Funfetti marshmallows

I made those adorable little ice cream cone marshmallows yesterday, but I was left with a TON of leftover marshmallow batter.  I mean, I probably had used only a few tablespoons at best to fill the ice cream cones.  So what to do with leftover marshmallow batter?  And a 6-lb tub (ok, ok, I've used some....maybe I'm down to 5.75 lbs?) of rainbow sprinkles?  Funfetti marshmallows seemed like the perfect answer!

And how festive to bring to my friend's birthday celebration last night, a movie in the park?!

I made my regular go-to vanilla marshmallows, and then at the very end added in a few handfuls of rainbow sprinkles (I have small hands, people, it wasn't quite as much as it sounds like).  I poured the marshmallow batter into a prepared pan and then let them set.

When it came to coating the marshmallows, I debated using some regular marshmallow coating.  But then I thought "what if I just coat one marshmallow in rainbow sprinkles, just to see what it looks like?" -- and as you can imagine, once I did that there was no need for regular marshmallow coating!

(P.S. I packed them up in a mini cupcake tin for easy transport.  Such a good and clever idea, if I do say so myself!)  I also got better about cutting the marshmallows smaller, which I'm super happy about!  Check out how cute they are!

Funfetti Marshmallows
Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 cup water, divided

3 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin (3 envelopes – envelope is 1/4 oz. each, for 3/4 oz. total)

2 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. fine salt

2 Tbsp. pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste -- I cut this down to 1 Tbsp and still found them overly vanilla-y...I'd go down to 2 tsp next time

Rainbow sprinkles -- about 2 cups

Directions:

Spray a 9x9 or 7x11 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper (Recommendation: cut to fit flat on the bottom, with the edges of the paper over-hanging the sides. The ends are fine just sprayed.)

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over.

Let stand.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.

Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.

Stop stirring and once mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat. (Recommendation: the original recipe said that they like to carefully pour mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup, to make it easier to pour into mixer.  I did this and found it extremely helpful!).

The mixture is very, very, very hot.  Be extremely careful!

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen.
Very slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixer to high and whip the mixture for 10 to 12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.
If you have a smaller mixer bowl, you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to avoid the batter overflowing as it grows.
Stop the mixer, add the vanilla, and then whip briefly to combine.  When I added the vanilla, mine thinned out a bit.  Just an FYI.
Throw in a few handfuls of sprinkles

Place the mixture into the prepared baking pan (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this) and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with cooking spray and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using you fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the mixture.

Leave the marshmallow to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours or, even better, overnight.
The marshmallow will be too sticky and soft to cut if you try too soon.

Place the rainbow sprinkles in a bowl or shallow pan.

When marshmallows are ready, grab the edges of the parchment and lift the marshmallows from the pan.
Remove the plastic wrap from the top and fold down the parchment on the sides.
Using a pizza cutter or a large knife, cut the slab into 1x1 inch squares.
Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the sprinkles.
Put them on a baking sheet to dry slightly before packaging them up (about 30 – 45 minutes).

Ice cream cone marshmallows

Things I've been making a lot lately: marshmallows.  Things I should probably stop making in the near future: marshmallows.  Types of marshmallows I made today: two.

OK, so clearly I've gotten my math a little wrong.  Sue me.  Or rather, wait till you see what I made today before you decide to do that.

Today I made Ice Cream Cone Marshmallows (ice cream cone treats are another thing I've done recently, but last time in cupcake form).  I made mini ice cream cones (well, I cut about 1.5 inches off the top of a regular sugar cone), then piped in some vanilla marshmallow mixture, and topped with rainbow sprinkles.  I have to admit that (even though the marshmallow filling fell a little) they turned out pretty cute!  I can't wait to make these again in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry varieties...and maybe I can even work out a swirl?!  Shouldn't be too hard since I just ordered a bunch of mini (2.5 inch) ice cream cones, which should be arriving soon :)

Ice Cream Cone Marshmallows
From this recipe

Ingredients:

For the marshmallows:

