Homemade natural Marshmallows (bunnies)

Homemade Marshmallow Chicks / Bunnies 

Ingredients

1 cup of water, split into 2 half cups

3 tablespoons of gelatin

1 cup of honey

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup organic powdered sugar

1/4 cup organic cornstarch

Directions

1. Cover with parchment paper a 9 by 13 inch pan, or jelly roll pan (if not using a stand mixer, you will probably only need a 9 by 9 inch pan). Then grease the parchment paper. Sift the powdered sugar and cornstarch, sprinkle half on greased parchment. Other half will go in top of marshmallow.

2. Put 1/2 cup of water in a medium bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer with attached whisk), and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Set aside to soften.

3. In a small pot, place the honey, salt and the other 1/2 cup of water. Heat on medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, bring the mixture to 240 degrees. (You can also test it by carefully dribbling a little of the liquid into a bowl of ice cold water. It should be in the soft candy stage — which will form little soft balls when cooled in the water and taken out. It takes about 7-8 minutes to reach this temperature.) Remove from the heat as soon as it reaches the right temperature.

4. With the mixer on low, very carefully mix in the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture by pouring the hot syrup in a drizzle down the side of the bowl. Once it’s all combined, add the vanilla and increase speed slowly to high. Beat for 7-15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and fluffy and holds its shape when you lift the beaters out of the mixture. (It will look like marshmallow fluff.) Scrape into the prepared pan. I think it works best if the mixture is about 1/2 inch thick. How much the mixture fluffs up will make a difference in how thick the mixture is and how big of a pan you need to use. Adjust pan size at will. To help in getting a somewhat flat surface, I like to take another piece of parchment paper and grease. Put greased side down on marshmallows, and then press down to even out with your hands or use a small rolling pin.

5. Leave uncovered for 4-12 hours to dry. I found that after a few hours, it was dry enough to cut, but still sticky enough to roll in decorating sugar. Use greased cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Roll in sugar immediately. If desired, make a mixture of cocoa powder and water to make eyes. Dab on with toothpick or chopstick. Keep covered in an airtight container for up to one week.

 

 

This is how the mixture looks as it begins to boil

 

This is the gelatin and water mixture

Here the next few show the mixture boiling and is almost done

Here we are whipping the mixtures together

This is how it looks poured out

Ready to cut out our shapes

The girls loved putting the eyes on with chocolate

 

Dairy free Coconut Cake

 I searched for a duplicate of my Grandma's coconut cake. However I needed a vegan dairy free version . So I took several recipes and made one of my own. It was for Ansely's 15th birthday and it was a huge hit. The best tasting cake yet!

Here is the recipe:

Cake

1 cup earth balance

3 cups organic sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Cream the earth balance add sugar cream well. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla.

4 cups organic unbleached flour sifted with

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup coconut milk creamer ( I use so delicious )

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 can pineapple (purée in my vitamix)

Add flour alternately with coconut milk. Mix well. Add pineapple . Mix

Pour into 3 9 inch greased cake pans. Bake 350 20-30 minutes . Or till golden.

While cake bakes prepare coconut filling.

Coconut filling
1 cup organic sugar
1 container non dairy cream cheese
1/2 cup organic coconut flakes
5 tb coconut creamer

Cream all ingredients together set aside in fridge.

After cakes cool spread filling between layers. Ice cake with a butter cream frosting with 4 tb non dairy cream Cheese. Top with organic coconut.

I use the standard Wilton buttercream recipe.

Here are photos of the cake for some reasons the first few I uploaded from my iphone will not go in proper order. The last few are from my digital SLR.

This is the filling

Top layer

This is out of the oven

Raw Berry Crisp

As many of you know I love raw foods and try to come up with new things but never have time. Here is a creation that is super yummy!

Raw Berry Crisp

6 cups mixed berries, such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries


1 tablespoon Raw Agave , more or less to taste depending on sweetness of berries

1/4 cup raw pecans

1 cup raw walnuts

1/2 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a (7- x 11-inch) dish, toss berries with Agave. Put pecans, walnuts, dates and cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Scatter nut mixture over berries and serve immediately, or chill until ready to serve.