Homemade Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Don't like the taste of store-bought fondant icing? You can make your own, with just a few inexpensive ingredients. Homemade fondant tastes much better, and if you're making it for kids, you can rest assured of the ingredients that go into it and its freshness.

Making fondant at home is not hard but the process can be tedious, and daunting if you've never made it before. You will need 30 minutes to 1 hour. There will be plenty to clean up afterwards too :)

This recipe is marshmallow fondant or fondant icing made from marshmallows. It produces a very small batch, just enough to fit into a 17.7cm x 20.3cm zip lock bag. I adapted the recipe from Rhonda's Ultimate MMF on CakeCentral.

Homemade Marshmallow Fondant Recipe (Small Batch)

Ingredients
250 gm white marshmallows
1 tbs water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
3-4 cups sifted icing sugar, adjust as needed to get desired consistency
Vegetable shortening (for greasing)

If using large marshmallows, you can optionally cut them up into smaller pieces. This helps them melt faster and more uniformly.

You can optionally add extracts to flavour the fondant, like vanilla or almond extracts. If using, be sure to use clear extracts so as to not taint the colour.

Method

1. Grease everything that will come into contact with the marshmallow, with shortening, e.g. pot, bowl, spatula, counter top, hands etc. Tip: Use paper towels to grease the utensils to avoid greasy hands in the early stage.
2. Put the marshmallows in large bowl, pour in 1 tablespoon of water and microwave for 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir. Or, use a stove top double boiler like I did - put the marshmallows in the double boiler with 1 tablespoon of water. 
3. Heat and stir until completely melted. The mixture should look and feel very, very thick and sticky, almost difficult to stir, but completely melted with no lumps.
4. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and salt.
5. Sift icing sugar on greased counter top, make a well in the center and pour the melted marshmallow onto the sugar. 
6. Mix and knead, add more sugar and rub on more shortening as needed, to form a dough. Be careful as the melted marshmallow will be hot initially.

The dough should feel soft but pliable, smooth and shiny. Here's a youtube video that shows the 'rightness' - when you pull it, it should stretch a little before breaking off.

Steps with Pictures

1. Using paper towels, grease the tools, utensils and work counter (where you will be kneading the fondant) with shortening.

2. Put the marshmallows in the double boiler with 1 tablespoon of water.

Put the marshmallows in the double boiler with 1 tablespoon of water

3. Heat and stir until COMPLETELY melted. It should look and feel very, very thick and sticky, almost difficult to stir, but completely melted with no lumps.

Heat the marshmallows and stir until completely melted

4. Turn off the heat. Mix in salt and lemon juice.

Off heat, mix in salt and lemon juice

5. Grease your hands with shortening. Pour the melted marshmallow onto sifted icing sugar, and mix. Be care when it's still hot.

Mix the melted marshmallow with sifted icing sugar

6. Knead, add more sugar and rub on more shortening until you get a pliable dough.

Homemade marshmallow fondant

Colouring Fondant

Divide the fondant into portions to be coloured. It is best to use gel food colouring, like Americolor Gel Paste. Liquid colouring will affect the consistency of the fondant. The colour will deepen over time, so add the colour sparingly and a little at a time. Use a toothpick to dab on the colour, and knead until it is completed blended and even.

Dab on gel colour with a toothpick and knead till blended.

Storing Fondant

Fondant can be left at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or 4 weeks in the refrigerator if wrapped and stored properly. Coat the fondant with a thin layer of shortening and wrap it securely with cling wrap. Then put in a zip lock bag and store in an airtight container.

Wrap with cling wrap, put in zip lock bag and store in airtight container

Cleaning Up

Marshmallow is made mostly of sugar, which dissolves in water. So the marshmallow bits are easy to clean. Soak the utensils for a few minutes and the stuff comes right off. The shortening though, is a nightmare to clean. It takes a lot of of dish detergent and repeated washings to get that stuff off. 

Using Fondant

When ready to use, unwrap the fondant and knead until it becomes pliable again, or microwave it for 2 to 5 seconds, depending on the amount. Grease your hands, work top and all your fondant shaping tools with shortening. Then roll out, cut out, shape, etc. as needed.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Ganache is simply melted chocolate and cream. It can be made with different types of chocolate - dark, white, semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk etc. It is very easy to make, and you can get different 'products' out of the simple mixture. Basically, the cream is heated and then poured over the chocolate. The mixture is then left to infuse, and then gently mixed into a smooth, velvety, thin chocolate sauce. If you let it cool for a few hours in the refrigerator, the mixture thickens into a beautiful spreadable or piping consistency, like peanut butter. It can also be whipped up into a lovely soft mousse. There are many variations and there is no "right" consistency; use what works for you.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Ingredients
Chopped Dark / Semi-sweet / Bittersweet / White / Milk / Any Chocolate
Whipping cream

For dark chocolate ganache, use 2:1 ratio, that is, 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. E.g. if using 8 oz chocolate, use 4 fl. oz cream.

