If you’re looking for a sure-fire way to impress your Valentine this Valentine’s Day, then you can’t go past a sweet home-made treat. This series of recipes focus on delicious treats that are easy to make and delightful to eat.
Rose with French Vanilla Marshmallows infused with Dilmah Exceptional Rose with French Vanilla tea
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- ¼ cup pistachio kernels
- 4 Dilmah Exceptional Rose with French Vanilla real leaf tea bags
- ½ cup boiling water
- 4 tsp gelatine powder
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- ¼ cup glucose syrup (light corn syrup)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg white
Method:
1. Place the Pistachio kernels on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 180°C for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then rub them in a clean tea towel until all the skins are removed. Place in a food processor with the icing sugar and pulse until it forms a fine crumb (it can have some larger pieces of pistachio left in it for texture).
2. Lightly oil a 22cm square baking pan (non-stick pans work better), sprinkle well with half of the powdered icing sugar/ pistachio crumbs, making sure the sides have a dusting of icing sugar.
3. Place 4 teabags in the ½ cup boiling water, allow to steep for 10 minutes, then remove tea bags, squeezing out excess liquid. In a large glass bowl place ¼ cup of the infused tea water, sprinkle with the gelatine, stir, and set aside.
4. In a heavy saucepan cook sugar, glucose syrup, salt and the other ¼ cup of tea infused water over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat and allow to bubble until you get to ‘soft ball stage’* (116°C/ 240F on a candy thermometer), approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over the gelatine mix, stirring until softened and the gelatine dissolves.
5. Beat the hot sugar/gelatine mixture with a hand held electric beater on high until the mixture thickens (approximately 3 times its size) and goes white, this will take around 10 minutes. Then in a separate clean bowl with clean beaters (any oil will stop the egg white from fluffing) beat the egg white until it just holds stiff peaks, then transfer it into the sugar mixture and beat again until just combined.
6. Pour into prepared tin, sprinkle over the remaining icing sugar/pistachio mix. Cool at room temperature for 3 hours then cut into desired shapes with a sharp lightly oiled knife or cookie cutter. Toss in the icing sugar/pistachio crumb to coat all sides. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
*Soft ball stage means that if you drop a little of the hot sugar mixture into cold water to cool it down, it will hold its shape in a soft ball. Unless you have worked with hot sugar before it is easier to use a candy thermometer.
Thanks to our friends at Dilmah for sharing this beautiful recipe with us. Dilmah is a family‐owned Sri Lankan tea company established by Merrill J. Fernando, the first tea grower to offer his tea, grown, handpicked and traditionally made, directly from the origin. www.dilmah.com.au
