Chocolate Marshmallow Candies

Phew, it's been a bit since I've posted. It's been hectic around Red Bird Farm now that it's getting warmer. In my "spare" time, I've been making candy; specifically, I've been trying to perfect some sort of chocolate-shelled, marshmallow & co filled treats. I've had a few failures and two successes.

Salted Caramel & Marshmallow Dark Chocolate

My first success is a salted caramel, vanilla marshmallow filled chocolate cylinder (also, I'm accepting name suggestions that are a touch easier to say). At some point, I'd like to say I'm making my OWN candy recipes, but while I learn about it, it'll be more of a collection of other people's recipes that I know will work that I'm combining to things I hope will be tasty.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Chocolate Shell:

• 1.5 cups dark chocolate chips

• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

• nonstick spray

Salted Caramel: (from Sally's Baking Addiction)

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 6 tablespoons salted butter (room temp, cut into 6 pieces)

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1 tsp salt (I skip this)

Marshmallows: (I made a half recipe from Alton Brown)

• .75 oz unflavored gelatin (1.5 packages)

• 1/2 cup ice cold water, divided

• 6 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 3/4 cup

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/8 cup confectioners' sugar

• 1/8 cup cornstarch

• Nonstick spray

Directions:

Chocolate Shell:

1. Combine chocolate and shortening in a heat-proof bowl

2. Put bowl over saucepan with an inch or so of water in it. Bring water to a low boil.

3. Stir constantly until mixture is smooth, remove from heat.

4. Pour chocolate mixture into silicone molds, fill about halfway, then swirl the chocolate around. Let cool for a minute or so, then flip molds upside down to get excess chocolate out. Save excess chocolate for later - let it cool and we'll reheat it.

5. Put silicone molds in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to set

Salted Caramel: (copied directly from Sally's)

1. Heat granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a high heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn.

2. Once sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.

3. Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2 minutes. If you notice the butter separating, remove from heat and vigorously whisk to combine it again. (If you’re nervous for splatter, wear kitchen gloves.)

4. Very slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of heavy cream while stirring. Since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel, the mixture will rapidly bubble when added. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils.

5. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to slightly cool down before using. Caramel thickens as it cools.

Marshmallows: (copied from Food Network site)

1. Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/4 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

2. In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/4 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

3. 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, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

General Assembly:

1. I would recommend making the caramel first, then the chocolate shells, and finally the marshmallow. Once the caramel is made, set aside to cool a bit (we still want it liquid but not SO hot that it immediately melts through our chocolate shell).

2. Make your chocolate shells, remove from freezer after 10-15 mins. Pour a thin layer of caramel into each shell - adjust according to your taste. I didn't measure anything, so my candies had a varied amount of caramel. I preferred the ones that were about 1/3 caramel to 2/3 marshmallow, Charles seemed to like the 1/4 caramel to 3/4 marshmallow ones better.

3. Put the chocolate/caramels back into the freezer, then start making your marshmallows. The marshmallows set to solid pretty quickly, so you want to be sure you can work quickly to get them into your molds before it sets up. I put the marshmallow fluff into a piping bag to make it easier/neater to get into the molds.

4. The marshmallows should sit for 4-6 hours to fully set, so put them somewhere (room temperature) out of sight so you're not tempted to break into them early. Toss in the freezer for 10-15 mins before you get to the next step

5. Covering the bottoms with chocolate can be done a few ways: - If you were smart enough to leave some space above the marshmallows in your mold (which I was not), you can simply fill the rest of the mold with your leftover (and re-melted) chocolate from your initial fill and smooth the tops with an offset spatula. Let set in the freezer for 10-15 mins, then enjoy. - If you were like me and totally filled your mold, you can also pop them out of the mold at this step. Re-melt your chocolate and put a thin-ish layer at the bottom of your mold (about 1/8 of the way full, which would depend on the size of your molds), and immediately shove your chocolates back in upside down (marshmallow into the warm chocolate). Let set in the freezer for 10-15 mins, then enjoy. - You can also remove your chocolates from your mold and simply dip the bottoms into your re-melted chocolate. Put your chocolate wet-side-down onto parchment paper or a SilPat for a smooth bottom, or dry-side-down to create a dripped side look (might be fun to use a different type of chocolate here for a brighter contrast!) Let set in the freezer for 10-15 mins, then enjoy.

Strawberry, Chocolate, and Marshmallow

Recipe - slightly adapted from Imperial Sugar

Ingredients:

• 1 oz unflavored gelatin

• 1/2 cup water (divided in half)

• 1 cups granulated sugar

• 1/6 cup corn syrup

• 4 teaspoons strawberry extract**

• 6 oz white chocolate chips

• 12 oz milk chocolate chips

• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

• nonstick spray

Directions:

Chocolate Shell:

1. Lightly grease silicone mold with nonstick spray

2. Combine milk chocolate and shortening in a heat-proof bowl

3. Put bowl over saucepan with an inch or so of water in it. Bring water to a low boil.

4. Stir constantly until mixture is smooth, remove from heat.

5. Pour chocolate mixture into silicone molds, fill about halfway, then swirl the chocolate around. Let cool for a minute or so, then flip molds upside down to get excess chocolate out. Save excess chocolate for later - let it cool and we'll reheat it.

6. Put silicone molds in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to set

Marshmallow Filling: (copied from Imperial Sugar's site, changed slightly to fit what I did)

1. Place gelatin and 1/4 cup cool water in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment.

2. In a saucepan combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, and corn syrup. Stir to a boil. Once boiling, place a lid on the pan for 2 minutes. Then remove lid, this will have trapped steam and made sugar crystals that were stuck to the side of pan slide down in syrup. For remainder of boiling process do not stir syrup at any time or the mixture may crystalize.

3. Boil to 245°F and maximum to 250°F. Remove from heat and pour into bowl containing gelatin.

4. Start whipping on low speed and gradually increase speed to medium-high.

5. Whip to a thick mousse-like consistency resembling marshmallow fluff. This will take about 7-8 minutes. Add strawberry extract at any time.

6. Meanwhile over a very low simmering water bath melt white chocolate chips.

7. Remove strawberry fluff mixture from mixer. Add melted chocolate and combine using a rubber spatula.

8. Put mixture into a piping bag (or Ziplock bag with the corner cut off) and pipe immediately into your chocolate shells. Let set at room temperature for an hour or so, then put in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to chill.

General Assembly:

1. In the same train of thought as the previous candy, there are a few ways you can finish the chocolate coating: - fill the rest of the mold with chocolate and smooth with an offset spatula - pop the candy out of the mold, put some chocolate at the bottom, flip your candies over and squash them back into the mold - remove from mold and dip the bottoms

2. The first round of making these, I made the marshmallow in the mold (without the milk chocolate at all) and then froze and dipped the whole thing in chocolate. It's a little less polished of a look, but still works. I think the first option is the best: remember to leave space, then fill the rest of the mold with chocolate.

Notes:

** We don't have any alcohol in the house, including extracts, so I skipped the strawberry extract and made my own sort-of-strawberry-syrup. I chopped a quart of strawberries into approximately 1cm cubes, put them in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of water and a teaspoon of sugar, and cooked until they were pretty mushy. I threw them in the Cuisenart and blended until homogeneous, then strained through a fine sieve back into my sauce pan and cooked it down to a thicker syrup. All cooking done on low, taking care to stir often and not burn your strawberries. I didn't have as much strawberry flavor come through as I would have liked, which I'm sure the extract would have taken care of, but I also think these are fine without any extract (or with other flavors) as well. I would have liked more white chocolate, and next time I make them, I think I'll up that quantity.