Dried Egg Whites/Pasteurized Egg Whites for Meringues, Marshmallows, and Other Confectionary

[Jim D.]

I pipe the marshmallow into the bottom of the shell, let it set overnight, then pipe in whatever additional filling I am using.  It is essential to have the marshmallow fluid, or it will form a dome that will make the rest of the process quite difficult.  Once a too-firm marshmallow has set, you can't do much with it--it doesn't allow for pressing it down to make a horizontal layer because it will spring back.  If you are just adding a second layer (such as your lime) and not adding a cookie, then the shape of the marshmallow doesn't matter so much.

[cslas]

On 2/11/2022 at 9:37 PM, Jim D. said:

I pipe the marshmallow into the bottom of the shell, let it set overnight, then pipe in whatever additional filling I am using.  It is essential to have the marshmallow fluid, or it will form a dome that will make the rest of the process quite difficult.  Once a too-firm marshmallow has set, you can't do much with it--it doesn't allow for pressing it down to make a horizontal layer because it will spring back.  If you are just adding a second layer (such as your lime) and not adding a cookie, then the shape of the marshmallow doesn't matter so much.

Thanks Jim, I took your advice. So far so good!

[Soleil]

JimD - I have read many of your posts on aW and shelf etc.  Thanks to you and all the other contributors for sharing knowledge and experience.  So, I have been working on a smores bonbon and getting the marshmallow right.  I stumbled upon an idea of modifying my Swiss buttercream recipe to make pipeable and self leveling marshmallow.  I use fresh egg whites with double the weight in sugar - cooked over a double boiler until >165F to pasteurize.  With some cream of tartar, vanilla and whisking - it makes a really nice marshmallow cream.  However, I have been adding some bloomed gelatin that is melted during whisking.  This seems to allow me the fluidness of getting into shells and leveling, but once it firms up, a decent texture.  I have one of the aW meters similar to what Kerry Beal just tried the AW-160. Despite the fact that I am adding a little water with the gelatin,  my marshmallow I believe was around 0.70.  I plan to do some more tests/experiments soon.  When I am testing aW, I cut a nice slice of the finished bonbon and put it in the sample dish to get a feel for the whole system. You expressed reluctance for using fresh egg whites, but what are your thoughts on this one…I am leery as well (very new to this business as a hobby turned into something a little more).  The last thing I want to do is have someone get sick.  Any thoughts appreciated.  Thanks.

[Jim D.]

2 hours ago, Soleil said:

JimD - I have read many of your posts on aW and shelf etc.  Thanks to you and all the other contributors for sharing knowledge and experience.  So, I have been working on a smores bonbon and getting the marshmallow right.  I stumbled upon an idea of modifying my Swiss buttercream recipe to make pipeable and self leveling marshmallow.  I use fresh egg whites with double the weight in sugar - cooked over a double boiler until >165F to pasteurize.  With some cream of tartar, vanilla and whisking - it makes a really nice marshmallow cream.  However, I have been adding some bloomed gelatin that is melted during whisking.  This seems to allow me the fluidness of getting into shells and leveling, but once it firms up, a decent texture.  I have one of the aW meters similar to what Kerry Beal just tried the AW-160. Despite the fact that I am adding a little water with the gelatin,  my marshmallow I believe was around 0.70.  I plan to do some more tests/experiments soon.  When I am testing aW, I cut a nice slice of the finished bonbon and put it in the sample dish to get a feel for the whole system. You expressed reluctance for using fresh egg whites, but what are your thoughts on this one…I am leery as well (very new to this business as a hobby turned into something a little more).  The last thing I want to do is have someone get sick.  Any thoughts appreciated.  Thanks.

 

Your experiment with marshmallow sounds interesting.  I am curious as to why you feel using egg whites is better, but many reputable chocolatiers and chocolate experts (such as Peter Greweling) use them as you have described.  I tend to operate on the theory that if there is a safer way to do something, that's what I will use.  I do use egg whites in the nut cookies I make for my marjolaine bonbon, but, of course, the cookies are baked for around 15 minutes.  The recent posts on shelf life have made me rethink many of the fillings I make and have led me to make more caramels and giandujas.  If you hadn't mentioned adding gelatin, I would have said that a big advantage of your egg white method is that the terrible smell and taste of gelatin wouldn't show up in the marshmallow.  It takes a lot of vanilla or other flavoring to mask that taste.