1 cup water, divided

3 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin (3 envelopes – envelope is 1/4 oz. each, for 3/4 oz. total)

2 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. fine salt

2 Tbsp. pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste -- I cut this down to 1 Tbsp and still found them overly vanilla-y...I'd go down to 2 tsp next time

You will also need:

- Sugar ice cream cones with 1.5 inches cut off the top - best done with a serrated knife and very gentle pressure (the cut-off tops reserved) -- OR -- mini ice cream cones
- Sprinkles of your choosing
- Piping bag
- Large star tip
- A regular pan for the leftover marshmallow batter

Directions:

Spray a 9x9 or 7x11 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper (Recommendation: cut to fit flat on the bottom, with the edges of the paper over-hanging the sides. The ends are fine just sprayed.)

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over.

Let stand.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.

Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.

Stop stirring and once mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat. (Recommendation: the original recipe said that they like to carefully pour mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup, to make it easier to pour into mixer.  I did this and found it extremely helpful!).

The mixture is very, very, very hot.  Be extremely careful!

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen.
Very slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixer to high and whip the mixture for 10 to 12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.
If you have a smaller mixer bowl, you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to avoid the batter overflowing as it grows.
Stop the mixer, add the vanilla, and then whip briefly to combine.  When I added the vanilla, mine thinned out a bit.  Just an FYI.

While the marshmallow mixture is being whipped, place the mini ice cream cones in the inverted cut-off tops of the ice cream cones (since they make the most perfect stands for the cones!!)

Transfer some of the mixture to the piping bag fitted with the large star tip.
Pipe the marshmallow mixture into each of the cones, piling it on a little bit.
Sprinkle the ice cream cones with sprinkles.

Place the rest of the mixture into the prepared baking pan (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this) and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with cooking spray and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using you fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the mixture.

Leave the marshmallow to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours or, even better, overnight.
The marshmallow will be too sticky and soft to cut if you try too soon.

Meanwhile, mix the coating ingredients in a bowl.  I whisked them together with a small whisk.

When marshmallows are ready, grab the edges of the parchment and lift the marshmallows from the pan.
Remove the plastic wrap from the top and fold down the parchment on the sides.
Using a pizza cutter or a large knife, cut the slab into 1x1 inch squares.
Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the coating mixture.
Put them on a baking sheet to dry slightly before packaging them up (about 30 – 45 minutes).

Birthday chocolate covered Oreos

It's not a secret that I love to bake.  Especially for my friends.  And even more so when it's for an occasion.  Sometimes they make requests and sometimes they just say I should "bring whatever you want."  But no matter what it is I make, I always find joy in baking something for someone, and then delivering it to them.

So for my friend's birthday, she requested some chocolate covered Oreos.  Oreos are easy enough to coat in chocolate, and I do it all the time with Oreo Pops.  But recently I had bought a cute little chocolate covered Oreo mold with onesies on it (I actually made them for my friend when she told us she was expecting a baby girl), and then soon thereafter I had gone back and bought a plain one and one that said "Happy Birthday" on it (they were supposed to be used to make favors for B's birthday party, but that didn't happen).  I decided to use the molds this time since it is the summer in NYC and I figured that the chances of the chocolate melting would be slimmer because the chocolate is thicker.

I used the plain molds and used two different kinds of chocolate - dark and milk (I ran out of time, but planned to also make some white chocolate ones) - and then needed to choose what I was going to use to decorate them.  I could've left them plain, but what fun is that for a birthday treat?  I could've drizzled them with different colored chocolates, which would be pretty but also, not all that festive.  Rainbow sprinkles would be pretty and festive, but possibly a bit overboard, since I had a bunch of other things with rainbow sprinkles that I was bringing (more on that in later posts).  I ended up by affixing a little sugar decoration on top of each one.

Chocolate Covered Oreos

What you'll need:

Oreos (you can use golden or regular, flavored or plain, and even double stuffed....which is my go-to!)
Chocolate (in whatever variety(ies) you'd like....milk, dark, and/or white chocolate)
Sprinkles, sugar decorations, or melted and slightly cooled chocolate.

