I had a hankering for marshmallow this weekend so I planned this recipe with marshmallow instead of the meringue on top but I couldn’t find gelatin at my supermarket. They said they had not renewed the order because it was a slow seller. But how can you make marshmallow without gelatin? You can’t, is the answer. Marshmallow is only water, sugar and gelatin. You can’t remove one of the three ingredients and hope to have the same result. Is this indicative of the lack of baking that is going on in homes today? I hope not because that would be sad.
So, plan B was to make meringue, which is also white and frothy. And it’s another of those satisfying processes where you start with one thing and end up with something else completely. I always get a childlike pleasure out of watching the change happen. And then, of course, I get to eat the results.
Just as a reminder to those who think I shouldn’t be eating sugar because I have fructose malabsortption, I will explain again how I get away with it. Table sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The glucose holds the hands of the fructose molecules and pulls them through the walls of the small intestine to safety so they don’t reach the large intestine, where the problem occurs. In honey, for example, there is a high percentage of fructose so some fructose molecules are left over and float on down to the large intestine to play havoc there. However, this doesn’t mean I can eat as much table sugar as I want. The glucose molecules do get tired of doing this and will go on strike if I eat too much. So it’s a balancing act. I find that one sweet treat at morning tea is about the limit, but that’s fine. Who needs more than that anyway? The waistline would expand rather rapidly if I had more than that even if it didn’t cause me problems.
On a completely different note, you will see that I have changed my blog theme. This has been a tough decision because I loved the last theme but I really do need a sidebar and that theme didn’t allow it unless I was the superman of coding, and that is not the case. I have taken the easy route and changed to a theme which is as similar as possible. But, even with this, I had to get into the FTP files which are on my webhost’s control panel to change out the main header image on the home page. Some of you might have seen it was not populated for about 12 hours while I worked out how to do this. I even went to bed in the middle because 2 am is not a respectable time to be up bug-eyed staring at a computer. I finally figured it out but there is a way to go before the site is respectable. I love the blog pages once you click into them but the home page is a bit blah. I want photos instead of words for the posts. I have left a question on the theme forum but it seems no one knows the answer because silence is the stern reply. Now what? Oh, the joys of blog ownership!!
As far as the recipe is concerned, you can buy the coconut flour here, the rice syrup here.
The base recipe was adapted from here.
- 2 ripe bananas
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ⅓ cup rice syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1.5 cups white sugar
- ½ cup water
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Place everything in a food processor and process until smooth.
- Butter or oil an 8" x8"/20cmx20cm baking tin.
- Spoon the mixture into the baking tin and smooth out the surface.
- Bake 20-25 minutes.
- Cool in the tin then turn out onto a plate and slice into 12 slices
- Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and then boil gently until it reaches the soft ball stage or 116°C/240°F.
- Beat the egg whites until foamy and a little stiff.
- Slowly pour in the sugar syrup while beating.
- Continue beating until the mixture is shiny and thick. (This can take a while.)
- Pipe or pile onto each of the bars.
- You can drizzle them with a little melted chocolate if you like.
I like the new theme, it’s clean and nice. But I liked the previous one as well 🙂 I love the pictures and your version of meringue as well.
Thanks, Marta. I am still figuring things out in this theme.
I’m with Marta – I like this theme, but also the last one! To be honest, if I notice a theme at all, it’s a fail – I’m busy looking at that, rather than the content. So this theme definitely passes the test – I don’t think I would have noticed the change unless you mentioned it. But I certainly would and did notice the pictures of this great dish! Really great, and the recipe is quite nice too. Thanks.
Thanks, John. That’s a good point about not noticing the theme. The content is king. My son said I was getting in a rut with my photographs. I have tried the dark background for a change and tried to leave in more shadows. Not that Foodgawker will like the shadows. LOL.
Beautiful photos, the meringue looks so tempting!
Thanks, meringue is always tempting.
That quote from Woody Allen is very interesting. I love your new theme and yes, with blogging, we’re all continuing to learn every day – they didn’t teach this subject in school! I love the look of these bars and I’m a fan of both marshmallow and meringue so either is fine by me xx
Thanks, Charlie. I tried to get a theme that was as close to my last one as possible but with a sidebar and I think this works, except I want images on the home page instead of text for my posts and I am going around in circles on that one.
I don’t have trouble finding gelatine but I do have trouble finding time to get it all done. You do remarkably well to do all that you do!
Time is a constant battle. One day I will leave the day job to dedicate myself to lots of the fun things in life.
These bars look delectable! If you add 2tablespoons of corn syrup and a couple more egg whites to that meringue recipe it turns out really sticky and marshmallow like. It’s my favorite thing to make and I actually made a batch today.
Thanks for the tip, Laura.
We are connected! Banana-based desserts for this week. These look wonderfully decadent. I want to lick the meringue off them. 🙂
I am a meringue licker too, Clara.
Banana is such a versatile fruit because it has some body to it and purees beautifully.