Officially Granola

Yikes. Sewing is hard. Or, rather, sewing is time consuming when most of your free time is in half-hour chunks. Still, I have been working hard on the next installment of these sewing lessons. In the meantime, here's a snack break!
















Mmmmmm.... cherry cordials! I made these last Sunday in a fit of sweet craving, using a jar of brandied cherries that was slowly going bad in the fridge. The results were so delicious that my housemates inhaled them - all 30 of them - before the day ended on Monday. These photos represent the last five survivors still left standing when I came home from work that day, and I am sad to report that they swiftly met their end. Fortunately, they're easy to make (yes, I know I say that about everything).

















The recipe is from Saveur, and they got it from Peter Greweling’s Chocolates and Confections, and it's a winner. You can make these with store bought Marascino cherries of course (which aren't actual Marascino cherries, I just learned! Oh, the years of lies and deception!), but if you can get your hands on something of a higher quality I would highly recommend it. My brandied cherries were amateur at best, but they still took this little sweet leaps and bounds beyond the Shirley Temple tasting cordials you sometimes find in stores.

If you're in more a healthy mood, I'd like to remind you that cherries are fruit. If you're still not quite buying that, I've also recently come into a super duper granola recipe. I've been having this for breakfast - no milk, no yogurt, just straight granola - for almost two weeks now.
























I've resisted making granola for some time, partly because most of the store bought varieties have been too sweet for my taste. This granola is only slightly sweet, with a nice kick of sea salt at the end of the spoonful. It straddles the line nicely between sweet treat and salty snack, and sneaks in a "I'm healthy too!" when you weren't looking.
























I've also resisted making granola because, well, that seemed like some line in the sand into irrevocable hippie-dom that I was hesitant to cross. But, frankly, I'm a bike commuter who has a backyard full of chickens and a basement full of canned goods. That ship sailed a long time ago, methinks.

Anyway, enjoy these recipes! I am sewing my little heart out in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florida, so as soon as my projects start taking any respectable shape I will fill you in.

Homemade Granola

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rolled barley
1 cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut

1 vanilla bean, seeded
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp sea salt salt
1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Heat oven to 275°F. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Spread evenly on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about an hour, stirring every 20 minutes, until granola is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Ok I Got The Sewing Machine To Work Now What Do I Do

Welcome to lesson two of my series on sewing basics! In this lesson, I'm going to go through the ins and outs of operating a sewing machine. This is a really handy skill to learn, particularly if you are interested in being able to make basic repairs and alterations to your clothes.

To start with, you will need some basic supplies. A sewing machine, to start with, but also a sharp pair of scissors (ideally, fabric scissors), an iron, a seam ripper, and thread of your choice. And, naturally, some clothing that you wish to sew or alter. For the sake of this post, I decided to take in the sides of a flannel shirt I got recently from Goodwill. Because, you know, we all still wear flannel up here in the Northwest.
























Alright, once you have your item of clothing, it's time to break out the iron. Now, I have to be honest here and add that I am morally opposed to ironing in general. I absolutely hate ironing. It just seems like a giant waste of time to me. I go to great lengths to avoid ironing, such as taking clothes into the shower with me to "steam" and whatnot. In fact, I hate ironing so much that I have engineered almost my entire wardrobe to be iron-free. Which explains why I end up getting most of my business clothes from REI. But the point I am trying to make here is that even though the passion with which I hate ironing matches the fire of a thousand suns, it does serve a useful purpose when sewing. Ironing your seams to that they lay flat and even is one of the essentials to successful sewing. Trust me, for years I tried to sew without ironing, and it sucks. It sucks really hard, and the 5 minutes that you save by forgoing the iron is more than made up for by the hours and hours spent ripping out seams. So, benefit from my experience on this one and suck it up. Break out the iron.

Once you've ironed your seams, use some short pins to map out where you want to sew. This serves the dual purpose of holding your piece together and guiding your hands as you feed it through the sewing machine. Again, out of haste I have tried to forgo this step. Sometimes it worked out. Sometimes it was disastrous. Let's just say the potential for messing things up, big time, is greatly increased by not pinning. Use your own judgment.


















One your piece is pinned, guide it under the metal foot of the machine. To help facilitate this, the foot should be in the "up" position, usually accomplished by lifting a little lever at the back of the machine.

