What you'll need to do:

Melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals to make sure that you don't burn it.
Place 1 Tbsp melted chocolate into each well of the mold.
Shake the mold side-to-side to distribute the chocolate evenly over the bottom of each well.
Bang the mold on the counter once or twice to release the air bubbles.

Place one Oreo in each well on top of the chocolate.
Gently push the Oreo into the chocolate but not too hard that it hits the bottom of the mold.
Gently spoon about 1/2 Tbsp of melted chocolate on top of each Oreo.
Share the mold side-to-side again to distribute the chocolate.
You may need to add more chocolate to cover the Oreo as it will fall down the sides.
Band the mold on the counter once or twice to release the air bubbles.
You may need to add a little more chocolate if there are lots of air bubbles and the chocolate level falls again.

Place molds into the fridge and allow them to harden, mine take about 3- minutes, but I leave them in for an hour just to make sure.

Remove the mold from the fridge.
Invert the mold and remove each of the chocolate-covered Oreos.

Decorate them to your liking.
Use a little melted chocolate to adhere sprinkles or sugar decorations, or drizzle melted chocolate over the Oreos.

When done, place back in the fridge until serving.

I chose to place mine in individual plastic bags and tie them with festive ribbon for my friend's birthday.

Birthday sticky buns

Last year I made a week of birthday treats leading up to my birthday.  This year?  Well....that's not happening.

Honestly, I'm feeling kinda "blah" about the day.  I can't really put my finger on why.  I did want to bake something for my birthday, but the weekend before I couldn't come up with anything to bake.  So with just 5 days until my birthday, I was not only without a birthday treat, but without an idea of even what to bake!

 (before and after the second 'proofing')

This lead to sleepless nights*, which lead to late-night TV watching, which lead to a fluke encounter...and my birthday treat inspiration!  (* I wasn't sleepless because of the thought of not having something to bake, rather I was just up late one night watching the Cooking Channel, but it sounded so much more dramatic the first way.)  While I was mindlessly watching TV, I heard Bobby Flay talking about the best sticky buns he had ever had.  I was intrigued.  Then they had the baker talking about them. She makes something called a "goo" for her sticky buns. Goo!  How fun!!  The only thing that didn't sell me 100%?  They had pecans.  You know me - not a fan of nuts in my baked goods - but then I saw one. Gorgeously golden, covered in a homemade caramel "goo."  I.  Was.  Sold!  Happy birthday to me!

Oh, and was it ever!! These sticky buns are heavenly.  No doubt partially related to the insane amounts of butter, but also that goo!!    Definitely got me out of my birthday funk long enough to enjoy one (...or two...or three...) of these!!

A thing about this recipe....it calls for enough dough to make double the buns but only one batch of goo.  This leaves you with options, people, plenty of good options.  

1. You can half the dough recipe (clearly the worst of the options...why half it?!).

2. You can make a full dough recipe and then freeze half for up to a week or use it for something else.  Not your best option, but clearly no one would fault you for that.

3. You can double up on the goo recipe, and make a double batch.  Because clearly extra brown sugar, butter, and cream are all good things!

4. You can make a full batch of the dough, make it into a double batch of buns, and then freeze half of them for up to a week!  Then defrost them in the fridge the night before and then bake them up "fresh" the next morning.  This is the only way my loved ones are gonna get freshly baked sticky buns in the morning.  I'm betting I'm not going to hear any complaints! (And in case you haven't already guessed, option 4 was my choice, but option #3 was a close second!)

Flour's Famous Sticky Buns
I heard about 'em on TV, and googled the recipe

Ingredients:

For the goo:

1.5 sticks unsalted butter
1.5 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup cream
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the brioche dough:
(makes a double recipe.  See above)

2.5 cups all purpose flour, plus more if needed
2.25 cups bread flour (I used whole wheat, since that's what the store had....which makes them totally healthy, right?  ;-))
1.5 packages (3 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup cold water
5 eggs
1 3/8 cups (2 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 10-12 pieces

For the filling:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pecan halves, toasted and chopped, divided

Directions:

Start by making the brioche dough.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flours, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and eggs.
Beat on low speed for 3-4 minutes or until all ingredients are combined.
Stop the miser as needed to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients.
Once the dough has come together, beat on low for another 3-4 minutes.
The dough will be very stiff and seem quite dry.

