Happy Birthday Ryan

For those of you who enjoy the flavor of mint chocolate chip ice cream.....I'm going to share my recipe for birthday cake for Ryan (which he has requested every year since 2007 or 2008) - After Eight ice cream cake. Why "After Eight" you may ask? Well, when we went to Barcelona in summer, 2006, that was the equivalent flavor to mint chocolate chip.....it was EVERYWHERE, and if you don't already know, in European cities ice cream itself is EVERYWHERE, so there was no escaping partaking of it many, many times. So now After Eight is the favorite ice cream around here, and since it doesn't exist anywhere around the bay area, I had to make my own. So here goes:

First you must purchase the requisite After Eights (for the outside layers). However, to make the ice cream itself, it's much better to use the After Eight candy bar (impossible to find), the Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with Mint bar (next to impossible to find), or the Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with Mint squares (they're everywhere).

Make the ice cream. One recipe in your ice cream maker should be perfect if you've got a 1 quart maker.

5 cups half and half

1 ¼ vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped

pinch salt

1 ¼ cups sugar

10 whole egg yolks

¾ cup packed fresh mint leaves

1 cup (or however much you want) coarsely chopped After Eight or Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Bar or Squares (these actually work better in the ice cream than After Eights)

45 Individual After Eight candies (2 boxes - if your pan is any larger than 8x8 you'll need 3 boxes)

(See next page for Cookie Crust recipe and ingredient list)

Place chopped up After Eight bar in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Combine the half and half, vanilla bean, vanilla seeds and salt in a nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, then immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.

In a large bowl add the sugar and egg yolks and whisk to combine.  Add the half and half mixture, about ¼ cup at a time, to the beaten eggs and sugar, whisking after each addition. 

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and add the mint leaves.  Cook over medium-low heat until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5 to 6 minutes.  Do this SLOWLY or the egg will start to cook into chunks. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl.  Transfer the bowl to an ice bath and stir frequently until custard is completely cool.  Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Pour the custard into an ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for churning time.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the chopped After Eight bar, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Line a square 8x8 pan with After Eights

Add ice cream, leaving about 1/2" for cookie crust bottom. Add plastic wrap so that it touches the ice cream, and place in freezer for at least 30 minutes.  

For cookie crust bottom:

(I need to experiment with halving this recipe....the cookie crust could be less thick)

1 9-oz. pkg. chocolate wafer cookies
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Finely grind cookies, chips and sugar in processor. Add melted butter; blend until wet crumbs form.

Remove pan from freezer and fill pan the rest of the way with cook crust crumb mixture and freeze again until ready to serve.

After freezing again until ready to serve, you'll need to unmold by dipping the bowl into very hot water for about 7 seconds. Turn it over onto a large platter, and unmold!

If I were serving this to guests outside the immediately family, I would have removed a few of the candy pieces around the top and replaced them with new ones.....which would have aptly covered up the melty look. Fortunately, this wasn't necessary for us......we gobble it up just the way it was.

Epic San Francisco Chocolate Tour 2014

Like the Tcho-vision says: Obsessed (with chocolate)

There's no lack of love for chocolate in this household, but there's one particular boy whose passion for chocolate is probably only surpassed by his passion for dogs (although I'd have to actually check with him on that). And because this boy had some assigned-for-winter-break homework assignments (argh!) that were just not getting done, there needed to be an incentive....and so I created our first ever San Francisco Self-Guided Chocolate Tour of 2014.  I've never seen homework done so fast! So I did some research and created a map:

THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO CHOCOLATE TOUR MAP


View SF Chocolate Tour in a larger map

This might look a little daunting. As long as you're familiar with SF and have no fear of driving and finding parking, it's actually a piece of cake. I highly recommend that you begin at Tcho on the Embarcadero at Green, as first thing in the morning it's much easier to get in and out of the area. I'm also not going to review the actual chocolate....there are too many choices and too much variation. The boy is all about dark chocolate and the girl is all about milk chocolate so there ya go. This is more about an excursion of love......

And so we did begin at Tcho.....

Tcho - New American Chocolate
Bean to Bar factory and retail outlet
Embarcadero - Pier 17
[UPDATE: Tcho Factory is moving to Berkeley. As of June 7, 2014, it's not open yet.

We arrived by 10am (they open at 9) to see if we could put our name on the waiting list for the 10:30a tour. There were 6 names in front of us that did the same. So here's a tip: go in at 9a if you haven't reserved a free tour (10:30a & 2p) - tcho.com/tour.  We did not make it on the tour. While we were waiting we ordered a couple of cups of peppermint chocolate drink, and I got a Blue Bottle redeye. That's coffee with espresso added. Yep...needed to start the day right. And it was very well made. Very friendly retail staff. The displays in the store are pretty. There are a couple of samples set out - dark chocolate and milk chocolate. That's about it, really. We asked for some explanation on all the different boxes and it seems they just create pretty packaging for similar items. So we chose a few things and took our stuff outside to eat.  You see above there is a large table that you could sit inside and eat your purchased goods.....but it was a beautiful day by the water, so why not enjoy that?

