use real butter

Recipe: homemade marshmallows

Yes, I’m talking about snow… sort of. Actually, I’m also talking about marshmallows which, as you know, invariably brings us to eating s’mores après ski at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa at Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Avon, Colorado. The Park Hyatt BC invited me over to experience their brand of hospitality on the mountain, literally. Ski-in ski-out access to one of Colorado’s premier ski resorts? S’mores after the lifts close? Fine dining at 8100 feet? I needed to verify this before the snowpack up and walked (melted) away.

jeremy offered to assist me

s’mores daily from 4-5pm

roasting marshmallows over the fire pit

dinner at 8100: farmed greens with duck, seared scallops on smoked trout chowder

antler chandeliers abound (hey, it’s colorado)

looking toward the park hyatt’s lounge

outdoor heated pool and outdoor jacuzzi

Last week, a box of goodies arrived in the post, courtesy of the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. There was an adorable ceramic s’mores cooker, marshmallow skewers, s’mores trays, graham crackers, chocolate, and four flavors of housemade marshmallows developed by their chef: orange creamsicle, coffee, crème de menthe, and vanilla. Normally, it would be too cold (and windy, don’t forget windy) to enjoy these on our deck – except this season has been anything but normal.

graham crackers, chocolate, four flavors of marshmallows

i subbed in my favorite local chocolate

What a sticky, gooey, messy, fabulous treat to share with people who won’t laugh at you for having chocolate and marshmallow smeared all over your mouth! It was the Park Hyatt’s way of sharing their s’mores tradition with me, someone who loves skiing, loves Colorado, and especially loves skiing Colorado. But it’s not just ME they wanted to bring this to… they want to bring it to YOU!

there is an art to toasting marshmallows, no fireballs!

s’mores in the mountains or anywhere – feeling like summer

I’ve got five packages to give away to my good readers (that’s you!). A package includes graham crackers, chocolate, gourmet marshmallows, and a $99/night room rate (with waived resort fees and complimentary valet parking) at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Avon, Colorado. Go ahead, look at their rates and tell me that isn’t a freaking amazing deal! Did I mention that the Park Hyatt is an incredibly family-friendly resort? They have so many activities and services for children and families. We don’t even have kids (okay, we have the four-legged furry variety) and we were totally impressed.

To enter the giveaway, please answer this question in the comments: What is your favorite summer food memory?

Oh yeah, there are a few rules, which you should read:

1) Prizes can only be shipped in the United States (US entrants only, please). Should you win, your mailing address will be required.
2) One entry per person. Multiple entries will be deleted and disqualified.
3) Entries must appear in the comments before 11:59 pm, Thursday, March 29, 2012.
4) Five winners shall be selected at random and announced (late) Friday, March 30, 2012.

And the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek is having a little competition on Facebook for the best new marshmallow flavor. They want suggestions from people and the winning flavor will be added to their menu. Now, I KNOW that MY readers have the creativity and palate to wipe the competition off the page. Leave your flavor suggestion on the competition page and tell them use real butter sent you.

Full disclosure: The views expressed here are entirely (and always) my own. I received a s’mores package and a comped one-night stay at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. The ski days, transportation, and meals were at my own expense.

The reason I love s’mores is because I am a complete sucker for marshmallows, and nothing compares to homemade marshmallows. This whole s’mores lovefest got me thinking that it’s high time I attempted to make my own marshmallows.

sugar, gelatin, light corn syrup, salt, vanilla, almond extract, egg whites

softening the gelatin in water

mix the sugar syrup before boiling: water, sugar, light corn syrup

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: french crullers

I went on my annual sandhill crane migration shoot in southern Colorado earlier this week with my shooting partner, Jason. We crammed driving to and from Monte Vista, four shoots, a half day at Wolf Creek (ski resort), and not a lot of sleep into 48 hours. The town of Monte Vista, Colorado holds their Crane Festival this weekend (March 9-11).

shooting at sunset

pre-dawn

tandem

silhouettes as the sun rises

A big shout out and thank you to Pro Photo Rental for supplying us with the 200-400mm Nikkor f4 and the 500mm Nikkor f4 on this trip. You can see the entire set on my photoblog. Lack of sleep combined with standing around in the dark and cold at 5 am probably resulted in the cold I came down with Wednesday evening. That made sifting through my 2,687 photos a lot of fun. But I’m on the mend now and it’s back to the business at hand. Let’s talk doughnuts. Specifically – French crullers.

all you need: eggs, flour, water, butter, salt, sugar

bring the water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil

add the flour

French crullers are my favorite doughnuts. They are eggy and light, made from pâte à choux – a sort of fried version of the cream puff. These are the ones I always search for if we ever happen upon a doughnut shop. Jeremy goes for the chocolate-filled, drenched-in-chocolate, chocolate something or other, but I am perfectly happy with a delicate, simple French cruller.

keep stirring until a thin film forms on the pan

beat the eggs in one at a time

then beat in the whites until you get a smooth and glossy batter

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: blood orange curd-filled beet doughnuts

There is chocolate for the chocoholics and then there is fruity for the fruit lovers. It isn’t just that I love fruity flavors, but they tend to come in a nice array of colors too. Remember me? I’m a parrot and I love bright colors.

sometimes even pink

Today’s recipe is indeed intended for Valentine’s day, mainly because it is pink and cute. But it’s more than that because it is both fruity AND vegetable-y. I’ve been looking around for something sweet to do with beets. So, let’s get our vegetable on, people.

flour, milk, butter, powdered sugar, cardamom, oranges, beet, salt, yeast, egg, grand marnier, beet juice

peel and dice and don’t wear white

I found an interesting recipe for beet doughnuts on Almond Corner. Most recipes call for roasting beets, but I liked this one because it cooks the beets on the stove top, simmering them in orange juice. By the time the beets are tender (it takes a while) the orange juice has reduced considerably so there isn’t a whole lot of liquid left. I puréed the beets with the juice, which meant I added a little more flour to the dough later.

diced beets, cardamom pods, and orange juice

tender

puréed

Meanwhile, heat the milk and beet juice together. Now, beet juice isn’t something I commonly see. I worried that I would have to make my own beet juice, somehow, but thankfully I found an obscure bottle of organic beet juice at Whole Foods… from Switzerland. Because my beets had enough liquid from the orange juice for the purée, I just added all of the milk-juice mix to the yeast and let it foam up.

add beet juice to the milk

foamy yeast

**Jump for more butter**