshmallows I had already bought anyway.
The making of the cookies was pretty straightforward apart from the fact that I used a too small cutter for the first batch of cookies and ended up with tiny rounds, which would not have fitted any marshmallow, so since I had plenty of dough leftover, I made new ones with a slightly bigger cookie cutter. I actually measured the size of the marshmallow so I knew it would fit.
After baking the cookies I let them cool to room temperature, placed the marshmallows on top and briefly put them back in the oven so the marshmallow would slightly melt on the cookie.
Then came the part about melting the chocolate. Since I made only about 25 cookies I figured that the 12 ounce of chocolate was a bit much so I halved that and melted the chocolate with a little vegetable oil. But because I had a shallow bowl and not so much chocolate dipping the cookie in wasn’t going to submerge it in the chocolate. Not really an issue but I was wondering if everyone needed to turn their cookies around in the chocolate to cover it?
I placed them on a cakerack, just because I liked the dripping effect for the photo above, although on second thought it wasn’t even that visible, so I could have used a regular plate, but nooo, I chose a cake cooling rack… Can you already guess what happened?
I had read about people having trouble with the chocolate not hardening and because I wanted to bring them to my parents this evening (I am on a diet after all and eating tons of marshmallow cookies might not be the best way to lose weight..) I decided to put them in the fridge once they were all covered with chocolate. Ofcourse stupid me could have guessed that the chocolate sticks to the rack making it virtually impossible to remove the cookies once hardened!
Can you visualize the look on my face when I took out the rack from the fridge? I hacked them off the rack with a flat thing which wasn’t really easy and some lost their undersides, but ok… I’m sure my parents will still enjoy them.. 
All in all, it wasn’t very difficult, apart from the fact that I didn’t make the marshmallows, but I just made several wrong decisions along the way, making it ultimately more difficult for myself than it should have been!
As I said; I am not that fond of marshmallows, so will probably not be making these again…. I should have probably picked the milancookies instead!
Here is the recipe if you want to try it yourself!
Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies
• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows
1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.
Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.
Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.
Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil
1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.
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Simone, these look fantastic! I am not a big fan of marshmallows either, so I don’t think I would even consider making them from scratch. But, if you ever need any ingredients, I could very easily send them over to you, espceially easy ones like baking soda! Corn syrup is glucoze syrup, I am sure you can get this in a supermarket, but then again, when I tried to bake a cake in Amsterdam, I couldn’t find powdered sugar (or icing sugar). Cream of tartar is used to help syrups not crystalize, stabilize meringue and also works as a leaven together with baking soda to make things fluffy (like baking powder). It is basically an acid (tartaric acid, derived from winemaking) and can easily be substituted with lemon juice in syrups and meringue.
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Well, my friend, that is exactly why I do not join the group…far too complicated for this little brain!!! If the recipes did not work for you… know that the photos are simply stunning as always!!!
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I’m so glad you let me know it was up, and wow, you did a beautiful job. Love the different color marshmallows you bought, although I’m sorry the homemade corn syrup didn’t work out for you. That said, I don’t like marshmallows either, so thank god I was able to give them away. I just enjoyed making the marshmallow..lol
Also, as usual, love the photos!
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absolutamente irresistibles
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They look very tasty!! I think baking soda is the same as ‘bakpoeder’. You can buy at Albert Heijn (Backin from dr.Oetker). I’ve used it last Christmas for a pie with raspberries and pear.
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I love your mallows – great colours
As always – you did a great job! Cheers.
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You may have had trouble, however your Mallows look amazing! I am envious as I have had no time this summer to participate in the Daring Bakers. Have you look in the cleaning section of your stores for Baking Soda? In the US it is sold with other cleaning agents in boxes, it says great for removing odors in carpet and fabric, and you can cook with it! Good luck and congratulations, your look amazing!
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ooh, we did different things this time!!!!
I think your cookies turned out super cute!
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Love the different color you made and I’m sorry the homemade corn syrup didn’t work out for you. I’m not a big fan of marshmallows either. Your Mallows cookies looks absolutely delicious and they came out very well. Nice job!
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Oh wow, I love your mallows. They look absolutely gorgeous and delicious. The picture of the stacked mallows is fantastic.
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I’m sorry things didn’t go perfectly smoothly, but they still look wonderful! I had a lot of problems with my cookies as well, including the chocolate coating (mine wouldn’t harden, to I had to put the cookies in the fridge, and of course they stuck to the plate and I hed to pry them off). I also had to turn my mallows around in the chocolate to cover them completely (even though I used a narrow ramekin).
I can’t speak for the Netherlands, but I know baking soda (“bicarbonate de soude” in French, if you’re ever in Belgium) can be found. But it’s not always used for baking, it’s also a cleaning/desodorizing product, so maybe it’s stored in a different aisle in the supermarket?
Anyways, you should be proud of yourself for trying this challenge, and even prouder that the result came out so nice! Bravo!
