Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows Blog

Wow! What a show! We had an great show this year. We met lots of new and long-time chefs, artisanal food creators, retailers, distributors, and in general, people who like creative food made with the best stuff. We were very happy with the response to our new flavors Cherry Chocolate Chip and Mango Tango (which you can buy on our website) and our new Mug Toppers ^(TM), marshmallow rounds to go on top of a mug of hot cocoa.

Today we had booth help from Rachael Narins from the amazing cooking, teaching, chefing, catering, pickling, culinary touring duo Chicks with Knives. Her energy and love of food was a huge help. Thanks again Rachael!

Here’s what we were up to today:

Started Day 3 tasting off with an incredible spread of yumminess from all over the world imported by FoodMatch Inc. The golden peppadews were particularly good.

Chocolate truffle heaven from Hagensborg

Some of the best smoked meats around from a favorite, Nueske's

Back at our booth, we make people cook their own food. The smell of toasty marshmallows wafts around nicely

Bringing these home to the 4-year-old "marshlet" who is also a huge Dora the Explorer fan

Various salted chocolate covered caramels from Eclipse Chocolat. Seriously good.

Plush Puffs' fearless leaders Chef Ann and "V.P. du Jour" Justin near the end of the show. They worked hard, ate a lot and require (deserve) much pampering from their spouses when they return home.

Today we took a break from trying every delicious looking sweet treat we could get our hands on and went all in for the gourmet savories.

Mother In Laws Kimchi for salt and spice - Love this kimchi! (and the packaging too)

Sartori Cheese is yummy

We never pass up the chance to sample Serrano ham and this delicacy imported by the Atlanta Corporation did not disappoint

Krave Jerky. Awesome. Loved the Pineapple Orange Beef.

Washing it all down with some microbrews presented by the Brewers Association

We couldn't resist some sweets when we saw one of our favorite artisan chocolatiers, Poco Dolce

Wow! What a great first day of the Winter Fancy Food Show 2012 put on by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. We met tons of great people, gave out lots of toasted marshmallows and put a lot of smiles on faces – what could be better?

We also have been getting a GREAT response to our new flavors Cherry Chocolate and Mango Tango (real mango with a kick of chili spice). But the real winner so far are our new Mug Toppers ^(TM). They will be available online in a few weeks and hopefully, given the response we’ve been getting from show-goers, in a store near you soon!

But there is more than just marshmallows at the Fancy Food Show! We’ve also been able to taste some amazing food. Below are some pictures of just a few of the vendors and sights we got to experience today:

Sasapops Handmade Ice Pops

Unique and yummy caramels from Helliemaes

Flavored whipped cream from Blosm. Imagine a hot chocolate party with Plush Puffs and Blossom for topping fun!

Our long-time friend Susan Feniger was there cooking food from her new cookbook. We tasted some DELISH street food and talked marshmallows for a bit.

Our booth partner Eclipse Chocolat Rococo candy bars made with Plush Puffs and amazing and surprising ingredients (like burnt chili caramel!)

Eclipse Chocolate Bars

Caffeine Water from Avitae - the reason why we remained on our feet through the end of the day, and our hope for making it through all 3 days!

For Thanksgiving this year, we had a guest that doesn’t like Pumpkin Pie. “What?” you are asking yourself, “is this person insane?” Yes, yes he is. But we love him anyway, so we made him a pear tart with frangipane (almond paste & butter – yes please!) and an apricot glaze. And it was good too.

This week’s smore is based on that dessert since pears are still in season and plentiful all over this place. It is very reminiscent of the tart but even fresher tasting as the pears aren’t cooked and the cookies crunchy. Big fan of this one.

Ingredients (for one s’more)

• 2 Sydney’s Cinnamon Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows
• A thick slice of pear. I used Bosc pears but any very fresh pear will be great
• 1  almond cookie

Place an almond cookie on a plate. Toast the marshmallows and slide them onto the cookie. Top with the slice of pear and taste winter freshness in a sweet sandwich!