Also, take a moment to notice the little metal teeth underneath the foot. When you press down on the foot pedal to make the sewing machine sew, these teeth also move, effectively moving your piece along at a pace appropriate for your stitch. A lot of times, beginners feel that they need to pull their piece through the machine. This actually can cause some problems, like uneven stitches and broken needles. When sewing, just remember to use a light hand and let the machine do the work. Also, the ruler guides on the sides are quite helpful, particularly if you are making a straight seam.

So, back to your project. Once you have it in place, lower the metal foot to press it against the teeth. Again, take note of this step, because it's one that beginners often miss.

Make sure the machine is plugged in and turned on.

Now that everything is in place, you're ready to begin sewing. Select your stitch type and length, and then lower the needle a couple of times by hand to make sure everything is working right. In order to help lock your seam in place, it's also a good idea to do a few stitches in reverse as well. You do this by pressing down on the "reverse" lever (remember the first lesson?), and go over your first few stitches again. This will help keep the ends of your seam from unraveling. If you're good to go, then slowly press down on the foot pedal to start sewing.

As you go, remove the straight pins. When you need to stop the machine, it's best to stop it with the needle in the downward position and inserted into the fabric, so that your seam remains true and straight and doesn't get yanked in a jagged line.

Once you've reached the end of your seam, do a few reverse stitches, lift up the foot, pull the piece out, and cut the threads. Hooray! Successful sewing.

Before we get too self congratulatory though, remember to try on your piece to make sure that everything went according to plan. If it didn't, don't beat yourself up - this is where the seam ripper comes in handy. But always remember to try on your piece before cutting away extra fabric.

And you're done! Time to go out and sport your fabulously fitted new clothes, perfect for catching some runaway chickens.

What Is A Sewing Machine And How The Hell Do I Work One

Ohhhhkay, as promised, I have right here the first installment of Maria's Slapdash Sewing School. I thought I would start us out with the most feared and mysterious creature of the sewing world - the sewing machine.

I've found that by far the greatest impediment most people face to teaching themselves how to sew is approaching the actual sewing machine. Unless you are familiar with these strange beasts - and understand that they are more scared of us than we are of them - they can seem frightening indeed.

Unfortunately, I am no expert on how to operate a sewing machine. Mostly I just fiddle with knobs and levers and see what happens. But, most of the time that works out pretty well for me, so let's give it a go, shall we?

Behold! The sewing machine!
















Marvel in its vintage charm. Don't you just adore that DMV shade of beige? I know I do.

The good news for you beginners out there is that used sewing machines can be bought relatively cheaply, and the older they are the better they generally work. A good rule of thumb is that if it's fugly and heavier than a sack of hammers, you've got a winner.

So, now that introductions have been made, let's take a closer look.


















Hey, look at all those thingies! Are they ancient hieroglyphics? The secret formula to Coke? We may never know! What I have deduced, through years of painstaking archeological research, is that the symbols around the knob correspond to different stitch types. The knob with the red dot and the exclamation point (!) will switch you between the red and the white variations on the stitch types. Somewhere else, there is a knob that will determine stitch length. So, let's break that down a little.

Why different stitch types? This is treading dangerously into unknown territory for me, but I'll give it a go. The most fundamental, basic reason for this is that different fabrics do different things when confronted with a sewing machine. As a basic rule of thumb, you use a straight stitch for rigid, non-stretchy fabrics. It looks something like this:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As another basic rule of thumb, you use a zig-zaggy stitch for stretchy fabrics. Why? Because a zig-zaggy stitch will stretch when the fabric stretches. It looks something like this:

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The rest of the stitches are there for other reasons. I'm sure they are good reasons. I'm sure you can do all sorts of magical things with those stitches. Oh, the things those stitches can do! What? No, I can't tell you. Not because I have no idea, I just wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Moving on.

Let's not forget stitch length! This is a little more arbitrary a choice. The smaller the stitch length, the tighter and stronger your seam will be. However, be warned: the smaller the stitch length, the harder and more frustrating it is to rip out the mistakes that you will inevitably make. This can be a nightmare, especially if its 2 am and you are ripping out an entire pants seam worth of stitches the size of sand grains. I have been there, my friends. Choose wisely.

Taking a better look, we can see that there's that knob for stitch length, right down below that hieroglyphic decoder ring thingie.

























Also, take note of the little lever that says "Reverse." When you press this doodad down, it makes the machine stitch in reverse. Take note of this, because this will come in handy later.

Okay! Now we're ready to start threading the machine. This is a relatively simple concept that for some reason varies somewhat wildly from machine to machine (at least in my humble experience). But, if you understand the basic concept, you can saddle up any machine without too much trouble.

