CONTENTS: Announcements -  Ask EQ -  Free Stuff -  Works For Me -  Show & Tell -  Quilter Community -  Quilt University -  A Quilt for Sean -  Club EQ -  Make it Simpler Paper Piecing -  EQ Mac Users Group -  Let's Make Marshmallows -  EQ & HP Sponsor Computer Labs -  Coming Soon from EQ -  Our Booth in Houston

mmm...Let's Make Marshmallows!

A Recipe from Barb Vlack

Pardon us if we strut our fluff! Homemade marshmallows may be new for Williams-Sonoma and Martha Stewart, but at EQ we've eaten Barb Vlack's homemade marshmallows for years.

You have not tasted marshmallows until you've tasted these. So let's get down and fluffy!

Barb's Marshmallows

Barb Vlack is an EQ author and teacher (teaching hands-on EQ at the AQS show and Quilt Festival in Houston in 2004).now known for her marshmallows on the trade show circuit. This is a recipe she got from a friend.

7 or 8 Tbsps of powdered gelatin (7 or 8 pkgs)

1/2 cup hot water

Stir to dissolve. It will turn into a yucky mass. That's okay.

In sauce pan, mix:

4 cups sugar

1 cup white Karo syrup

1 cup hot water

Mickey and Dan Lawler relax after a hectic day of manning their Skydyes booth at the AQS show by toasting a few of Barb's marshmallows over an open-air fire at Max's Restaurant in downtown Paducah, Kentucky.

Put in a thermometer and cook to 238 degrees. You don't need to stir it. I like to stir it a bit to make sure the thermometer probe is accurate. Take off the heat immediately when it gets to 238 degrees or so. (I tend to jump when the thermometer shows 238. It goes rather fast all of a sudden when the temp reaches that level.)Add the gelatin "lump" and stir. The mixture will foam.

Add flavoring - I use 2 tsp almond. Vanilla makes a more traditional marshmallow. I think orange extract could be good, too. Maybe even mint.

While the sugar mixture is cooking, beat 4 egg whites into soft peaks. (Use a whip attachment with your mixer, if you have one.) With the mixer going, pour the hot sugar mixture very gradually into the egg whites. Beat the mixture for 15 minutes.

What are EQ staffers, Andrea Poulimenos and Sara Woodward, laughing at? Off camera, Mickey Lawler's toasted marshmallow has just dripped down her front.

Spray a coating of oil on a jelly roll pan. (Spray is best. Don't use Crisco.)

Pour the mixture out onto the pan. I use a 16" x 12" jelly roll pan. (Lu fills two pans—one 13" x 9" pan and one 8" square pan.)

Let it set at least 4-5 hours. Don't put waxed paper or anything else on it. It will immediately adhere and won't come off! (Ask Lu, at EQ, how she knows!) You can dust with powdered sugar and then cover it. It's okay not to cover it at all.

Turn the slab of marshmallow out onto a counter dusted liberally with powdered sugar. It will be easy to handle.

Cut into pieces however you want to—use a knife, scissors, whatever works best for you.

Shake all the pieces in powdered sugar, then shake off any excess sugar. (Just use regular powdered sugar. Don't get fancy with "organic" powdered sugar which can be lumpy. Ask Penny, at EQ, how she knows!)

Store in a zip-lock type bag. They stay fresh up to about two weeks.

Notes: The first time I ever made marshmallows I borrowed a Kitchen Aid mixer from a very good friend. The sugar goo, I think, cooked a bit too long, so it was really stiff by the time I called a halt to the beating. I didn't make it to 14 minutes. And I had to laugh when the recipe said, "Pour out." I couldn't PULL it out. I think I passed the soft ball candy stage and went directly to almost hard ball. Good thing all that dissolves in water. That's probably the only thing that saved me from an expensive mixer-replacement bill.

CONTENTS: Announcements -  Ask EQ -  Free Stuff -  Works For Me -  Show & Tell -  Quilter Community -  Quilt University -  A Quilt for Sean -  Club EQ -  Make it Simpler Paper Piecing -  EQ Mac Users Group -  Let's Make Marshmallows -  EQ & HP Sponsor Computer Labs -  Coming Soon from EQ -  Our Booth in Houston