Camping essentials | A recipe

I am personally not that keen on camping - but Mr MiH is, and he thinks that Baby MiH will be too, he probably will. However I may be partial to glamping - especially if I can have access to my own toilet and shower. Whilst reviewing some places we could go to, all I could think about was food and more specifically marshmallows. Must be a pregnancy craving because I never eat marshmallows. 

Let me tell you all the recipe mentions that it is really easy to make marshmallows. I am not going to lie here, it was definitely not easy. This is is my second attempt - although they are good, the sweetness may need to be tweaked a bit, especially for Mr MiH's taste. Baby MiH on the other hand loves his 'mamamo', how cute!

To start with, I would recommend that you watch this video to have an idea of the process - I really wished I had done this first. I usually don't go on youtube for recipes, and this recipe has convinced me that I should!

For the recipe I did not follow the recipe of the video but followed James Martin's one (on the basis that I don't get the concept of cups). 

So you are going to need:

• 455g of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp liquid glucose
• 9 sheets of gelatine
• 2 egg whites, size 1
• 1 tsp vanilla extract ( I am not sure I will add it next time)
• icing sugar
• cornflour

1. Put the granulated sugar, glucose and 200ml of water in a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil and continue cooking until it reaches 127C / 260F on a sugar thermometer. 
2. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine in 140ml cold water. Beat the egg whites until stiff. When the syrup is up to temperature, carefully place the softened gelatine sheets and their soaking water into the sugar. The syrup will bubble up so keep and eye on it. Pour the syrup into a metal jug.
3. Continue to beat the egg whites  while pouring in the hot syrup from the jug. The mixture will become shiny and start to thicken. Add the vanilla extract and continue whisking until the mixture is stiff and thick enough to hold its shape on the whisk (I took more than the 10 minutes mentioned, you will know when it is ready).
4. Lightly oil a shallow baking tray, about 30 x 20cm (12 x 8in). Dust it with sieved icing sugar and cornflour, then spoon the mixture over and smooth it with a knife if necessary.
5. Leave for at least an hour to set - it actually works better if you leave it overnight. 
6. Dust the work surface with more icing sugar and cornflour. Loosen the marshmallow around the sides of the tray with a palette knife, then turn it out on to the dusted surface. Cut into squares and roll in the sugar and cornflour. Leave to dry a little before packing them into an airtight box.

So I will not say that it is hard and in fact once you know what to do, it is pretty much up to your KitchenAid to do the work - you put it on the highest speed setting and you let it all happen whilst you get on with other tasks, just make sure you whisk for long enough.

No glamping holiday is booked yet, but I am definitely ready! And so you know, they do taste different from the ones bought in a shop - quite lighter and definitely way too moreish.