Threading a sewing machine involves passing the thread through a series of loops and holes designed to keep an even line of thread moving through the needle with minimum drag and torque. This generally means that there are no less than twenty seven twists, turns, loops, and holes that this thread passes through before ultimately arriving at the needle (don't panic - that was sarcasm).

You can see a couple of them here:
















And this is what it looks like from the top.
















The main point being, I believe, to line up the thread properly so that once it does get to the needle, it passes through with minimal resistance.

After passing through the first couple of loops, you generally bring the thread down and around this knob thing, tucking it squarely behind a third metal loop.

















Here we come to perhaps the most important loop of all. The far left loop in this picture is attached to the motion of the needle, meaning it moves up and down as the needle does. By passing the thread through this loop, you're letting it do the work of pulling thread off the spool. Without it, this work falls on the needle, and the needle will usually snap under that kind of torque.

















This is what the system is starting to look like. Take note of the tiny, seemingly inconsequential loop at the very bottom of the picture.























Ok, now we've come to the needle! Thread that bad boy.

Now that our threading journey has come to an end, it's time to think about the bobbin. This is another seemingly simple endeavor that seems to change to a surprising degree from machine to machine. Again, let's go over the basic concept.

The bobbin is just basically some thread on a really small spool. It connects with the thread on top to create a seam. It can be the same color as the thread on top, or a different color, depending on your preference.

Check out this neat graphic on how it all works:






















Credit for this graphic is from who-knows-where, but you can find it here and here and here.

Now that we possess the magical knowledge of how a bobbin works, we need to understand how to load the actual damned bobbin. Each sewing machine has a different system for doing this (vertical! horizontal! clockwise! topwise!) so I leave it to your sleuthing skills to work that one out. But it's not brain surgery. Google it with the name and model of your sewing machine if you have to.

















Once the bobbin is loaded, lower and raise the threaded needle once by turning it by hand. This is usually accomplished with a knob on the opposite side of the machine. If done properly, this will bring a loop of the bobbin thread to the surface, where you can pull it out fully like so:

















Ta-daa! You have tamed the savage sewing machine. Next lesson, we will learn what to actually do, now that you've come this far....

There Will Be Blood... Most Likely

In response to my last post, many of my friends and family expressed a desire to learn some sewing basics. Which, is exactly what I am qualified to teach - sewing basics. I'm not a great sewer, and mostly I just make things up as I go along. But I do know how to hem a pair of pants, do some basic repairs, sew on patches, and whip up basic things like t-shirts. And, now that I have a real job and some free time on my hands, one of my goals is to get a little more ambitious with my sewing. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to start a little series on sewing basics.

Here's a rough lesson plan:

- What is a sewing machine and how the hell to do work one

- Ok I got the sewing machine to work now what do I do

- Basic repairs, patches, hemming

- How to make your own pattern

- T-shirts, tank tops

- How to be a pretty pretty princess

I'm going to keep things as simple as possible, and I beg you - if you are an experienced sewer and are reading my blog, please don't hunt me down and slap me across the face for the haphazard way in which I intend to go about this.

First lesson coming up!

Some New Relationships

Oh my. It's nearly the end of January. It's been a full month since I last posted. Where has the time gone?

I can tell you where it's gone. Into the misty gray ether that is a Seattle January.

















Don't get me wrong - I actually love January in Seattle. I'm from Chicago originally, so I will take gray skies, mild temperatures, and soothing humidity over the cornea splitting cold and nosebleed inducing dry that is a Chicago winter. But January here in the NW is not a time for productivity. It is a time for taking naps and reading books and re-watching "The Hangover" while drinking hot toddies. It is a time for making scones and waffles and drinking as much warm, strong coffee as your body will reasonably permit. Which is more or less what I've been doing this last month.

So, ok, everyone deserves a little break from the blogosphere from time to time. But this weekend I spied the first magnolia blossoms on the trees. In a couple of weeks, daffodils will be in the markets. Spring is getting ready to happen, and it's time for me to get in gear too.

And actually I have been doing some crafty, foodie things lately, it's just that when I get home at 5 it's already too dark to take pictures of them. And then by the time the weekend comes, I've usually eaten them all.

