Good morning sun.
It's the first sun we've seen all year and it's beautiful.

This is a recipe for peanut butter smores in the middle of winter.

I always thought that marshmallows were hard to make, Alton Brown has shown me otherwise. It's simple and well worth the effort I think. The recipe is an open canvas for flavour, so create.

I did take this recipe from here, but it's my first time, so go easy on me. I paired these marshmallows with a peanut butter cookie and dipped the top in dark chocolate. The recipe makes 8 large cookies and in the interest of moderation I suggest that you make the cookies smaller, (1-2 t. balls of cookie dough instead of 1T. balls)

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 c. room temp. butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 c. flour

Beat butter and peanut butter together until combined. Add sugars, baking soda and powder and mix until combined. Add vanilla and egg and stir until Incorporated. Mix in flour. Roll into balls and flatten cookies with a fork. Bake at 350ºf for 10-12 minutes of golden around edges.


Vanilla Marshmallows

3 pkgs. gelatin powder
1 c. cold water, divided
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. icing sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a mixer with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cook until the mixture reaches 240ºf, approximately 10-15 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, about 11 minutes for softer marshmallows and 13 minutes for firmer ones. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

To make molds grease pan (I used a loaf pan) and sift in icing sugar/cornstarch mixture to coat all sides well. Alternatively, grease and dust parchment paper and pipe marshmallows into lines, cut when firm to make mini-marshmallows. I just piped my mixture onto the cookies.