For white chocolate ganache, use 3:1 ratio, and for milk chocolate, somewhere between the two.

You can use chocolate chips or buttons or bar. If using the bar, chop it up finely - easier for the chocolate to melt. The whipping cream must be in liquid, unwhipped form, not the ready-whipped stuff that comes in a canister.

Method

1. Put the cream in a saucepan, and the chocolate in a bowl.
2. Heat the cream until just boil.
3. Turn off heat, and pour the hot cream onto the chocolate.
4. Let it sit for 5 minutes to melt and infuse.
5. Stir gently until the chocolate is completed melted, no lumps and the mixture is combined.

Chocolate ganache, after 3 hours in the fridge

Bendigo Woollen Mills and Yarn Prices

My order of yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills arrived in the mail today.

Yarns from Bendigo Woollen Mills

A few weeks ago, I came across Herrschners online store. They have a fantastic selection at very low prices - Red Heart, Bernat, Caron etc. But, as I learned, their international shipping cost (at least to Malaysia) is exorbitant, costing more than the yarn itself!

For example, at Herrschners, a 197gm/389m ball of Bernat Super Value acrylic yarn costs US$3.50, which is about 13 ringgit. Compare this with the local Minlon acrylic yarn which costs 2 ringgit for a ball of 40gm - for roughly 200gm of yarn, the Bernat costs only 3 ringgit more than the Minlon. Now, add international shipping which costs US$3.95 (for the single ball of Bernat above). That effectively makes the Bernat 3 times more expensive than the Minlon. For me, it's just not worth it, especially when it comes to acrylic yarn. I have checked out other online yarn stores as well, and so far have yet to find one that offers reasonable prices after factoring in international shipping :(

Except for, and which is why I always go back to, Bendigo Woollen Mills because their yarns, so far in my experience, offer the best value for money. BMW is an Australian yarn mill, located north of Melbourne. Their prices are low because you buy straight from the factory. Their yarns are soft and beautiful, and mostly natural fibers like wool and wool blends. From my experience, their shipping cost to Malaysia is usually about 40-50% of the total order.

For example, my latest order of 5 x 200gm balls is about AU$54, and shipping cost is AU$27, which works out to be about AU$16 (or 45 ringgit) per 200gm ball. Imported wool yarn from local craft stores typically retails at 25-35 ringgit per 50gm ball. So gram for gram, BMW costs half the price of those imported brands. Great value for money if you ask me!

RYC Cashsoft Baby DK (50g) and Bendigo Woollen Mills Bloom (200g)

Bendigo Woollen Mills is a great place to source for wool and wool-blend yarns. However, I do find that they tend to have a rather limited range of colours. They also change/update their stock every so often. So make sure to buy enough for your projects lest the yarn line or colour be discontinued.

Another Crochet / Amigurumi Doll

 I made another doll based on Beth Webber's Free Spirit Doll pattern.

Free Spirit Amigurumi Doll

I love the Free Spirit Doll pattern. It is easy to follow, and the doll can be done pretty quickly. With her thin long limbs, she can wear clothes without looking bulky. Here, she's wearing a long sleeved tunic and flare pants, patterns adapated from By Hook By Hand. The shoes are adapted from Bleuette's Mary Jane shoes. The Daisy sling tote bag is my own design.

The body is crocheted with Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8 ply in Cream. This wool is so soft and luxurious that I felt bad using it on a doll but I had it in my stash and it does make a beautiful doll. The hair is made from Ice Yarns Alpaca Merino. Not my favourite yarn for doll hair. It is rough and "sticky" - the strands like to stick together, it takes forever to style and seconds to mess up!

