Friday, September 30, 2011

Spring time feelings in the Fall

Here is a little burst of Spring time right in the middle of Fall! I loved this bouquet of Mums outside. The flowers are in full bloom and the stems are firm so I placed my delectable treat right in the middle of the arrangement. The chocolate curvature on this marshmallow is flawless and the blue eggs perfectly egg shaped.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Marshmallow-Art fail

I consider myself a marshmallow artist, but not all my artwork comes out perfect on the first try. I’ve posted marshmallows with cheese in the past, and this particular ‘Swiss’ cheese creation came out great…its hard to tell but the holes go all the way through the cheese. The MOUSE on the other hand…….is not quite right. I decided to keep my mutant mouse with the Swiss cheese and post it as an example of my first attempt at molding a mouse. I already see that the second gray ball should be removed and a simple teardrop molding with ears and tail would create a better looking mouse. Add to mental to-do list: Practice molding mice.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Marshmallow Minty Pops

I thought of this yummy treat today and went right into it. I put marshmallows on lollipop sticks and dipped them into a bowl of warm vanilla candy coating and then rested it to harden on a mini sized york peppermint patty. These came out so great and the peppermints fit right on the bottom (or top of the marshmallow when your holding it) so it looks almost like one whole piece of yummy minty marshmallow deliciousness.
Double the yum! 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Workstation



Many people have emailed me asking to see my workstation. Every day I have a display of my colorants, paint brushes, water cups, foam squares, knives etc etc. It does look interesting! I need all these items to help create the best (and most tasteful) marshmallow art possible. I also have a sprinkle work station as well.  After I cover my marshmallows with white chocolate or white candy coating, they harden and I take them to my fondant and coloring workstation to embellish. Here is a peek at some of just some of my tools from the coloring station.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday Monday...

What a day… I wish it was Friday already! This marshmallow sums it up…although these are the sweetest pills you’ll ever taste. Sometimes a sweet chocolate covered marshmallow with sugary pills on top are just what the doctor ordered.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Boo!

I know it is early to start making Halloween treats but these little marshmallow ghosts made a quick appearance this evening and will again for Halloween night. I took plain marshmallows and carefully drew the eyes and mouth on with my fine brush and black food coloring. BOO!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Feelin' hot hot ...really hot!

I’ve always loved making home made salsa. Sometimes I make it chunky with large pieces of tomatoes and other times I make it like a puree. The salsa of choice lately has been a non-traditional type with tomatoes, cucumber, chopped garlic, vinegar and cilantro. It is refreshing (thanks to the cucumber) and makes the whole kitchen smell great. I’ve also made it with tomatoes, tobasco sauce and corn. Today in search to make spicy salsa vs. refreshing salsa I sought out the habanero pepper. There was definitely confusion at the supermarket between the chili pepper, jalapeño and habanero pepper.   I bought a small vile of just the habanero seeds which claim to be 50 times hotter than the jalapeño pepper. That’s hot. Really hot. The salsa I made was indeed hot, one tiny drop on the corn chip brought out beads of sweat on my forehead.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Same plate with added color

I am ready for the bridal shower and so is my platter of marshmallows that I made yesterday. I was able to get a better picture today and I also used my Betty Crocker Easy Writer pens on some marshmallows to make blue flowers which make the display look more festive. I’ve made these simple flowers a few times using the pens and it definitely is giving the white on white chocolate marshmallow display a burst of color.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

White chocolate marshmallows with white drizzle

I am headed to a bridal shower on Friday night and today made a plate full of these white chocolate covered marshmallows to bring. I made them very simple, white chocolate with white chocolate drizzle. The curvature was melting very nice in my double boiler and I simply dipped each marshmallow in and set it on parchment paper to dry. When they were dry I piped chocolate across them. At the last moment I decided to pipe some scrolls and insert it into a few of the delectable marshmallow bon bons.  I have them in print paper liners vs. the white liners and lined them up on my crystal platter. I’ll try to get a better picture tomorrow before I leave.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Venus Flytrap Science