Fortunately, most of the recipes I've been experimenting with are not of my own invention but are freely available from other blogs. I've been on a whole grain kick lately, partly because I enrolled in a "Healthy Challenge" at work and partly because I have a vacation in April that I would really, really like to be able to wear a bikini for. I've accepted that eliminating bread products from my life would be akin to water boarding, so I've simply resolved to eliminate as much white flour as possible while still maintaining maximum deliciousness.

Some notable successes are the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from Orangette, orange and oat scones from 101 Cookbooks, and the six seed soda bread, also from 101 Cookbooks. So, if you're so inclined, I would recommend any or all of these recipes. Their whole grain wholesomeness has been a bright, shiny spot of deliciousness in the dun colored fog of a Seattle winter.

It's not that white flour and I can't be friends. I just think we should see other people right now.

It was this new sense of culinary singledom that I stumbled upon what is now my new favorite bakery, the Flying Apron in Fremont. It's vegan, gluten-free, and organic, which sounds terrible, just terrible, but they make it work. Last Sunday I had a frosted cinnamon roll made with brown rice flour that just took my breath away. I've been thinking about it ever since. I have seriously considered breaking the three-day rule and calling it up and asking it out again.

But perhaps the most important change right now is that I have decided to broaden the scope of this blog a bit. I fully realize that it's almost entirely about FOOD, because FOOD is mostly what I think about, each and every day. However, it was never my intention to be a food blogger. It's just that making food is just what I happen to be doing most of the time, and so it was easy enough to put it on the blog.

So here's the deal. I'm polling friends, colleagues, relatives, or anyone else that will stop and talk to me what they would really like to learn how to do. I, for one, would really like to learn how to field dress a deer, but that will have to wait for hunting season to become a reality. But, if anyone out there has any ideas for DIY skills they would like to learn, I vow right here and now to go to the ends of the earth (or Ballard, whichever) to figure out how to accomplish them and blog the results.

So, what would you like to learn how to do? Message me in the comments, shoot me an email, or just come over and tell me.

Deal? Deal.

Ahead Of The Curve

Haha, beat ya to it, New York Times!

In case you were wondering, the Holiday Skill Share was awesome. I got everything on my wish list, including $150 worth of third-wave coffee for free.

Booyah.

Holy Sprinkles!

(To the tune of the Batman song)

NahNah NahNah NahNah NahNah Cookies! cookies! COOKIES!

That's about how I've felt this past week, ever since I engaged in my annual cookie baking binge. I spent most of last Friday, all of Saturday, and a good chunk of Sunday pounding out dozens of holiday cookies, and have spent the rest of the week funneling them out of my kitchen by way of mail, hand, and mouth. Because it's Christmas, and because I am me, I decided to kick this year's cookie making up a notch. On tap were the usual standbys - pignoli and cuccidati - but I also wanted to experiment with some new cookies.

Also, I wasn't super thrilled with last year's cuccidati, and wanted to see if I couldn't improve the recipe a bit. Sometime this summer, amidst boxes and boxes of surplus apricots and cherries, I got the brainwave to try and make a Pacific Northwest inspired cuccidati. I would replace the raisins with dried apricots, the candied citron with dried cherries and citrus zest, and the almonds with local hazelnuts. And I also vowed to splurge on some good, local honey, instead of the cheap Trader Joes honey I went with last year.

And I have to say that I was super pleased with how everything turned out. The new cookie experiments were a nice challenge, and I particularly liked how the baci di dama cookies turned out. The pignoli were, as always, delicious. And I even tried my hand at some homemade almond marshmallows, which I can say firsthand are just tops in a cup of hot chocolate.

But I was most pleased with how the cuccidati came out. I was expecting something that resembled the classic cuccidati, maybe came off as a close cousin to the real thing, but I was surprised at how the figs, cherries, and apricots harmonized into a cohesive whole. It also helped that, thanks to the Holiday Skillshare, I was able to snag some hand-harvested local honey. This honey was amazing, I should add - dark, thick, and sweet, almost like molasses. The only honey I've ever seen that resembles it was the dark coffee honey from Costa Rica. I used it generously in the cookies, and I really think it made all the difference.

I'm posting these recipes in the hopes that you might experiment with making some cookies in the coming week. Nothing says Christmas like cookies, and these are packed full of love. And figs. Figs and love.

NahNah NahNah NahNah NahNah COOKIES!