With the mixer on low speech, add the butter one piece at a time, mixing after each addition until it disappears into the dough (each addition took a long time for me).
Continue mixing on low speed for about 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
It is important for all the butter to be thoroughly mixed into the dough.  If necessary, stop the mixer occasionally and break up the dough with your hands to help mix in the butter.

Once the butter is completely incorporated, turn up the speech to medium and beat until the dough becomes sticky, soft, and somewhat shiny, another 15 minutes.
It will take some time to come together -- it will look shaggy and questionable at the start and eventually it will turn smooth and silky.
Turn the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute.  You should hear the dough make a slap-slap-slap sound as it hits the sides of the bowl.
Test the dough by pulling at it: it should stretch a bit and have a little give.  If it seems wet and loose and more like a batter than a dough, add a few Tbsp of flour and mix until it comes together.  If it breaks off into pieces when you pull at it, continue to mix on medium speed for another 2-3 minutes or until it develops more strength and stretches when you grab it.
It is ready when you can gather it all together and pick it up in 1 piece.

Put the dough in a large bowl or plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of dough.
Let the dough proof in the fridge for at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
**At this point you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Next, make the goo.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that's OK).
Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt.
Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar.
Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature.
You should have about 3 cups (I got just over two cups).
** The goo can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Toast the pecans.
I did this in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  
Watch them carefully to make sure they don't burn!
Let cool to room temperature.
Chop the nuts.
Divide into 2 half cups portions.

Using half the dough, roll it out on a floured work surface into a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick.
It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll.
Position the rectangle so that a short side is facing you.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugars, cinnamon, and a half cup of the toasted pecans.
Sprinkle this mixture evenly on top of the entire surface of the dough.
Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll.
Try to roll tightly so that you have a nice round spiral.
Trim off about 1/4 inch from each end of the roll to make them even.

Use a bench scraper or chef's knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each above 1.5 inches wide.
** At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen up to 1 week.  When ready to bake, thaw them -- still in the plastic wrap -- in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for 2-3 hours, then proceed as directed below:

Pour the goo into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of pecans evenly over the surface.
Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish.
Cover with plastic wrap (oops, I forgot to cover mine, but that's totally ok, because they turned out fine!) and put in a warm spot until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching -- almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F.

Bake until golden brown, about 35-45 minutes.
Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes.
One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.

The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking.  They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325F oven for 10-12 minutes before serving.

S'mores bar

So one of the things I debated doing for B's birthday party was a S'mores bar.  See, we had unfettered access to a grill, but didn't actually plan on grilling for the party.  We were going to be a big group and I didn't want B to be stuck grilling at his birthday party, I wanted him to be able to hang out with his friends.  But when in NYC do you have access to a grill?  I wanted to find a use for it...I was going to find a use for it!!

Enter the marshmallow!  Able to be perfectly toasted over a flame when there is a flame nearby.  And then why stop at plain marshmallows?  Why not make a few flavors?  Maybe some chocolate or berry flavored ones, or cinnamon, or coffee?  The possibilities were endless!

So I started with some plain vanilla marshmallows.  B loves all things vanilla, so that was a good place to start.  Plus, they're almost identical to store-bought marshmallows, but way more delicious!  Then I started thinking of some other flavors.  I thought about some fruity flavored marshmallows, but didn't know how they'd taste toasted, or even with chocolate and sandwiched between graham crackers.  Then I decided on some chocolate marshmallows.  But I thought that maybe I could come up with another flavor.  Coffee sounded great, so I decided on those.  But then I thought back to a peanut butter and jelly marshmallow I has seen in the past, and - while I thought fruity marshmallows wouldn't work for this - I thought that peanut butter marshmallows with melted chocolate and graham crackers did sound pretty awesome.  So I made a few varieties of marshmallows (1 more than I had planned to make), then bought a few flavors of graham crackers and chocolate bars, and set them up next to the grill for a s'mores making bar!

