Crazy about Marshmellows!

I discovered something new lately... its the ever oh so light and Skooshie fresh homemade Marshmallow!

Yeap!

SKOO-SHIE!

(do you think that's a Skooshie color?)

I never understood the 'fluffy' reference. Fluffy = soft, fuzzy, feathery, downy, fleecy or flossy.

Besides the soft description... fluffy doesn't seem quite fit a marshmallow. Neither does spongy. Its softer than a sponge and its a different kind of spongy. When I get hold of a marshmallow, I can't help but Squash it between my fingers. Its the best fun! Especially those tiny store bought ones, I squash everyone of them before I pop some into my mouth, and I never liked the taste of the store bought ones either, I just like squashing them and watch them in glee while they bounce back, or simply stay squashed!

Since I have been selling my fresh marshmallows, I have noticed that when someone picks up a bag of marshmallow, the first thing they do is to "skoosh" them! They don't Squash them completely, just a little 'Skooshness' test, and fresh marshmallow... wayyyyyy Skooshier than store bought ones. Oh yes, way way wayyyyy TASTIER too!

If you had ever had a fresh Marshmallow, you will never go back to the funny tasting store bought ones. First of all, fresh marshmallow does not stay fresh for long, so, I can't even imagine what is in the store bought marshmallows that allows it to sit and stay on the shelf for days, weeks or months. A little freaky if you ask me, but I still like to skoosh them whenever I get my hands on some :OP

I gave a marshmallow to a dog once. I think he was all confused and wondered if he should chew it or just swallow the thing whole, and then it got stuck on his teeth. (no animal cruelty here, he loved it! and wanted more, only got one though, sugar + dog= not good) It was funny to watch him try to eat it though... he! he! Ahhh I get entertained so easily... like skooshing mini marshmallows!

I landed on the idea of making marshmallows by accident. I had bought myself 5 new cookie recipe books over Christmas and saw some recipes for squares. I like squares, they seem 'wholesome' and more satisfying than a cookie, they always seem to be rich in flavour and texture.

Then I came across this recipe of a Jello square that had to be refrigerated. It looked so pretty. Selling something that should be refrigerated till served is not a good idea for bake sales, so the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of jello was marshmallow. The picture of the jello square was pink, and I like the pink.

What am I talking about ? I LOVE pink! I wanted to make something similar just because it was pink! A mix here, a mix there, trial here and there and there we have it!

I put together a Fresh Raspberry Marshmallow Lemon Shortbread Square. I combined it with a shortbread base because I kept thinking in my mind how awesome it would be to have a rich buttery and slightly crunchy texture combined with a tangy soft refreshing raspberry marshmallow, and awesome it did turn out to be. This has been one cookie combo that I steal a piece of every time I make them for the markets :O)

I've been hooked on marshmallows ever since. I've made mixed berries marshmellows, chocolate, and green tea ones too!

Yummy... and oh so Skooshie!

Infact, its taken me almost 8 weeks to get a photo of them. I prepare them as fresh as possible for the market, which means I cut them, dust them and run out the door. And since they are always sold out, I never got a chance to take a photo of them. I only got a quick shot of them last week before I ran out of the house to the market. Aren't they cute?

:O)

Give me Lemons... and I'll make some mini Lemon Cakes

Baby Lemon Poppy Seed cakes with tangy Lemon Curd

Someone gave me a huge bag of gorgeous juicy shiny lemons one day and what do I make, lemonade of course, what else? *wink*

Freshly juiced lemonade is awesome. But drinking lemonade everyday and all day long, a little less awesome.

What the next best thing? I cooked my dinners with lemon. I made lemon pasta, baked lemon chicken and a whole bunch of salad dressing.

Still I had some lemon left! I did say I had a HUGE bag of lemons.

I have never baked with lemon before but I do remember a pastry I once had which had some really yummy lemon curd in it.

I'm no fancy pastry chef, so I had to think of something else to have the lemon curd with.

So lemon cake it was! I looked through all my recipe books and surfed the net for some lemon cake recipes.

I selected a few that sounded great in my mind and made my first lemon cake. It was a loaf cake, kinda like a pound cake.

It wasn't too bad at all, especially when eaten with the fresh lemon curd I made to go along with it.

My lemon cake has come a long long way since that first trial. I had changed and tested more recipes than I remember, not all were successful, some, well... weren't that great.

I tried the creaming method, the folding method, the loaf shape, the bundt shape, the round shape, the layered cake and so on.

In the end, I found the recipe that was finally happy with. Its moist, its not too light nor too heavy, mixed with lemon zest and poppy seed and drenched with fresh lemon juice once its out of the oven. More importantly, it has great lemon flavour. Top it off with the creamy buttery lemon curd, awesomeness!

I usually make mine now as one big bundt cake, or as mini baby bundt cakes so that I can fill up each individual cake with just the right amount of lemon curd to satisfy each mouthful, YUMS!

Since then, when I do get some fresh lemons, I make... Lemonade? What lemonade?