The parts of a doll that I always take a long time with are the head and face and oh, the hair. But these are also the most gratifying parts, for they give the doll character and bring it to life. For this doll, I made a slightly smaller and rounder head. I followed Bleuette's face and added eyebrows and more definition/mascara to the eyes :)

Free Spirit Amigurumi Doll, with rounder head, eyebrows and mascara

Crochet Doll Head Pattern

Rnd 1. Magic ring 6 sts
Rnd 2. Inc 6 sts evenly to 12 sts
Rnd 3. Inc 6 sts evenly to 18 sts
Rnd 4. Inc 6 sts evenly to 24 sts
Rnd 5. Inc 6 sts evenly to 30 sts
Rnd 6. Inc 3 sts evenly to 33 sts
Rnd 7. Inc 3 sts evenly to 36 sts
Rnd 8-15. Work evenly 36 sts
Rnd 16. Dec 3 sts evenly to 33 sts
Rnd 17. Dec 3 sts evenly to 30 sts
Rnd 18. Dec 3 sts evenly to 27 sts
Rnd 19. Dec 9 sts evenly to 18 sts
Rnd 20. Dec 9 sts evenly to 9 sts

I didn't have any wooden spool but I did have dowels. So I made the neck about 3/4 inch long with a dowel in it. Then I inserted the neck into the bottom head opening and sewed them together.

Going for a car ride with Amy!

Peanut Cookies Recipe

Peanut cookies is a Chinese New Year tradition in my family. We make them every year. They are sweet, nutty and aromatic, and insanely easy to make. The recipe is very simple, with just 4 inexpensive ingredients - flour, sugar, ground roasted peanuts and vegetable oil. But the process of making them can be long and tedious.

Peanut Cookies for Chinese New Year

This is my mother-in-law's recipe. She has been making them for decades and every time, they are just as delectable. By the way, my mother-in-law never weighs the ingredients :) She goes by the ratio of 1:1:3/4, that is, equal portions of ground roasted peanuts and flour, with the portion for sugar reduced to taste. There is no measurement for oil either. Oil is added a little at a time, and mixed until a dry dough forms and tiny balls can be shaped without crumbling.

Making Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, ground roasted peanuts and sugar) together in a big bowl.

Mix flour, ground peanuts and sugar together

Add the oil, a little at a time.

Add oil, a little at a time

Mix until a dry dough forms. To test, take about a teaspoonful of dough and shape into a ball. If it crumbles easily, it's too dry - add more oil. If it holds together, it's good.

The dough - not too wet/oily, not too crumbly

Now the labour begins... Take a small portion of dough, shape into a bite-sized ball and place on prepared baking tray.

Place dough balls on baking tray - 80 pieces per tray

We use the bamboo cap of the chinese calligraphy brush to make the circle mark on the cookies.

Make the traditional/signature circle mark on the cookies

Give it an egg wash and it's ready to go into the oven. We prefer to use the calligraphy brush (new and cleaned, of course) for the egg wash as it is softer. We find the normal pastry brush too hard and tend to break the cookie.

Egg wash

Bake at 170°C for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Bake till golden brown

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies Recipe

Ingredients
1 kg sifted all-purpose flour
1 kg ground roasted peanuts
700 gm sifted icing sugar, adjust to taste
Vegetable or peanut oil (cooking oil like Helang, Buruh, Neptune are all suitable)

Egg wash: 9 egg yolks

Makes about 500+ bite-sized pieces

Method

1. Oil the baking tray, or line with non-stick baking paper.
2. Mix the flour, ground roasted peanuts and icing sugar in a large bowl.
3. Pour the vegetable oil, a little at a time, in the flour mixture. Mix till a dry dough forms.
4. Shape into small balls and place on the baking tray.
5. Make the circle mark on the balls.
6. Brush generously with egg wash.
7. Bake at 170°C for 12 minutes.

Notes:

• You can use store-bought ground roasted peanuts, or do like we do - buy, roast and grind the peanuts ourselves. 
• Both icing sugar and granulated sugar can be used. If using icing sugar, be sure to sift first to avoid lumps.
• Don't add too much oil, even if the dough initially appears dry or crumbly. The oil will combine with the flour the longer the dough sits. You can let the dough rest for a while if you prefer.
• Personally I find the egg-yolk-only egg wash a little too thick and difficult to work with. I usually prefer egg yolk thinned with a little milk. It's easier to work with and gives a nice sheen. But MIL says egg yolk only :)
• The cookies tend to stick to the tray/baking paper if any egg wash drip onto it. So avoid brushing with too much egg wash. 
• You can make as much or as little as you like Just follow the 1:1:3/4 ratio guideline, e.g. 1 bowl of flour + 1 bowl of ground roasted peanuts + less than 1 bowl of sugar. Each ingredient can be adjusted to one's liking, i.e. more nuts for a nuttier flavour, more flour for a firmer cookie. Other variations include using butter or margarine, coarsely ground roasted peanuts, very finely ground roasted peanuts and so on.