It was a huge hit!  My favorite was a regular graham cracker-cookies n' cream chocolate bar-coffee marshmallow combination!!!

Assorted birthday cupcakes

I wanted to throw B a birthday party for a while.  I originally mentioned it to him about three and a half months before his birthday.  I wanted to make sure (a) he wanted a party and (b) that I had plenty of time to plan!

So I spent the past few months planning his birthday party -- first from whether it would be a group dinner out at a restaurant or a party on his roof deck (I let him make that decision), and once the decision was made, there was lots more planning: from the color scheme to the treats I'd bake to the food I'd order to the drinks we'd serve to the favors I'd give out to the should-there-be-a-photo-booth-at-the-party debate to the guest list to the centerpieces, and so on and so on and so on.  Have I mentioned my OCD tendencies?!

I wanted to make cupcakes.  But I couldn't make just one kind of cupcake.  Heck no!  There needed to be a variety of cupcakes...and other treats, too.  I am, after all, JulieBakes, and he has made it a habit of making me show people all of my baked goods when I meet them, so I couldn't embarass myself with just one kind of cupcake (even if it was his favorite cupcake).  So I made lots of cupcakes.  Lots and lots of them!  Iced with a perfectly piped heap of icing and beautifully decorated.  I mean, it is a PARTY, right?

So for the party, I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (I used dark cocoa powder since I loved the flavor it gave the red velvet bundt cake I made a few months ago).  And dark chocolate cupcakes and vanilla/yellow cupcakes, and then I made vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream (this time I used 1/3 dark cocoa powder and 2/3 regular cocoa powder), and then I made a mixture of cupcake combinations - chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, and yellow cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  On each cupcake, I piped the icing on in a swirling pile with a big round tip (Ateco 809).  And then I went to town decorating them.  I had seen these cupcakes on Pinterest and they were my inspiration for B's birthday cupcakes.  I totally copied them, but it was so worth it....the cupcakes were gorgeous!!

I had a bunch of "pearls" -- white, black, graphite grey/silver, and silver.  I used silver dragees as well.  And then I used white and black nonpareils, and teeny tiny silver dragees that were basically the size of nonpareils.  I started by strategically placing the pearls over half of the piped icing, and then after that was done to my liking, I started sprinkling a mixture of the silver, black, and white nonpareils (I mixed 2 Tbsp of each color together in a bowl and then used that mixture for the sprinkling) over the same half of the cupcake where I had placed the pearls.

I'm not going to lie, it's a bit time consuming, especially when it involved decorating 36+ cupcakes....but c'mon, look at the them....it was TOTALLY worth it.  Even I - who never brags - think they're pretty freaking adorable!

Peanut butter marshmallows

Peanut Butter Marshmallows.  Fluffy, light, delicious, peanut butter-y marshmallows.  Again, in case you didn't catch it the first or the second time: peanut butter marshmallows!!!

I saw this recipe a while ago, before I had become a marshmallow making machine.  I adapted them from a peanut butter and jelly marshmallow recipe, and made it with my go-to marshmallow recipe.  Let me tell you something.  Sweet vanilla marshmallow mixed with slightly salty peanut butter makes for one delicious marshmallow.  Now, I'm just wondering if I should try a chocolate-peanut butter marshmallow.  OK, who am I kidding?!  I'll be working on that in no time!

Check out those amazing peanut butter ribbons throughout the marshmallow!!

This was it -- the fourth marshmallow recipe for me in about as many days.  Stay tuned for what I did with all these delicious marshmallows (besides eat them.....often.....by the handful).

Peanut Butter Marshmallows
Based loosely on these Peanut Butter and Jelly Marshmallows (which I will make soon, but didn't think went well enough with what I needed the marshmallows for this time around)

Ingredients:

1 cup water, at room temperature, divided
3 Tbsp plus 1.5 tsp unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

Marshmallow coating:

1.5 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch

Directions:

Spray a 9 x 9 inch pan with Pam, and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Feel free to spray the parchment paper with some Pam, too, since when I made the vanilla ones it stuck a little.

