Sticky Marshmallow Brownies

For those of you wondering the fate of my battle against the giant marshmallow (all three of you, haha), veni, vidi, vici! And if you're curious as to why I had a giant marshmallow in the first place...well, that's a story for another day. I'm doing a little experiment. You'll hear about it someday soon, I'm sure.

Can you believe I have never chopped chocolate with a giant knife before? Man, I've been missing out! It's SO satisfying. 

Anyhow, let's just say that I had a small mishap with my project, resulting in a large hunk of marshmallow I could no longer use for its intended purpose. But throwing it away was stupid and wasteful! And it's my last night at home before I return to dorm life...baking something was kind of a necessity. A goodbye to my kitchen for a while. 

The mallows kind of remind of of mantou.

My wise mother suggested I make brownies. You da best, mom. Just kind of messing around, I made a brownie batter, spread half in the pan, threw some of the giant mallow in the middle, covered it with the rest of the batter, and put more marshmallows on top. Over the top in the gelatinous confection category? Perhaps. I quite enjoyed the gooey, shapeless mass that was the result. The bars eventually will harden, but I think they're best straight from the oven.

 

Sticky Marshmallow Brownies

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

12-20 marshmallows. Use your judgment, cause you probably know your preferences better than I do! 

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 9x13" pan with parchment or foil (I had some problems with the brownie sticking to the foil, so parchment may be better), letting the foil hang over the sides. Spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside. 

 

In a large, microwave safe bowl (or you can use the stove, but I'm lazy sometimes), heat butter and chocolate until melted. I did it for a minute, stirred, and put it back in for 25 seconds. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla until homogenous, then mix in flour. Pour half the batter into the pan, spreading until the bottom is completely covered. Put half of the marshmallows on top, then pour the rest of the batter on top of that. Save the other half of the marshmallows! Bake brownies for 30-35 minutes. In the last ten or so minutes, put the rest of the marshmallows on top of the brownie and return to oven. If the marshmallows seems to be getting too brown, cover the pan with foil. Serve warm!

Playing With Mochi

Sorry again for the decline in posting. I'm home for a bit so I'll be bombarding you with all things delicious.

What the heck are those? Bars of soap? I thought you were supposed to be writing about food? Oh, you. They're blocks of mochi, which I mentioned in this post. Here's the story. I was talking to my Japanese teacher about where to find mochi nearby. She couldn't think of any places, but said she had some at her house she would give me. "Are you sure you know what it is?" she asked incredulously. "Do you like it?" I nodded eagerly. Finally some mochi!

When she handed me the bag, I had to admit, it didn't look like the mochi I'd had before. But when I got back to my room, I eagerly bit into one of the blocks. "Blehhhh!" I whined, spitting out what tasted like bits of candle wax.

I told my teacher what happened, and she seemed horrified. Apparently you're supposed to boil or bake mochi before eating it. That makes more sense. I tried to boil the first block a few months ago, and put chocolate chips on top. It was decent. This time, I wanted to cook them in a pan until they got all bubbly looking, and serve them with the traditional nori and soy sauce. But then I tasted nori and decided it was gross. So I put honey on one, and whipped cream and chocolate syrup on another.

The end result was crispy on the outside and super sticky chewy on the inside. Gotta be careful with this stuff. Apparently a handful of people choke on it and die every year. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but I really enjoy it. Now to figure out how to use that last block...