Little Pillows

First, thanks y'all! Your comments on the post below were all so cute and sweet. The photos look much better than the beads did in person, I promise. They were all icky brown and black and charred. Those yellow round beads were a very soft yellow before the burning incident. And the yellow star beads were this pretty bright yellow. In person they looked dirty and rusty. So I took those two photos and then threw the whole lot in the trash. I'm trying to be better about not keeping everything just because it took me a lot of time or at one point cost a lot of money. It was totally sad though, throwing all that hard work away. But for the best. It happens to all of us ever now and then.





Now on to my next project. Marshmallows. Last night I made vanilla-rum. (Rum flavoring was added when I realized I only had two drops of vanilla extract left. If I didn't tell you though, you would not know they weren't straight up vanilla.) Fluffy little pillows of vanilla goodness.









I made them with purpose though. Last year I tasted my very first modjeska. Its a marshmallow enrobed in delicious caramel. Goodness times two! So this evening I made caramel. I looked up a recipe for mojeskas and followed that caramel recipe to a T. It took forever to make that damn pot of caramel. But I didn't walk away from my project. Kept the candy thermometer in place. Finally it was ready and as instructed by the recipe, I let it cool a bit before dipping the marshmallows in. Actually, it stated to let sit for 10 minutes. I waited five. This was the result. Melting marshmallows. Oooooh, so that's why it has to cool a bit. My bad. My brain wasn't thinking scientifically. My brain never things scientifically, to tell you the truth.





So I waited five more minutes and tried again. Still too hot. Waited a few more minutes and tried again. Good temperature but the caramel was just too darn think to handle delicate little marshmallows. That were cut up tiny, thinking no one would want a gigantic candy in their mouth. I tried and tried and tried to get this process down. An hour and half later and this was all I had to show for myself. I need an engineer to come figure out how to get the caramel thin enough but cool enough. My English major was getting me nowhere. So finally I realized that a candy maker I am not. I abandoned ship. I did wrap up the two dozen little candies (even the semi melted ones that look like a melted Frosty the Snowman) and they taste fantastic. But the caramel is still too thick in my opinion. It might be good for apples but not for light and fluffy marshmallows. Another bust from my week! I saved the caramel but have no idea what to do with it. If you have suggestions, I'm all ears.










Also tonight, I made the prettiest little pink strawberry marshmallows! Look how they match my mixer. Light and yummy too. I'll cut them up into small squares when they dry a bit tomorrow and then I guess give them away or something. This is sort of a bad habit I have had my entire life. I make stuff and then don't know what to do with it. I just like to make things. Hence the box of clay beads.






Tomorrow morning I am trying another craft show. It's literally down the street from my house so even if it's a bust, the commute is a dream. Cross your fingers or say a little prayer that things go better tomorrow than they have in the past, please.