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, pour in half a cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over it.
Let it stand.

In a medium saucepan over high hear, stir together the water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt.
Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil.
Stop stirring and once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for one minute.
Remove from the heat (it helps to then pour the mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring up, to make it easier to pour the mixture.

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen it.
Very slowly and carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the bowl by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixture to high and whip for 10-12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.

Add in the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
Place peanut butter into a small bowl and add about 1/4 of the vanilla marshmallow mixture.
Quickly stir until well blended.
Scrape the peanut butter mallow back in the mixer bowl with the vanilla batter.
Gently fold the two batters together until mostly blended, using a large spatula.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with Pam and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using your fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the marshmallows.

Leave the marshmallows to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours, or even better, overnight.

Mix together the confectioners sugar and corn starch.

When you're ready to cut the marshmallows, put a little bit of the corn starch mixture on a cutting board and flip the marshmallows onto the mixture.
Cut the marshmallows using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.  Or, use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Toss the cut marshmallows into the coating to cover, and then shake off the excess coating mixture using a strainer.
Place the marshmallows in a single layer in a pan, and then place waxed paper on top, and then continue layering marshmallows.
Store in an air tight container, for up to a week....if they last that long!

Dark chocolate cupcakes

I did something very un-JulieBakes for B's birthday party.  I actually baked the cupcakes a few days before and then froze them so that they were still fresh for the party.  See, the week and a half before B's birthday party were going to be overly hectic for me, and there was no way I wasn't going to bake for the big birthday party.  So I had to come up with a way to have homebaked goods but not pull a bunch of all-nighters before the party (because then what fun would I be at the actual party?).  The answer was pretty clear: bake cupcakes, freeze cupcakes, thaw cupcakes, make icing, ice cupcakes, and then decorate cupcakes.  I figured I could make the icing the day before, ice the cupcakes, and then decorate them, so that they'd be homemade, delicious, and fresh :) [more on the cupcake decorations and where I  "borrowed" the super cute idea for sprinkles from here.]

But I wanted a new chocolate cupcake recipe.  I don't really know why - I have a few chocolate cupcake recipes that I really like - but then I saw a recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes.  DARK.  CHOCOLATE.  CUPCAKES!!  With cocoa powder and chocolate!  I figured they were worth a try, and trust me, they are!  They're super delicious and rich and decadent -- even B, my self-proclaimed vanilla-vanilla cupcake guy, thought these chocolate cupcakes were amazing!  The original recipe has them served with a peanut butter icing, which sounds fantastic, but I was planning on sticking with chocolate and vanilla icings for the party, so I just went with my go-to vanilla and chocolate buttercream recipes.  Totally delish!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
From Brown Eyed Baker
Makes 12 cupcakes (I got 12 cupcakes plus 9 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet since the store didn't have bittersweet.  They're basically the same thing anyway).
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F (325F if using a nonstick pan).
Line standard-sized muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a medium heat proof bowl.
Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water, and heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted.
Whisk until smooth and combined.
(...or you could microwave the mixture at 50% powder, stirring every 30 seconds, until completely melted.  Which is exactly what I did.)
Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in another bowl to combine.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated.
Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
Whisk in sour cream until combined.
Sift the remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is thick and fully incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
Place cupcakes on a wire rack.
Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes (this is the point where I froze the cupcakes for later use).

Choose your icings:
Chocolate Buttercream
Vanilla Buttercream

Chocolate marshmallows

To quote B, I've been a marshmallow making machine lately.  First I made a batch of giant vanilla marshmallows.  I followed that up with coffee (espresso) marshmallows, which were giant fluffy pillows of coffee deliciousness.  Then I made these.  Chocolate marshmallows.  Yummy, fluffy, light chocolately marshmallows.  I promise I'm not sitting at home stuffing my face with the dozens of marshmallows I've made so far....(and I also promise that I have at least one other flavored marshmallow up my sleeve for later this week).  I'm making them for something.  It's just a secret (for now).  But there will be a big reveal soon, this I swear to you!