[Soleil]

Jim - the smell of the melted gelatin is less than ideal, but I have found just a little vanilla extract does the trick - I don’t smell or taste anything foul.  Plus, since I am using this to pipe into shelled bonbons, the other flavors are there too.   I have tried avoiding the gelatin and extra water (I wanted to get aW as low as possible), but the texture is too runny for my liking.  My initial recipe with gelatin gave a wonderful soft marshmallow, but it didn’t self level.  I cut the amount of gelatin I was using in half and it seemed to be a good balance between easily self leveling, staying fluid long enough to pipe into molds but yet giving a firmer texture when fully set.  I am also working on the graham cracker round (I use the smallest Ateco biscuit cutter when the graham cracker is straight from oven and it fits my mold well).  Again, trying to get away from as much moisture as possible I am tinkering with a recipe that uses only a little molasses and coconut oil instead of butter.  Crispness is an issue right now, but the flavor is quite good.  In fact, I could stop eating the scraps yesterday…).  Any thoughts on a cookie recipes for a nice crisp cookie round?  Oh, once I piped the marshmallow, I made a meltaway layer with 33% milk choc and coconut oil - just enough to seal the marshmallow and help keep my graham crisp.  I am hoping to get another test of this going soon and I’ll let you know how it goes.

[Jim D.]

41 minutes ago, Soleil said:

Jim - the smell of the melted gelatin is less than ideal, but I have found just a little vanilla extract does the trick - I don’t smell or taste anything foul.  Plus, since I am using this to pipe into shelled bonbons, the other flavors are there too.   I have tried avoiding the gelatin and extra water (I wanted to get aW as low as possible), but the texture is too runny for my liking.  My initial recipe with gelatin gave a wonderful soft marshmallow, but it didn’t self level.  I cut the amount of gelatin I was using in half and it seemed to be a good balance between easily self leveling, staying fluid long enough to pipe into molds but yet giving a firmer texture when fully set.  I am also working on the graham cracker round (I use the smallest Ateco biscuit cutter when the graham cracker is straight from oven and it fits my mold well).  Again, trying to get away from as much moisture as possible I am tinkering with a recipe that uses only a little molasses and coconut oil instead of butter.  Crispness is an issue right now, but the flavor is quite good.  In fact, I could stop eating the scraps yesterday…).  Any thoughts on a cookie recipes for a nice crisp cookie round?  Oh, once I piped the marshmallow, I made a meltaway layer with 33% milk choc and coconut oil - just enough to seal the marshmallow and help keep my graham crisp.  I am hoping to get another test of this going soon and I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

To tell the truth, I have never tested any of the cookies I use for Aw.  I have always assumed something that crisp isn't going to have much water not baked off.  I'll have to measure it to see.  I use a shortbread recipe for most of my cookies, but the previous one (an Ina Garten recipe) came out with a cavity in the bottom of most cookies --there is a thread on this on eG.  After trying everything recommended to me, I switched to a cookie called a "punition" (from a Dorie Greenspan recipe).  It has an egg in it and comes out wonderfully crisp and stays that way (when surrounded as you mentioned with a "meltaway barrier").  You can add spices to it to make it work with some fillings, such as apple and apricot.  For the s'mores and cheesecake bonbons, however, I stay with the traditional graham cracker, which aren't as crisp by nature as the punitions.  I did discover just recently that little graham cookies need to be baked until they are quite crisp.

 

Marshmallow will stay fluid depending on how long you cook the syrup and how long you beat the marshmallow, or--as you mention--how much gelatin you use.  Self-leveling is definitely the way to go; a domed marshmallow is a pain.

[Soleil]

I will give the punition a try.  Being relatively new to this, I have tried to shy away from using egg.  My goal is to have a bonbon with 30 d shelf life.  Have you had any problems with mold in the punitions?  Thinking out loud, I guess if you are baking these cookies till crisp, the water from the egg would be evaporated and any pathogens killed at an oven temp of 350F.

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, Soleil said:

I will give the punition a try.  Being relatively new to this, I have tried to shy away from using egg.  My goal is to have a bonbon with 30 d shelf life.  Have you had any problems with mold in the punitions?  Thinking out loud, I guess if you are baking these cookies till crisp, the water from the egg would be evaporated and any pathogens killed at an oven temp of 350F.

 

I have had no issues with the punitions.  I seal them in a plastic bag once they are baked.  They stay crisp for months.  I don't see how they would be any more dangerous than a commercial cookie.  But, as I said, I have not measured the Aw of the cookies.