‘Tis the season and there is a LOT of demand for our Peppimint gourmet peppermint marshmallows. They’re yummier than candy canes, but still have that traditional minty flavor. And they’re purty pink too.

So here’s a tasty, pepperminty s’more to inspire your holiday party desserts. Serve already made s’mores or have a make-your-own s’more table but make it special and unique with flavored marshmallows, such as our Peppis!

Ingredients (for one s’more)

• One or two Peppimint peppermint marshmallows from Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows
• 2 one inch squares of your favorite chocolate
• 2 crispy wafer cookies

Place a wafer cookie on a plate and top it with one square of chocolate. Toast the marshmallow and place it on the plated chocolate. Top the marshmallow with the second square of chocolate and finally top it off with the second wafer cookie.

Indulge!

Update: Lists of the all the yummy participants! Gonna have to wear some stretchy clothes for this one. Some of the best food in LA will be at Artisanal LA this Sunday!

Woo hoo! We can’t wait for the Holiday Pop-Up Shop event with ArtisanalLA!

The deets:

Sunday Dec 11

Armory Center for the Arts

145 North Raymond AvenuePasadena, California 91103

As usual, we will be sampling all our flavors of gourmet marshmallows including seasonal Pumpkin Pie, Gingerbread Spice, and Peppimint. We’ll also have great show specials so you can stock up on stocking stuffers, host/hostess gifts, gift baskets or just have some marshmallows on hand for hot cocoa on those cold nights (it’s hard to remember, but it does get cold here and there in good old SoCal).

The participants this time are some old, cravable favorites and new tasty bites. Check out the other vendors at the ArtisanalLA.com and read about past events and what to expect at the One More Bite blog.

Hope to see you there!

*** ARTISANAL LA VENDORS (Level 1) ***
AF2 Chocolatiers aka auntie fruf’s aahsome fudge
All Spice Cafe
BareBlendz
Cast Iron Gourmet
Crème Caramel LA
David’s Unforgettables
Domestic Doll
Earl’s Gone Wild
fruit + flour
Homegirl Industries
I Heart Pies
jenkins jellies
Kings Road Apothecary
Lady Chocolatier
Lalun Naturals, Inc.
Laura Ann’s Jams
Medina Chocolatier
Migliore Gourmet Food
Morning Glory Confections
Mother Moo Creamery
nicobella organics
Orgasmo de la Boca
Papa Steve’s No Junk Protein Bars
Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows
San Angel Mole
SoNo Trading Co
SQIRL Preserves
Sweet Dreamery Desserts
The Elegant Gift
The Olive Press
Velvet Rope Bake Shop
Wallace Comestibles
Z Confections

*** ALTADENA URBAN UNDERGROUND FARMERS MARKET VENDORS (Level 2) ***
Dee Dee’s Jams
Robin Goodfellow SoapWorks
HomeBody Botanicals
Pine Street Products
Ginger Nut Granola
Chaparral Mountain Honey Co
Jabberwocky Foods
Authentic Scandinavian Goodies
Dr. Hall’s Mercantile
Baker Goddess
The Baker’s Mark
Bread Bakers Collective
Ardenwoods Edibles
Culture Club 101
Arroyo Produce Swap Table
Arroyo Time Bank

Our foodie-oenophile-photographer-blogger friend Carrie Clark (aka @camerachickie on Twitter) recently asked a question we found very intriguing: Which flavor of Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows would taste best on the traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole?

Since we have two new flavors this season, Gingerbread Spice and Pumpkin Pie, we honestly couldn’t answer the question. So, we conducted an experiment to answer this puzzle.

We focused on trying 4 different seasonal flavors: Pumpkin Pie, Gingerbread Spice, Sydney’s Cinnamon and Caramel Swirl. We made the sweet potatoes per a typical recipe (with brown sugar, butter, orange juice, cinnamon, and a little nutmeg). Nothing fancy, so use your favorite recipe.

