With a heavy-duty mixer, though, making the candy in dozens of flavors at home is a breeze. Before she first prepared them, "It never occurred to me you can make marshmallows," Rappaport says.
She quickly conquered the mystery and shared original recipes for peppermint, cocoa-dusted and green-tea-flavored marshmallows with readers, prompting comments such as this from an Iowa resident: "Homemade marshmallows have changed my life this year [and probably my waistline] ... how did I ever live without them?"
On a recent morning in Rappaport's cerulean kitchen, it took 20 minutes to produce a batch of pale-green marshmallows from her original recipe.
As the gelatin bloomed in a bowl of water, Rappaport brought sugar, corn syrup and water to a vigorous boil for one minute. Then, as her matching cerulean KitchenAid mixer whipped together the hot syrup, a pinch of salt, matcha (powdered green tea) and gelatin for a total of 12 minutes, the sugary mixture turned into a frothy mound of delectability.
After allowing the pan of marshmallow to cure for three hours, Rappaport cut the batch into billowy cubes, and rolled them in powdered sugar and more matcha before storing in an airtight container.
Consumed plain, the marshmallows are a pleasing trifle. But melt matcha marshmallows and "really dark chocolate" on a graham cracker for an indulgent s'more, as Rappaport recommends, and you attain a gooey state of nirvana.
Homemade marshmallows also make a fine substitute for frosting, meringue, custard, whipped cream and other sweet finishes for cakes, pies and tarts. Subtract the gelatin found in nearly all marshmallow recipes, add egg whites, and you'll have fluff, an equally versatile substance for desserts and other preparations. In her cookbook, Talanian includes recipes for a bevy of fluffs, including varieties suffused with chocolate, cherry, espresso and orange flower water.
"Almost any place where you could use whipped cream, you can use marshmallow fluff," Talanian says. "You can decorate a cake with it, or fill cakes with it. Use it to top puddings. And it browns really nicely [with a chef's torch]."
Another possibility from Talanian: "Serve raspberry marshmallows simply with melted ganache to dip them in, or drizzle chocolate sauce over them for a really easy dessert - the chocolate is so dense and the marshmallow so light and the contrast in your mouth is just exquisite."
stephanie.shapiro@baltsun.com