I’m not sure what made me try to make this little plant on top of my chocolate covered marshmallow. Perhaps it is the fly that whizzed into the house this afternoon. I molded two flat pieces of fondant together and perched them up on a log roll of fondant and it stayed upright quite nicely. I put a small pink bead fondant in the middle of the trap (do these plants have tongues’?) The Venus Flytrap is quite an amazing plant and they really do exist in certain swamps and bogs. The trap part of the plant stays open until a spider or insect lands inside, if the prey triggers more than two of the plants ‘hairs’ with movement then the two leaves snap shut trapping the prey for digestion. Interesting, and now everyone has learned something new!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Let there be peas on Earth

I had some leftover green fondant, and sometimes when you have leftover green fondant you just have to make peas.  So I made peas in a pod and little fondant bowl of peas…this was an easy one... Large green bead fondants put into a hand molded ‘bowl’ and ‘pea pod’.  The chocolate curvature on these two marshmallows is flawless.  (...and I guess you can say these are sweet peas.) Speaking of pea pods, I’m due for some home delivery of groceries. I love food shopping online and the next day the groceries come right to your door. It is worth every penny…especially if your stocking up on heavy items like can goods and bottled water. I’ll be sure to tip the delivery person well and tell them to peas come again soon!

Monday, September 19, 2011

A comfy space

Check out this little living room scene! Wouldn’t you love to curl up on this comfy edible yellow couch and munch on some tasty marshmallows. I love the fondant rug with frayed edges and the blue pillow. I made the tiniest of end tables that has a t.v. remote on top. It was hard to get the focus on this miniature makeshift living room. The rug and end table took a steady hand and I used my Showtime #15 knife to make the frayed edges of the rug and cut the end table small and square. The blue pillow started as a piece of bead fondant and then carefully I molded the corners.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Inching up the deck railing

Inch worm, inch worm…measuring with an inchworm…(how does that song go?) Today I made an absolutely adorable little teeny tiny inchworm to go on top of my candy coated marshmallow. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside and I couldn’t resist an outside marshmallow photo shoot. This little thing was ‘crawling’ up the deck railing. If you look closely you can see a green fondant leaf behind it. Too cute.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Blurry popcorn

Saturday night=Movie night. Time to relax and enjoy the show…and snack on some tasty chocolate covered marshmallows (or nibble on some mini marshmallows left over from yesterday). I made a fondant popcorn box with popcorn overflowing to go on top of my marshmallow. My picture did not come out too well….after I snapped the shot it seemed crisp in the viewer upon playback, but I see now, that I have uploaded it did not come out very well, but you get the gist of it. Mental note: always take more than one picture of the amazing marshmallow in case the first one is blurry!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Marshmallow Doodling

Here is a small display of miniature marshmallows on my napkin. I was having a quick snack of the mini delights I started making little doodles on my napkin.  Just some carefree whimsical pics…a flower, #1, heart and smiley face…..

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Hello Marshmallow

I thought this Hello Kitty pez dispenser was pretty cute. I was always intrigued with the pez and pez dispenser…such a funny idea to make little candies pop out of the neck of a super hero or famous icon when you click it back. …And why was is it called PEZ? I’ll tell you… it is from the German word Pfefferminz… meaning peppermint, which is what the original candies were made of. Click back the head of the dispenser and a tiny candy pops out. It’s entertaining and tasty.   Brilliant I say.
For my marshmallow masterpiece I molded a good sized piece of white fondant to make her head, and tinted a small piece pink for her bow. I used my finest brush to paint on the black whiskers, and eyes with my colorants. I put the eyes in the ‘natural’ position, and that is the only thing that makes my Hello Kitty just a little off….her eyes are VERY far apart. To bring my marshmallow to level with the pez dispenser I put the candy coated marshmallow on top of a second candy coated marshmallow. Klicken Sie, essen Sie!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Chipwich

