Homemade Marshmallows!

My happy helpers!

Notice Luke's facial expression - and it looks like Wilson's eating one!

Forgot to rotate this one! A plate of fluffy homemade marshmallows!

Yesterday the boys and I used my new stand mixer to make marshmallows. I didn't even know you could make them until I saw them on a food blog I read! They were easy to make (with a stand mixer- lots of mixing). Then they had to set overnight. This morning we got the powdered sugar out (and got it everywhere!) to cut them. One mistake I made is not oiling my 9x13 well enough. So it was rather difficult to get them out of the pan. The marshmallows were so fluffy! If you ever make these make sure to thoroughly oil your pan. I cut the marshmallows apart and the boys were in charge of rolling all the sticky cut sides in powdered sugar. Then they each ate one to test them out and I got a thumbs up from Wilson! We'll be dipping these in chocolate fondue tonight for our family New Year's Eve Party. We're staying home and making homemade pizza and chocolate fondue! We'll be dipping marshmallows, pretzels, graham crackers, strawberries, and bananas in our chocolate. I'm making a few changes the the recipe- omitting water and using coffee in place of the water and instant coffee. I'm cutting the recipe in 1/2 and I'm going to use chocolate chips instead of cutting up a chocolate bar...we'll see how it goes!

* If you use google reader click on my blog to see the picture Andy had framed for me for our anniversary. I just added it to the I Do post!

Fun in the Kitchen

Here are a couple of good recipes I tried using my new cooking stuff! Chocolate Chip Cheesecake using my new springform pan and electric mixer! Soft Garlic Knots using my new mixer. I love my stand mixer! It is a-mazing! The first time I used it I couldn't stop smiling. No more will I turn on my hand mixer to mix-turn it off-set it down-crack the egg-pick up the mixer to mix- turn it off- set it down- etc! Stand mixers are glorious!! Both were pretty good recipes- that was my first real cheesecake to make using a springform pan and all. It turned out pretty good. I think I overmixed the garlic knots. Andy thought they were good as did the boys but they weren't light and fluffy. I'm still new to bread doughs! The new soup I tried was okay but not a recipe I'm going to keep. It had leeks in it- which I had always wanted to try in a recipe, but it wasn't our favorite! I enjoyed it but can live without it. Andy didn't care for the texture of the leeks which I think are like big green onions without the onion flavor. We also made fondue Sunday night in the new fondue pot Dan and Carol got me for Christmas. It was fun! The boys were so excited but as it turns out, they didn't care for the cheese fondue. Andy and I enjoyed it - though it was expensive to make! Here is the recipe for Three Cheese Fondue. I served it with a big platter of cut up baguette, potatoes, broccoli, zuchinni, carrots, and green apple. That was dinner! I was able to find 2 cheeses at Meijer and the 1 at Whole Foods. The fondue pot works fabulously- it is electric so you don't need a flame or anything. The boys really had fun adding the shredded cheese to the pot and watching it melt as we whisked it into the liquid. I promised them next time we'll do a chocolate fondue! I really want to make homemade marshmallows to dip into the fondue. I'll keep you posted! But I did find a good chocolate fondue recipe I want to try.