Tuesday, December 22, 2015

SNOWMAN DESSERT


It has been a busy December and after looking through holiday cookbooks to decide what to make for this months blog, I stumbled upon a cute snowman dessert. Leave it to Martha Stewart. A snowman made out of vanilla ice cream, rolled in shredded coconut with a marshmallow top hat and 2 eyes made out of licorice. So cute and perfect for a winter holiday dessert. I examined the recipe and decided to go for it. How hard could it be? I have most of the ingredients at home. I'm all set.

 I decided to bring the supplies I needed to make this dessert to the library so I could put it together, show everyone the masterpiece and then taste test it. I guess our freezer here was not cold enough even though I tried to turn it up. To add to the frustration, my marzipan was as hard as a rock and would not mold whatsoever. Luckily my friend had an extra tangerine so I cut the peel and used that for the nose. I did not have Sen Sen candies and decided to use some black licorice and cut into small button like pieces. A bit tricky. Another challenge was that I only had a barbecue lighter to roast my marshmallows. Consequently, putting together Mr. Snowman was quite the feat!  Maybe that is why my snowman didn't quite look like Martha's. Ok, I admit it. It wasn't even close. I was defeated. So much for the masterpiece. I tried my best but  I think if I had the perfect conditions and practiced a few times that I would eventually make one that could possibly resemble Frosty's half brother?

There is a youtube video of Martha making these on her show with 2 celebrity guests; Susan Lucci and Susan's daughter Liza Huber. Both Susan and Liza mentioned that they had a difficult time putting their snowman together. Martha makes it look so easy. I'm guessing that she has a team of people helping her, all the needed supplies,a freezer that will keep the ice cream coconut balls from melting and perfectly roasted marshmallows. I hope you have better luck than me. I suggest using this dessert as a centerpiece. Making one for each guest would be so time consuming and would take up too much space in your freezer! Just keep in mind that if you want only one snowman to divide this recipe by four. Good Luck!



COCONUT SNOWMEN - makes 4 snowmen

You will need three ice cream scoops in varied sizes. Shoestring licorice cut into pieces that can also be used for the buttons, eyes and mouth.


2 1/2 pints best-quality vanilla ice cream
2 packages sweetened shredded coconut (7 oz each)
Orange food coloring
1 Tbs. marzipan
40 Sen Sen Licorice candies
4 marshmallows
4 chocolate wafers
Sifted confectioners sugar

Line a baking pan that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop vanilla ice cream, rounding scoops as much as possible until you have 4 of each size and place in prepared baking pan. Transfer to freezer to harden 15 minutes.

Spread coconut onto a plate. Remove ice cream from freezer and roll scoops in coconut. Return to pan, then return pan to freezer. Add food coloring to marzipan until carrot color. Shape marzipan into small carrot shapes using a paring knife to make ridges. Remove one small scoop of ice cream at a time from freezer and make faces using Sen Sen for eyes and mouth and marzipan carrots for nose. Return to freezer.

Remove middle-size scoops from freezer one at a time; place Sen Sen in row down front for the buttons. Remove remaining scoops from freezer and stack to create snowmen, pressing slightly to adhere. Return snowmen to freezer.

Make top hats by roasting marshmallows on skewers over a gas burner or on a baking sheet under the broiler until browned, rotating every few seconds. Place toasted marshmallows on chocolate wafers and dust with confectioners sugar. Place hat on snowmen just before serving.


THE MARTHA STEWART LIVING CHRISTMAS COOKBOOK




CHECK IT OUT!