Marshmallow Fluff for my Amazing Big Brother

A few weeks ago I posted one of my recipes to Facebook, and I got the following comment:

"So (not that I've looked at your blog/used the search facility or anything) I noticed that Laura has several mentions in the last few months while your readers have yet to find out you even HAVE a brother. This needs sorted, or I'm going to cancelled that planned visit to York."


When I finally got over the fact that my WONDERFUL big brother actually reads my blog, I quickly checked to see if he was right... and to my horror I found it was indeed true! In all my posts not only have I failed to dedicate one to him (as I did with Baked Tilapia for my sister), I have mentioned my sister on numerous occasions... and have yet to even mention the existence of my big brother! Oops.

In my defence (and to stop him from sounding like a pretty mean brother) there was no planned visit to York at the time of his writing that comment... and in the 3 years that I have lived here the scoreline of visits read something along the lines of "Sister- multiple visits: Brother- zero visits". Until this weekend.

Much to my great excitement, on Friday night not only did my brother come to visit but he brought his oh so lovely fiance too- double bonus! In celebration of this momentous occasion (and to give me an appropriate recipe to dedicate especially to him) I made Marshmallow Fluff.

If you're not familiar with Fluff, then I realise that might sound a little weird. Fluff was one of our favourite 'treats' when we were kids. It's basically a jar of what can only be described as the inside of a marshmallow after it has been toasted- light, sweet, sticky, fluffy goodness! I've heard rumours of such strange antics as eating it on toast, but for us there was nothing better than dolloping it on top of a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Bliss.

Problem was, Mum was a little more sensible than we'd have liked, and didn't want to encourage us to eat such sugary goodness on regular occasion- so our best hope was Dad. On the rare (golden) occasion that Dad would do the grocery shopping, we would jump at the chance to go with him to 'help'. Our 'helping' basically involved our very best efforts to convince Dad that Fluff was a staple in our house and that Mum would be very upset if he didn't buy it. I'm not sure how convincing we actually were, but the truth is our darling Dad is a big softy so we managed to get it anyway!

As much as I love the real deal Fluff, it is a little pricier than I'd like and, well, the truth is I just can't resist having a go myself!

So this one's for you, big brother- thank you so much for coming to visit; I loved every minute!

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff

Ingredients
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup golden syrup
¼ cup water
Pinch of salt
3 medium egg whites, at room temperature
¼ tspn cream of tartar
2 tspns vanilla extract

Directions
1) Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar together in a very large bowl until soft peaks form.

2) In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar, golden syrup, water and salt over a medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture reaches 115c or 240f (you will need a cooking thermometer for this, but they are really cheap to buy from most supermarkets). As soon as it hits the desired temperature remove from the heat and move onto the next step.

3) If you have a stand mixer I'm very jealous and this next step will be easy to do on your own. If you, like me, have yet to convince your other half that this is an essential piece of kitchen equipment (especially if it was red!) then punish them by getting them to help. On the lowest speed possible (you do need an electric whisk for this) continue to whisk the egg whites, while at the same time your glamorous assistant is VERY slowly trickling the sugar mixture down the (in)side of the bowl. By doing it slowly you'll stop the eggs from getting cooked (eugh!), but the heat from the mixture will kill any bacteria.

4) Add in the vanilla extract, then returning to the highest speed setting whisk the mixture until stiff peaks form (this also cools the mixture dramatically). This can take about 5 minutes, so again if you don't have a stand mixer I whole heartedly suggest getting your other half to do it!

If you manage not to devour this in one sitting, then it will keep in the fridge in an airtight jar for about 2 weeks

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