I attended a big cookout and I knew in advance that the ice cream truck was going to be there…so I made ahead of time this yummy fondant chipwich ice cream to go atop my marshmallow to bring with me to the cookout.  This was a tasty little invention by Richard LaMotta... He took yummy ice cream and sandwiched it between two tasty chocolate chip cookies. I was excited to make a replica and I was so excited to arrive and get a snapshot of it with the ice cream truck behind it. It was beautiful weather…not too hot, not too cool. The tinkly music could barely be heard over the band playing and the hustle and bustle of everyone getting their food, but before I sat to eat I took my little marshmallow out and took a picture in front of the truck. It had been so long since I last had a chipwich, I was caught a bit off guard to see that the chipwich has chips on the ice cream, too. That’s better than I had remembered! Yum!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Breakfast...don't skip it!

I recently heard on the radio that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I think I have heard that many times in the past, actually, but for some reason this very important meal, often is left out. I made the tiniest fried egg sunnyside up with two little pieces of toast. Personally, I like my eggs scrambled, but when I make the fondant eggs scrambled it didn’t look so pretty. This sunnyside up delight looks fresh off the pan…a tiny dab of water gave it a glistening real look of eggs. Bon Appetite.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Monday Night Foooootball

Are you ready for some fooooootbaaaaaaaaaaalllll! Yes! Who isn’t?  I know for some people football is a religion. I think that’s a little extreme (a little…) but around here everyone is big into sports, and with football season starting the Doritos and chips are flying off the supermarket shelf. The next time I have a football party I’ll probably just serve some tasty marshmallow treats like this one here!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Forget-Me-Nots

This marshmallow was made in memory of 9/11. We all remember where we were when the news struck, and the feelings we felt…. I know I will never forget it. I created this tiny bouquet of pale blue forget-me-not flowers and tied the bunch with a red fondant ribbon. I made each petal by rolling out teeny tiny bits of fondant and putting them together.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Marshmallow Crispy Balls

We had our neighborhood block party and I made 40 marshmallow crispy balls to bring….the recipe should have made more but the taste of hot marshmallows melted in butter in the pan is soooo tempting that I took a few scoops out to indulge.  Once the marshmallow and butter were fully melted (and I was finished tasting) I poured the crispy cereal in and mixed it around. Then emptied the warm mixture onto wax paper to cool, and formed them into small tasty bite-sized balls.
On some of them I drizzled white chocolate over to give it an extra sweet kick.



Friday, September 9, 2011

What a peach

There is nothing better than a fresh peach in the fall. The soft skin and super juicy orangy insides.... I created this little fondant peach on top of my marshmallow, and placed it in the warm sun today. I took the red and yellow and swirled the fondants together to get the flavorful tones of a real peach. The forecast is sunshine and peachy all weekend.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Pie in the sky

This is a miniature replica of a pie I made for our towns Pie In the Sky pie contest. I took away with 1st prize two years in a row.  I’m looking forward to this years fair for some good ol’ fashion home-town fun. I’d like to submit a pie this year that has a marshmallow base, or even a fluff base. I’ll have to think of a good on-site marshmallow to bring with me, too.   I always feel like this fair helps kick off the fall season.  Great detail went into the ‘crust’ of this very miniature dessert, with the lattice pie strips covering the tasty pie ‘filling’. I cut each strip to the length of the marshmallow and wove each one on top of the fondant pie. The chocolate curvature on the marshmallow is smooth and extra thick to help support the heavy pie. After I made this marshmallow I was inspired to move on to baking a delicious blueberry pie with the blueberries I had picked previously and froze.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

For Rent: Tiny space in very small home

Such a rainy day (again) I thought I’d make something cheery… After making a batch of yummy chocolate cupcakes I set forth to make a little teeny tiny birdhouse to sit on top of a white chocolate covered marshmallow. Cupcakes and chocolate covered marshmallows…….yummy!  It was too wet to go outside to take a picture of my delectable treat so I placed it on a nice bright yellow background and found an old wooden birdhouse to go next to it.  The white chocolate curvature is perfect and smooth as can be.  Cute and simple…and delicious, I think any little birdy would be delighted to call this their home!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A rainy day past time...

