solstice cookies & marshmallows

Granny Square Blanet Redux

Another look at the Granny Square Blanket I've been working on.

SHF #31 Shades of White

This month's Sugar High Friday is The Many Shades of White -- so I created a dessert that is quintessentially white: marshmallows. I decided to make this fluffy, pillow-like candy in two flavors, raspberry and champagne. Because I made them from scratch they were all natural and at least the raspberry ones were artificial flavoring and coloring free.

Basic Marshmallow Recipe

Ingredients:
2 Packets of Unflavored Gelatin (Very important: must be unflavored)
1/2 cup water
1 & 1/2 tsp flavoring oil or extract (In this case LorAnn Champagne flavor or McCormick Raspberry extract)
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
pinch of salt

1. Put 1/4 cup of water, gelatin, and one flavoring oil into standing mixer. Allow to sit for a few minutes so that the gelatin can "bloom."

2. In a large saucepan put the remaining water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Bring to a boil without stirring. When the mix reaches the soft ball stage (234 - 240 degrees) remove from heat.

3. Pour sugar mixture into standing mixer. Bring mixer up to high. Allow this to mix for about 8 minutes.

4. Pour the now white mixture into an oiled deep pan. Allow to set for about 8 hours.

5. Cut into squares (or other shapes) with an oiled knife. Dip all sides of the marshmallows into corn starch to make them less sticky.

Some notes:

* I've used this recipe with lots of different flavorings, including mint, and orange. I find that flavoring oils seem to work the best. I've seen posted online recipes that call for using crushed candies in place of some of the sugar -- this would probably be a great thing to try.

* The type of pan you use to set the marshmallows will determine how big they are. A deep pan will mean thick marshmallows. A very wide pan could mean very thin ones.

* If you have a standing mixer and candy thermometer, this is one of the easiest recipes in the world. If you don't have those things it can be kind of tricky. I have made them without both pieces of equipment, it just means being really careful at the stove and then standing around for a long time with a hand-mixer. It can definitely be done.

Granny Square Scarf

This winter I spent a lot of time making Granny Squares. They were simple things, easy to make in-between projects when I wanted to crochet *something* but had no clear ideas. Then Pat's mom suggested that they could be sewn together on a diagonal to make a scarf -- and here we are.

I made these squares out of homespun gotten from Michael's. Each is relatively small, crocheted just twice around. I stuck them together using red thread. I figure, even if they come apart they can easily be sewn back together again -- not like a usual crocheted scarf that would just unravel.

Pi Day Pie

For this year's Pi Day I created two (count 'em two) beautiful pies. Keep in mind, I've never made a pie before in my life, let alone made two different ones.

The first pie is cherry, made with frozen cherries. That's the one with the lattice over top. The second pie is mixed berry, with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. This second pie I covered with cut-outs of leaves. In both pies I increased the amount of almond extract to be equal to the vanilla. Not entirely sure why I decided to do that -- I think it has to do with the smell of it.