Marshmallow Teacakes

Move over Mr Tunnock, it's time to make marshmallow teacakes at home. The sense of satisfaction when these are made can never be rivalled by simply removing red-and-silver tin foil.
I adapted this recipe to suit my ingredients (the original is in Peyton and Byrne's baking book), and there are a number of possible alterations you can make. You can follow the original and use plain wheat flour and double cream in the biscuit base. If you prefer you can use dark chocolate to cover the teacakes, or even white chocolate if you want to give the teacakes a makeover. A good thing about this recipe is that the marshmallows don't contain any gelatin so it is suitable for vegetarians.

Mr Tunnock would be proud.

Ingredients: (to make 6 teacakes)

biscuit base:

30g butter, softened

30g caster sugar

1 egg yolk (reserve the white for the filling)

¼ tsp vanilla

1½ tsp crème fraîche 

55g rice flour

pinch each of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

marshmallow filling:

1 egg white

50g caster sugar

2 tsp golden syrup

pinch salt

¼ tsp vanilla

chocolate topping:

100g chocolate (milk/dark/mix), chopped into small pieces

Step 1 

To make the biscuit base:
Preheat oven to 180°C/gas 4, line a baking tray with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix well. Add the crème fraîche, mix and then sift over the dry ingredients, mix until just combined (do not over mix).

Step 2
Using a tablespoon drop 6 spoonfuls of dough (about 5cm apart) on the baking tray. Bake for about 10 minutes until the edges have turned just golden. Remove from the oven and transfer to a baking tray to cool completely.

Step 3 
To make the marshmallow filling: 
While the biscuits are cooling make the filling. Put all of the ingredients in a bowl over boiling water. Whisk continuously until the mixture becomes frothy and slightly opaque, this takes about 10-15 minutes.  





Step 4 
Remove the bowl from the heat and using an electric hand-mixer (use a hand whisk if you don't have one), whisk the mixture until it is the consistency of meringue (it should be white and thick and hold its shape).

Step 5
Using a teaspoon dollop the mixture into the centre of each biscuit, be sure to do good generous blobs. Leave to set (you can help this by putting in the freezer for 10 minutes). 

Step 6
To make the chocolate topping:
Melt half of the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, stir a couple of times to help the melting. When it is melted, remove from the heat and sprinkle the remaining chocolate over, leave for 7 minutes and then stir in, it should all be melted.

Step 7

Put all of the teacakes on a wire rack or plate and cover with the melted chocolate. Do this by dolloping it over and then smoothing round to ensure even coverage, leave to set (back in the freezer if you like).

Eat within 24 hours, which believe me will not be a problem!
I was really impressed with these, they tasted really like the original teacakes, and aren't that hard to make - they just require a little patience. I snuck some in to the girls at work and they seemed to go down well!