In the mean time, I leave you with all of these delicious marshmallows.  These chocolate marshmallows would be delicious in just about anything (hot cocoa, coffee, chocolate milk).  They're insanely good on their own, too.  Hell, they'd be good on shoe leather!

Chocolate Marshmallows
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup of room temperature water, divided
3 packets of unflavored gelatin
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp fine salt
50 grams Dutch-processed cocoa -- then I added more to taste

Marshmallow coating:

1.5 cups of confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch
2 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted

Directions:

Spray a 9 x 9 inch pan with Pam, and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Feel free to spray the parchment paper with some Pam, too, since when I made the vanilla ones it stuck a little.

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, pour in half a cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over it.
Let it stand.

In a medium saucepan over high hear, stir together the water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt.
Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil.
Stop stirring and once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for one minute.
Remove from the heat (it helps to then pour the mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring up, to make it easier to pour the mixture.

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen it.
Very slowly and carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the bowl by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixture to high and whip for 10-12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.
Sift the cocoa powder over the marshmallow mixture.
Whip to incorporate.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with Pam and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using your fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the marshmallows.

Leave the marshmallows to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours, or even better, overnight.

Mix together the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, and corn starch.

When you're ready to cut the marshmallows, put a little bit of the corn starch mixture on a cutting board and flip the marshmallows onto the mixture.
Cut the marshmallows using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.  Or, use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Toss the cut marshmallows into the coating to cover, and then shake off the excess coating mixture using a strainer.
Place the marshmallows in a single layer in a pan, and then place waxed paper on top, and then continue layering marshmallows.
Store in an air tight container, for up to a week....if they last that long!

Coffee marshmallows

This winter, I had been on a marshmallow making spree.  Toasted coconut, vanilla, even raspberry heart marshmallows!  I tried Kahlua marshmallows (twice!) and thought they were OK, but I wanted to make some more flavored marshmallows.  I have something coming up and I thought that some flavored marshmallows would be perfect for it, so I set out to find the perfect flavor of marshmallow to make.  Enter the coffee marshmallow!  Besides being delicious on it's own, imagine how good it would be in hot cocoa (say, in about 5 months when the heat has disappeared and hot cocoa actually sounds appetizing), making it a mocha....or even in a mug of coffee?!

*Pardon the poor photo quality - I took them with my iPhone*

I doctored up this recipe from the toasted coconut marshmallow recipe, leaving off the toasted coconut (obviously) and instead replacing the water in the recipe with really strong coffee (I used 8 oz of water and 3 heaping teaspoons of instant espresso powder for a really strong coffee flavor!....so I guess technically they are espresso marshmallows, but I digress.  A cup of really strong coffee would work, too).  I was going to add the vanilla, but when I tasted the marshmallow mixture before adding it, I thought it didn't need the added vanilla....they were perfectly coffee-y and delicious just as they were!

Stay tuned for a post on what I did with these delicious marshmallows!

(P.S. I also made a batch of the vanilla ones as they are, but used only 1 Tbsp of vanilla,  I'm not going to post them again since I made them here, but just so you know -- they're totally fluffy, tasty, and simply out-of-this-world.  Homemade marshmallows are worlds better than store bought ones!!  I tossed them in a mixture of 3/4 cup confectioners sugar and 1/2 cup of corn starch)

Coffee Marshmallows (or, in this case, Espresso Marshmallows)
Recipe by me, based on this recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup strong coffee, room temperature, divided (I used 3 heaping teaspoons of instant espresso powder in 8 oz of water)
3 Tbsp plus 1.5 tsp unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp fine salt

Marshmallow coating:

1.5 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch
(I debated adding a pinch of espresso powder, but last minute I decided against it)

Directions:

Spray a 9 x 9 inch pan with Pam, and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Feel free to spray the parchment paper with some Pam, too, since when I made the vanilla ones it stuck a little.