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 27th, 2009 at 21:25
See, I never thought of checking in the cleaning section… but good tip! I will for sure check it out… I even might know what I need now that I think of it. We used to have that kind of stuff in the house when I was little… I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s it!
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Waw!! Fantastic yummie treats for us to savour!! I didn’t join the group for reasons as these,…You did an outstanding job, Simone!
They look awesome, georgous & sublime! A lot of work though!
Yummie yum! Excellent pictures too!
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Simone (junglefrog) — July 27th, 2009 at 21:24
O come on Sophie, I am sure you would do fine in the Daring Bakers!! It’s not so scary as you might think. I am just not the best baker that is all!
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Love those colors! And no matter what you say, they look pretty darned perfect if you ask me.
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Oh my!!!! Nicely done – can’t even tell you had to chop them off the cake rack! HAHAH!
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This sure seems like a lot of work for marshmallows!
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Your cookie base looks to have turned out fine even without the bicarb, did you add extra baking powder?
But you’re right, it’ll be a good idea to find a source of Bicarb, it’s in a lot of baked goods so always handy to have around
Your Mallows look lovely, even with all the hiccups (I also made the mistake of letting some of my mallows drip dry on a cooling rack!)
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Nicely covered in chocolate. Looks really professional!
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Beautiful job!! I love the colours or your marshmallows – Yum!!
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Too bad about the sticking! They look delicious though and definitely worth the effort.
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Oh dear, it does seem like you had a few challenges this month! The cookies look great, though – that first photo is beautiful. I had to do quite a bit of research until I found out how to judge if my syrup was at the soft ball stage – luckily I have a terrific baking book that lists all the different ‘stages’ of cooking sugar, with descriptions of how to tell when you’re at each stage.
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The cookies and photos are lovely despite your struggles! Mine stuck a bit to my cooling rack, too, but thankfully I hadn’t refrigerated and could just “snap” them off. Yikes!
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They look delicious! As always, your photography is beautiful!
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wow! This is something my daughter will love!
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Oooh! Look at that chocolate just dripping off that fork. Lovely pics!
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Yep, Valerie is right, you might find the Baking Soda in another isle. Here in Canada it is found in the cleaning isle because we use it as an air deodorizer in the fridge. It would be sad if you had to order it on line because it’s like 99 cents here. Make a list and I will send you some stuff from Canada! Including some pure maple syrup!
I understand your anger over certain steps in this recipe, I also thought it would be easy but I didn’t even make it past the cookie part! But you did it and they look fabulous, thats what counts right!
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Great job with the challenge! These look super delicious!!!
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What pretty and colorful mallows! Very well done!
Cheers,
Rosa
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trouble or no trouble these look yummy!
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oh wow! beautiful mallows and love the color, great photos!
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Looks like the results were worth the hassle! Your cookies looks soooo good!!! Love all the colors too! Great photos:)
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They do look gorgeous, even if you had a hard time making them. And yes, I agree. Sometimes is better not to even look into the kitchen :-p
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I think I am going to make the milanos instead. That said, despite your troubles, they turned out really nice looking.
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Unlike a lot of adults, I love marshmallows. trouble? sometimes they do bring pretty things, like these ones here;-) looks wonderful.
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Perfect & very pretty Mallows. I did a jig when I read ‘Cream of Tartar’ coz I’ve had a little box for ages & didn’t know what to do with it…LOL! I’m envious of all the colours you got Simone…gorgeous! I fell in ♥ with the Mallows when I made them, & was impressed that a cookie as delicious can be made at home!
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Nicely done! The pics are lovely.
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Your mallows look so pretty! Too pretty to be eaten.
I have given you an award on my blog do check it out
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This is my first time here. Nice blog and beautiful pictures. will visit often.
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Oh! They’re so pretty in their little pastel outfits! Almost a shame to cover them with chocolate… but I’ll bet they were delicious.
Not a huge marshmallow fan, but I’m intrigued.
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hi simone, long time no see ^^ !! oh … I totally love the colored marshmallows on the cookie (still without the chocolate) ^^ … looks so like summer ^^ … lovely pictures!!! XOXO
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I love the colors you used for your marshmallows–great pictures and I enjoyed reading about your experiences in making them. Good job!
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In most European countries, you can find baking soda at the pharmacist (bicarbonate de soude in French but might give you name roots to find the right equivalent).
They turned out beautiful Simone! I love the pastel colors!
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Your mallows are drippingly decadent and oh so tasty looking. Kudos to your fab photos!
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Love the dripping chocolate shot. Your mallows look great, I loved making these!
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Those look soo good. As a kid in New York City my favorite cookies were Mallomars. It looks like a very good replication of one of my favorite childhood treats!
I got the care package this weekend. Stroopwaffels are delicious! I Dunked them in coffee from my favorite coffee place in Chicago, and they made my morning! Thank you for the candies also. Very tasty. I’ll do a post on your goodies when I come back from the cheese conference. I think I’m going to make some ice cream for the jimmies.
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