Cheap & Easy Marshmallow Fondant

They said it would be easy.

“They” was an online article from the Mother Earth News called Feeding Honeybees in Winter (http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/feeding-bees-winter-zbcz1311.aspx). “It” referred to the sugar block recipe I was about to try. Though I come from generations of Hungarian women, the culinary instincts of my ancestors were unfairly bestowed upon my only female cousin. Everything I serve leans pathetically towards charcoal-pit blackened, so I began the recipe with trepidation. Despite the instruction’s insistence on how ‘easy’ it was (they used the word twice), I soon discovered making sugar blocks is not for the novice.

I was able to handle mixing one cup of water into a pound of sugar, but I had no idea what it meant to boil until the soft ball stage. I pictured a palm sized projectile with red lacing. Was it really supposed to turn into a ball?

I got the candy thermometer out. Turns out, soft ball stage has nothing to do with sports. It’s a magical temperature, 234° to be exact. Achieving that temperature was the hard part. I boiled and boiled. I brought a stool over and boiled some more. I snacked to kill time. I put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in, but I could no longer see the temperature. When I tried to peak, I had to take off the lid and pull the thermometer out, causing the mercury to plummet. Twice, my face was steamed to lobster-done readiness.

In the end, I had to guess that I had reached the proper degrees. I poured the muck into a foil pan and waited. The result? Picture a slushy iceberg with razor sharp edges. But I didn’t know about the edges until I tried to break the brick apart with my bare hands. To my credit, I waited until it had cooled. To my chagrin, my fingers and hands were shredded like incriminating documents.

I emailed an expert, Terry Bagley, for advice. I told her about the thing I had created, and she immediately guessed what went wrong. Turns out, glass top stoves don’t get as hot as regular coil stoves. I probably had not achieved the elusive soft ball stage.

Terry gave me another recipe, a harmless one where no sharp edges or hot burners were involved, only a microwave and lots of marshmallows. It also appealed because in my world, cooking and snacking are synonymous, and microwaving marshmallows in February sounded like a winner. Her recipe is adapted from various online sources.

“Terry’s Marshmallow Bee Fondant

3 bags (10.5 oz) marshmallows
½ c. water
4 pounds confectioners’ sugar

Put marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl. Bowl needs to be large because
marshmallows will puff up and cause a mess if they overflow. Pour water
over marshmallows. Microwave, 20 seconds at a time, until melted.

Carefully remove from microwave. Stir in powdered sugar. Once it is
difficult to stir, turn out on cutting board or counter top that has been
dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Knead in remaining sugar.

Coat the fondant with a light layer of shortening to help keep it moist.
Wrap in several layers of plastic wrap.

In the hive, place the fondant on waxed paper above the bee cluster.”

Though my sugar sludge blocks were a hit with my bees, I won’t try them again. I worried about the slushy parts leaking onto the girls. Shortly after the incident, a friend took pity on me and gave me the rest of his store-bought winter patties. The very ones I refused to buy.

Have I tried Terry’s fondant recipe? No, not yet. But I guarantee you’ll have better success than I.

Happy snacking.