Summer Evenings

Wow, how is it possible I haven’t posted a new recipe since March?! I feel like I’ve been baking constantly but I guess I just never felt I had a recipe worth sharing. Sorry, I hope you can forgive me. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you’ll see that I’ve been playing around with a lot of new-to-me things like pâte de fruits, and cannelés. And just this week I’ve been experimenting with moulded croissants (inspired by the croissant cube - look it up!) I assume most of you have in fact been following me so I won’t bore you with detailed updates on what I’ve been up to all these months, but I’ll take a second to fill you in on my San Francisco weekend with Julia from Maison Cookware.

The weekend was planned as a way of celebrating my 40th birthday, a little late. Both Julia and I had been to SF previously so we didn’t have to do all the tourist stops and could focus primarily on food. And that we did! Before we left we had a list of must-visit places, and all but one of those was a bakery! LOL Not the most well-balanced food trip but it was so worth it. It was originally a 2 night trip but Omnivore Books was hosting a talk/signing with Peter Reinhart (bread guru) the day we were scheduled to fly home, and the other ladies we work with joined forces to make sure we stayed an extra day in order to attend. I could not be more grateful because it was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.

We spent most of the weekend walking and busing from bakery to bakery, plus we hit the market at the Ferry Building on the Saturday morning. Wow is all I have to say about that. It’s the most incredible market I have seen outside France! We stumbled upon the greatest little French choux stand, and had a delicious lunch at one of the cafés in the building. Sunday was the BEST DAY! Donut making class at Sur La Table and then the book signing with Peter Reinhart. If you have never taken a SLT class I highly recommend it. I want to find a way to get back down there to take a class with Chef Caryn again. She was awesome and made the class super fun! We left the class with far more donuts than we could ever hope to finish but we did our best.

Monday we Ubered all around the city picking up croissants to bring home for our taste test at work the next morning. Yep, we are food nerds! Best bakery smell: Tartine (smelled like the streets of Paris). Best bakery overall: Craftsman & Wolves. Best croissant overall: Arsicault. My favourite bakery of the trip: tie between Mr. Holmes and Craftsman. If you have a chance to visit San Francisco and are looking for sweet treats, any of the shops would be worth your time.

But that’s enough about my trip. Time for why I’m here in the first place: recipes! Ages ago I posted photo of marshmallows that I’d had great success with and I said I’d share the recipe. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I dropped that ball. Today someone kindly called me out on that and I pinky promised I would get it up today. So here we are. I’ve played with marshmallows off and on for years. First batch I ever made was great! But then I did what I often do and forgot which recipe I’d tried and had to use a new one. Long story short I had many failed attempts, and even gave up for a while, but then this summer I was spending my evenings around a campfire with friends and decided it was time to get back on the horse. That’s when I came across this recipe and it has yet to fail me!

Vanilla Marshmallows (recipe adapted from The Flavor Blender)

2 C granulated sugar
1/4 C light corn syrup
1 C water, divided
7 tsp powdered gelatin (roughly 3 packets Knox)
pinch of kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste (if you don’t have any just add 1/2 tsp more of extract)
Powdered sugar

In a large pot combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 C water. Stir until sugar is just moistened and mixed with water.

Heat over medium-high heat until the sugar mixture comes to a boil. Gently swirl the pan to distribute heat, do not stir. Use a damp pastry brush to clean the sides of the pan.

Using a candy thermometer, or digital instant read thermometer cook until the mixture reaches 242-245ºF.

While the sugar mixture is coming up to temperature combine the gelatin with the remaining 1/2 C water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Allow to bloom for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Once the mixture comes to temperature remove it from heat and allow the bubbles to subside a bit. With the mixer running on medium-low pour the mixture down the inside of the bowl to prevent splattering. Add salt and increase the speed to medium-high. Whisk for 3-5 minutes until the mixture has doubled in size and is smooth/fluffy. Turn it up to high and whisk for another 3 minutes to allow for further increase in volume (roughly 3 times). Add the vanilla during the last minute.

Grease an 8x8 baking pan and a spatula with cooking spray. Scrape the marshmallow mix into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Allow to set at room temperature for at least 6 hours. Overnight is best. When you are ready to cut them fill a bowl with powdered sugar, dust a cutting board with powdered sugar, and grease a sharp knife. Gently pull the edges of the marshmallows from the pan and tip onto the prepared board. Cut into squares and roll those in the powdered sugar to coat. Store in an air tight container for a few days, but best to enjoy right away.

I want to see what you’ve been baking!

If you have something to share, or have baked from the blog be sure to

tag your photos with @ragebake #ragebake so I can see them.