Change of Plans: Marshmallows

I have had a busy month with lots of travel and new responsibilities -- you know the story. I have slacked a bit on blogging but have missed it. During the last month, I have tried to develop a tasty savory biscotti recipe without much success. I'm not entirely giving up on finding the perfect crackers but am changing course for now. I woke up yesterday morning with an urge to create whimsical, fun marshmallow petite fours. Here are the baby blue cuties -- adorned with marzipan buds similar to those used on my cupcakes late summer. The treats are not only cute but I love taste too -- a light, vanilla puff topped off with an almond, chocolate crunch.

I used Mama Reiner's Marshallows, an egg white based recipe. If you are going to tint your marshmallows, add the dye to the sugar syrup. This works better than adding the coloring directly to the egg whites. When I adding the blue dye to the egg whites, the batch turned out wet and flat. I used a fluted biscuit cutter to shape the petite fours. To glue the flowers to the marshmallows, use a tiny bit of ganache or melted chocolate.

For the sake of comparison, I'm going to take Ina Garten's recipe for a test drive. Ina's recipe uses sugar and gelatin with no egg whites.