Cuccidati

For the filling:
1 cup dried dark cherries
2 cups dried unsulfured apricots

1 package dried figs (8 oz)
1 cup of Marsala wine

1 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp orange zest1

tsp lemon zest
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

For the dough:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange zest

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 - 2 Tbs fresh orange juice
nonpareil sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Soak the cherries, apricots, and figs in 2/3 cup Marsala wine to soften. When most of the fluid has been absorbed, process the fruits in a meat grinder or a food processor until they form a smooth paste. Add 1/2 cup honey, orange zest, lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves, and chopped hazelnuts. Mix until smooth. Add more honey and Marsala, to taste, until the filling has the consistency of thick jam. The filling will keep up to a week if kept covered and refrigerated.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter and blend together with a pastry blender or in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal with small, pea-sized lumps of butter. By hand, add the eggs, milk, vanilla and zest, and mix together gently until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix. Wrap in tin foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Roll out the chilled dough into a long rectangle, about 4 inches wide. In the center of the dough, create a line of filling about an inch thick. Roll the dough around the filling to create a tube, then cut with a sharp knife into slices about an inch and a half wide. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

Make the icing by combining the powdered sugar with vanilla and orange juice until smooth, adding more juice or water if neccessary. Dip the tops of the cookies until covered in in icing, then sprinkle with nonpareils and lay out to dry.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Pignoli














Ingredients:
2 (8-oz) cans almond paste (not the kind in the tube)
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons mild honey
1 cup pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pulse almond paste in a food processor until broken up into small bits, then add confectioners sugar and salt and continue to pulse until finely ground, about 1 minute. Beat together almond mixture, egg whites, and honey in electric mixer at medium-high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes (batter will be very thick).

Using wet hands, roll the batter into small balls about an inch in size. Roll the tops of the balls in pine nuts, then place on a silicone baking mat or parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F until golden, 12 to 15 minutes total. Be careful not to overbake! These cookies go from done to overdone in about 30 seconds, so keep an eye out. It is preferable to err on the side of underdone; overdone cookies will be almost too tough to eat.

Let cookies cool before removing from silicone or parchment paper. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.



Tetu















For the dough:
4 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
4 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ground, toasted almonds (almonds may be toasted on a stove and ground in a food processor)
4 shots espresso (regular or decaf)

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 3 tsp Marsala wine
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Add sugar, eggs, and butter into a bowl and blend until smooth. Add vanilla, toasted almonds, and espresso and mix. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, then incorporate slowly into the wet mixture. Once batter is well incorporated, roll into meatball sized balls and space evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

To make the icing, mix together powdered sugar, Marsala, and cloves to make a thin icing, adding more wine if necessary. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Makes about 2 dozen.




Taralli al Limone














For the dough:
4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 lb unsalted butter, softened
4 medium eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon

For the icing:
1 cup confectioners sugar
juice of 2 lemons
water, if necessary

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine sugar, butter, and eggs in a bowl until well mixed. Gently add remaining ingredients until well mixed, being careful not to overmix. Knead the dough gently until all the ingredients are incorporated, then wrap in plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least one hour.


When dough has chilled, remove from the refrigerator and form small balls, about the size of a quarter. Using your hands or a nonstick mat, roll the balls into ropes about 4 inches long. Twist the ropes so that the ends overlap, then place on a cookie sheet.


Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until cookies are firm but not browned. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool. Prepare the icing by mixing the powdered sugar with the wet ingredients, then spoon over the cooled cookies until coated.


Cookies will be crisp when they first come out of the oven, but will soften the next day into a tender biscuit.


Makes three dozen.

Baci di Dama

For the dough:
1 cup toasted and ground almonds (hazelnuts also work well)
1 cup sugar
1 cup softened butter
2 cups flour
1 egg yolk
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt



For the filling:

2 oz dark chocolate
1 oz butter


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix the softened butter with the sugar, egg yolk, and almonds until smooth. Gradually add wet ingredients until well mixed. Roll the dough into small balls, about the size of marbles. The smaller the balls are, they better they hold their shape, so don't be tempted to make them too large. Place balls on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cookies cool.


While cookies are cooling, prepare the chocolate filling by heating the chocolate and butter in a double boiler until melted. Dip the flat side of one cookie in the chocolate, then sandwich it with another cookie. Let cookies cool.


Makes about three dozen sandwich cookies.

Almond Marshmallows

Ingredients:
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp almond extract (or any other flavoring)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray
Candy thermometer

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, along with 1/2 cup of the water. In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium heat, clip the candy thermometer to the pan, and cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 10-12 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the almond extract during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pan.


Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.


Makes 2 dozen large marshmallows.