Sometimes a rainy day calls for doing just one thing……

Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor day relaxation

Hopefully my readers had today off. It is time to relax with a nice glass of tannat wine…I feel thankful to have had the day off today and equally thankful to have a job to go to Tuesday morning. Labor day always signifies the end of summer and back to school ‘season’. It’s always sad to see summer come to and end, but I think we’ll have a few more weeks of warmish weather before the chill sets in.  Todays marshmallow has a bunch of tannat grapes perched on top of the chocolate covered marshmallow. Time to relax……

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Ice Cream Twist

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream...cool vanilla soft serve. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the cake cone at first, but once I started molding the fondant it came together better than I expected. Then I made a long white snakey piece and swirled it on top of the cone. The sprinkles on the plate are indeed real sprinkles. Love it!  I'm headed out now.... Maybe the ice cream parlor will have 'the twist'...that's my favorite. A perfect blend of half chocolate and half vanilla soft serve twirled up on a cone!



Saturday, September 3, 2011

Happy Labor Day Wellington...I mean Weekend

 Labor Day weekend is such a great three day weekend every year.  I feel like it's always a sunny weekend filled with cookouts and barbecues! (is there a difference between a cookout and a barbecue? ...I'm not really sure...) Anyway, I grilled out today and created an awesome Grilled Portabella Wellington to go on top of my candy coated marshmallows.... Then about two hours later made the real Grilled Portabella Wellingtons to grill up! The coated marshmallow has a half ball of portabella fondant, some onion and zucchini pieces and draped with a piece of “melting cheese”. I added a little yellow fondant to the white to give it that off-white delicious cheesy look. This was delicious, although, it was pointed out to me that my Portabella ‘Wellington’ was really just a grilled portabella with vegetables. Apparently, to be called Portabella ‘Wellington’ it needs to be wrapped in puff pastry…wrapping it in the puff pastry is what allows you to call it ‘wellington’. I think it sounded fancy to call them Grilled Portabella Wellingtons even if they weren’t wrapped in puff pastry, but in the end who cares what it’s called it was soooooooooo tasty! I’ll have to try making them and wrapping it in puff pastry next time, as that sounds pretty interesting too. 

Here is what the portabella looked like before I ate it. Rather than putting the cheese on last, I put he cheese on FIRST...................
 
...and then added the veggies. Next time I'll drape some spinach on top too!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Friday night Sushi – Yum! マシュマロ

Adorable. Simply adorable…Little tiny sushi rolls on marshmallows. My favorite kind is the California roll. I think rice, cucumber and avocado is such a great combination in the salty wrap dipped in soy sauce. Sometimes they put little carrots in too.  I don’t even like the taste of an avocado unless it is in sushi. I took the fondant rice, cucumber and a tiny carrot color and rolled them all together, and wrapped it in seaweed colored fondant. I then cut the fondant logs up just like a real sushi roller. 
In case you are wondering this is how you say marshmallow in Japanese マシュマロ

Thursday, September 1, 2011

An apple for the teacher…and a banana

Happy back to school, for anyone headed back to the books this month. I created this really cool super red apple, the kind of ‘teachers apple’ shape. It was really easy to mold, and put the green leaf on. Then at the last minute tonight I decided to add a banana to go with it. The banana was more challenging, I had to get the curve just right, and then I painted the brown lines and bruises on with my fine brush and food colorants. I think it looks artistic! If I had more time today I would have added some grapes (which are easy) and some other fruit. Note to self: make a fruit salad marshmallow sometime soon.