Over at Brilly-pants blog there is a conversation going. Like any conversation it has many topics. One of those topics is marshmallows. It all started with Peeps. I don't really like peeps. I don't really like marshmallows in general unless I make them. A couple of people have expressed dis-belief that you can make marshmallows, so I decided to post my recipe. (I know that Novembrance makes her own as well and I'm sure that if there are any differences between her recipe and mine, hers is probably better.) (BTW Luisa, I think I need the graham cracker recipe. I'm not sure I'm up to my own chocolate just yet, but I'd love to try to almost make my own s'mores from scratch.)

But there is no way I'm giving you a recipe without a memory attached. When I was growing up we could still bring home-made treats to school for the annual Valentines exchange. I remember one year making these in the shape of huge hearts--4 inches or so. I used to make them for my friends in high school as well. There's something about playing in flour with these things--the texture of the flour. . .the feel of the marshmallows as you pull them out. . .patting the flour off and laying them aside. . .the heat of the chocolate as you spoon it over the 'mallows. . .seeing the chocolate harden. It's a very sensory experience for me.

Marshmallow Easter Eggs
3 packages gelatin
2/3 cup water
1 cup sugar
Food coloring of your choice (they will be white if you leave them alone)
Flour for molds

Pour a bunch of flour into some 9x13 pans. Get something solid and hard to push in to the flour to make a mold with. I've used plastic hearts, mini footballs, plastic Easter eggs, etc. The object is to push whatever you are using as a mold maker in to the flour hard enough that the flour solidifies around it.

Mix gelatin and water over heat until dissolved. Then add sugar to mixture until dissolved. In mixer bowl, beat corn syrup. Add gelatin mixture. Beat until fluffy, like marshmallows. Quickly spoon in to flour molds. Once you have the mixture off the stove you have a fairly small window to get the mixture mixed and in the molds before it hardens. Allow to cool and harden.

Chocolate Coating
1 ½ cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp shortening

Melt chocolate chips and shortening together in double boiler. Spoon chocolate mixture on to cooled, firm marshmallows and smooth with spoon. Do one side at a time.

We have been known to add strawberry extract to the 'mallows. Faramir has also experimented with getting them a little damp and rolling them in sugar a.k.a. the aforementioned Peeps. We've also made our own "Snowballs". We did this by making one recipe for "Darn Good Chocolate Cake" and cooking it in mini muffin tins. After they were cooked and cooled we made our marshmallow mix. As I poured the marshmallow mix into the molds (mini footballs for Super Bowl Sunday) Faramir came right behind me and pressed the mini cakes into the molds. Then we dampened them and covered them in colored sweet coconut.

You color coconut by putting it in a Ziploc bag and pouring some food coloring in. Close the bag and roll around and mix. (My last batch of granola looked fairly interesting as we had colored the coconut to match the teams playing in the Super Bowl and I used the leftovers in my granola. Red, white, yellow and black. Like I said. . .interesting.)

BTW, clean up is a breeze. One trip through the d/w and you are good to go.

Just in case you want to try your own "Snowballs", here's the cake recipe we used. We didn't want to use a plain cake mix because I wasn't sure it would hold up--mix cakes are so light and airy. You could also make your own cake.

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

(I didn't make up the name, I promise. That's how it came to us.)

1 package plain Devils Food or Chocolate fudge cake mix
1 6 serving package chocolate instant pudding mix (my daughter used a cook and serve package last night and that seems to have been fine.)
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. The recipe calls for semi-sweet, but we use milk.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 12 cup bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray, then lightly dust with flour. Set pan aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, warm water and oil. Blend with mixer on low speed for1 minute. Scrape sides of the bowl. Increase speed to medium and beat 2-3 minutes. Batter should look thick and well combined Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until cake springs back when lightly touched and just starts to pull away from sides. 45-50 minutes. Cool on wire rack or 20 minutes. Invert onto wire rack and cool completely.