A confession: I, your humble Plush Puffs blogger, am terrible at making mashed potatoes, sweet or otherwise. What are your tricks for creamy, non-lumpy mashed potatoes? I think part of my problem is an inferior masher, but I can’t blame it all on a bad tool.

Because we wanted to try 4 different marshmallow toppings, I spooned the sweet potatoes while they were still warm into 4 1/2 inch diameter ramekins and I topped each with a different flavor of marshmallow. For each ramekin, I used 7 marshmallows.

I baked them in an oven at 375 in for just a few minutes to get the marshmallows melting a bit. Then I turned the broiler on to brown the tops. DO NOT WALK AWAY while you’re melting or browning the marshmallows. This happens fast! If you leave them the marshmallows could burn or over melt. This is literally the last thing you do before serving Thanksgiving dinner. It just takes a few minutes.

They came out golden brown and yummy looking (hey look! I have a hot spot on my broiler!).

3 of us tasted each flavor and independently came up with our preferences before we compared notes – so it’s scientific and stuff. The findings were unanimous! Here’s how we rank them in order:

#1 Gingerbread: Wow, was this good. It tasted exactly like Thanksgiving should. The gingerbread spices enhanced the cinnamon & nutmeg in the sweet potatoes and ginger and sweet potatoes are a fantastic flavor combination. A real improvement over plain marshmallows and everyone went back for seconds.

#2 Cinnamon: Also tasted very Thanksgiving-y and obviously married well with the cinnamon in the potatoes. Gingerbread edges it out because of its mix of spices, but Sydney’s Cinnamon was a close 2nd.

#3 Caramel: I was surprised this wasn’t my #1 because Caramel Swirl is my perennial favorite flavor of Plush Puffs. And the caramel flavor really came through, which makes you notice the butter in the sweet potatoes more. However, the caramel made them seem extra sweet which would be great if this were a dessert and not a side dish. Caramel would make a great pumpkin pie topping (hmm, I sense another experiment in the works)

#4 Pumpkin Pie: Another surprise. I thought the similarities in the flavors of pumpkin and sweet potato would make this the best flavor, but in fact, the similarities made the pumpkin flavor get lost on the sweet potatoes. So the Pumpkin Pie Plush Puffs, while amazing on their own or toasted on top of ice cream, do not enhance the dish as much as the other flavors do.

Winner, winner turkey dinner!

So, there you go! Our recommendation for your ultimate Thanksgiving dinner side dish is SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE MADE WITH GINGERBREAD SPICE PLUSH PUFFS GOURMET MARSHMALLOWS!

It’s cold outside. So nothing is better than hot chocolate with marshmallows! So, we made a s’more out of it.

Ingredients (for one mug):

• One mug of high quality hot chocolate. We recommend the sipping chocolate from Dove Chocolate Discoveries. But any really good, really rich hot cocoa will do
• 3-4 Peppimint Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows
• One half of a graham cracker crumbled up

Make the hot chocolate per the directions from the cocoa package. Top with 3-4 of the marshmallows (depending on the size of your mug) and sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs on top for taste and texture.

Enjoy and warm up!

How to get your pre-schooler in the October/Halloween/harvest mood when it’s literally 100 degrees outside? You bake of course! We just so happened to have a box mix of “spiced apple bread” and some time on our hands. The house smelled DELICIOUSLY of fall and made me think of colorful leaves, scarves and jackets, holidays and more. I could just barely keep up the facade as long as I didn’t even put one limb outside to get seared by the “unseasonably hot” heat, as the internet weather site called it. The bread was yummy, but put into SCRUMPTIOUS with a Gingerbread Spice Plush Puff on top.

Ingredients (for one s’more)

• Gingerbread Spice marshmallow from Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows
• A half slice of apple bread, gingerbread, pumpkin bread or other similar seasonal bread or cake

Slightly toast the slice of apple bread, just so it’s warm and slightly crisped up, but not too dry and crunchy. Place a half slice of the bread on a plate. Toast the marshmallow over a gas stove and place on top of the half slice. Enjoy open faced or top with the other half to make a sandwich.