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, pour in half a cup of the coffee and sprinkle the gelatin over it.
Let it stand.

In a medium saucepan over high hear, stir together the coffee, corn syrup, sugar, and salt.
Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil.
Stop stirring and once the mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for one minute.
Remove from the heat (it helps to then pour the mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring up, to make it easier to pour the mixture.

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen it.
Very slowly and carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the bowl by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixture to high and whip for 10-12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with Pam and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using your fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the marshmallows.

Leave the marshmallows to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours, or even better, overnight.

Mix together the confectioners sugar and corn starch.

When you're ready to cut the marshmallows, put a little bit of the corn starch mixture on a cutting board and flip the marshmallows onto the mixture.
Cut the marshmallows using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.  Or, use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Toss the cut marshmallows into the coating to cover, and then shake off the excess coating mixture using a strainer.
Place the marshmallows in a single layer in a pan, and then place waxed paper on top, and then continue layering marshmallows.
Store in an air tight container, for up to a week....if they last that long!

"Strawberry shortcake" cupcakes

The first thing you might wonder in seeing this post is why is strawberry shortcake in quotes?  Well because these aren't really strawberry shortcake cupcakes, but rather cupcakes based loosely on the idea of strawberry shortcake.  See I started off with my Fluffernutter Cupcakes.  Then I made the PB&J Cupcakes.  I was kinda on a roll when it came to filling cupcakes, and creating them, if I do say so myself.  So I had filled my PB&J cupcakes with strawberry jelly, and as I was looking at them I started thinking about what else might be good to top them with.  Then I took out the cream to make the icing and it clicked: whipped cream!  But then I thought that that's not really strawberry shortcake-like, with strawberry jam, and decided to fill the craters of my cupcakes with diced fresh strawberries and top them with some homemade slightly sweetened whipped cream and a few more pieces of fresh strawberry.

Then, I realized that it was July 4th this weekend, and figured that these would be perfectly patriotic!  I even debated making a blueberry whipped cream to top them, but decided that the strawberry-whipped cream combo didn't need anything added to it, and stuck with the plain whipped cream topping.  And I even dug up some July 4th cupcake liners for the occasion!

Confession: I love strawberry shortcake!  I mean honestly, what's not to love about fresh sweet juicy strawberries and light fluffy mildly sweet whipped cream?  I don't even eat the "shortcake" part, because the other two are so much better.  So I decided to use my go-to yellow cake cupcake recipe, because it's light and mildly flavored and I thought it would go deliciously well with the strawberries and whipped cream!

"Strawberry Shortcake" Cupcakes

Cupcake idea by yours truly, each component listed with it's source

Yellow Cake Cupcakes

From SmittenKitchen (and featured on the blog here, here, and here -- to name a few)

Ingredients:

4 cups plus 2 Tbsp cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

Fresh strawberries, diced small
Blueberries or sliced strawberries for decoration (I only suggest blueberries if you're planning to make these for July 4th.  The blueberries with the white of the whipped cream and the red of the strawberries is very patriotic.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line a cupcake tin with liners.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy.

Beat in vanilla.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. 

At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).

Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

Fill the baking cups about 2/3 of the way full.

Bang the pan against the counter a few time to let out air bubbles.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and allow to cool completely.

Whipped Cream Icing

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh cream
Powdered sugar, to taste.

Directions:

In a bowl, whip the cream on high with an electric hand mixer until soft peaks form.
Add in powdered sugar to taste and whip until stiff peaks form.
Add whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with the tip of your choice.

Assembly

Once completely cooled, cut a small crater in the center of each cupcake with a small paring knife or very carefully with a melon baller (these cupcakes are very fragile).

Gently spoon diced strawberries (about 1-1.5 teaspoons) into the newly cut hole in the center.  

Using the piping tip of your choice (I used a star tip), pipe whipped cream onto filled cupcakes. 
Top with a slice of strawberry (or cherries or blueberries for a patriotic twist). 
Keep cupcakes in the fridge until just before serving.