XOX Truffles
Truffles made on site
North Beach

A little history....Scott and I used to live right above XOX in our first apartment together in San Francisco. It was 1988-1989. Unfortunately XOX did not exist then - but if you look at the photo below, Petite Deli did - our apartment included all four windows right above XOX (blue awning) and Petite Deli. They apparently opened in October, 1998....actually almost 9 years to the day after we moved out and up to Russian Hill.

So we discovered it on one of our nostalgic tours back around the 'hood way back when. And then, to our amazement, they opened an outlet in Oakland in Montclair. Unfortunately, it didn't last and today when I told him I missed them in Oakland, he said "I don't miss being there." Uh, okay. Then he added that it was too hard to focus on both locations. Makes sense.

Anyway, if you're like me and hate the hard shells that come on most truffles, then this is the place for you. And if you wonder where they're made, then take a look at the owner/chef making a batch. Right here, baby.....right here. 

XOX truffles are like eating only the center ganache of a truffle - and this is the only type of truffle I will eat. The flavors they offer at XOX are so delicious that you have to select at least 4 or 5 flavors. Caramel is always a favorite. I also enjoy the Kahlua. The teens liked orange and lemon and Earl Grey among others.

You can then take your lovely truffles and a coffee and sit outside to enjoy watching all of the Columbus Ave. passers-by.

Moving along, we made our way over to Hayes Valley.

Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates
Hayes Valley

Christopher Elbow is an old favorite. After years and years of SF Boys Chorus and SF Girls Chorus, I have haunted every Hayes Valley location and then some. Especially during the holidays when rehearsals at Davies Symphony Hall were long and frequent. Their liquid chocolate comes in a number of different flavors and it is just over-the-top deliciousness. Their service is almost always top-notch (save for some black Friday craziness, but they get a pass for that). So on this day, a Friday morning with not too many customers, the lovely gal lived up to what I expected in service. There were samples offered to the kids while I was in the restroom (and btw, I'm obsessed with their sink - please check out their bathroom while you're there) and when I returned they had each almost finished their selections of chocolates. They also have seating that is super-comfy. All-around enjoyable experience here.

Now over to Noe Valley.  Unfortunately, I spent a good deal of time trying to locate some Sixth Course Chocolates. They apparently do very well in the International Chocolate Salons held in SF, so I thought we could get some at 24th St. Cheese Co. Sadly they were out and hadn't ordered any more - but meant to. LOL.  Okay...the kids did a little salumi tasting and chose a spicy salami to buy. They enjoyed the little break from sweets. Fortunately, we were only a couple of blocks from......

Chocolate Covered
Noe Valley

Storefront from the Chocolate Covered website

Holy moley.....the holy grail of all chocolate bars you may be looking for from around the world. Truly wonderful shop that you could peruse for hours. The owner is very helpful and knowledgeable and figures out what you're looking for, then provides samples in that realm to help you choose. The boy may have offended him a little as we discussed Oakland, and Bittersweet, and the fact that the owner's friend, who started Bittersweet, went to Hawaii to start up a new chocolate venture - growing beans to bars - and the boy said "oh - Lonohana? I didn't like their chocolate." Way to go dude. To be fair, he's only tried the 'Ele'Ele bar and is open to trying others. Doink.

Give yourselves some time here, as there is much to be seen. 

And now for some lunch......

ChocolateLab - A Savory and Sweet Cafe by Rechiutti
Dogpatch

Apparently even chocolatiers want to do other things (isn't it usually tech or business people who want to pitch it all and make chocolate?)

So ChocolateLab has a few very nice menu items, including this sweet little chicken pot pie that the girl ordered and loved. 

The boy ordered a cheese plate that included 3-4 cheeses, crackers, dates, an olive and some honey produced from bees on-site. He was in heaven. I ordered their quinoa bowl with veggies & apples - apparently if you like turkey the smoked turkey version is amazing. I was happy with my choice.

And then there was the dessert menu that includes many decadent items. The boy almost went for the brownie concotion, but at the last second switched to the drinking chocolate with marshmallows. Wait a sec.....didn't he get that at Tcho, also? This is a boy who likes to keep his chocolate as pure as possible.....

  

After we left we stopped next door to Little Nib, their tiny Recchiuti retail location. This is our first run-in with service that was just okay....or worse. Not a lot of help in sorting through their selection, even when asked....and no samples at all. I don't require samples, but all in all, the store was just... meh. If you like their chocolate, try the Ferry Building location....I have to believe the service is much better.  I think it was a theme, because right around the corner on 3rd St. is.....

Poco Dolce

Dogpatch

We walked in and there's a small retail area with product placed around the front, then desks for workers behind the counter. You're very much left on your own....and the guy who came to the front to help mostly sneered at us and had a bit of that hipster-holier-than-thou 'tude.  After we selected and paid for a couple of items completely without help or input, he did offer a sample of toffee he had to the back of the counter. It was good....but didn't make up for the unwelcome feeling for most of the visit. Really no need to return here....if you like their chocolate they sell it elsewhere.

And we're off to Potrero...which really wasn't going to be part of the tour. However, since we didn't find Sixth Course in Noe Valley, and we had some time, we ran over to Salumeria, which was also supposed to carry them. Nope. Out.  Okay - how about down the block at Heath Ceramics?  Sorry - they were here yesterday! Somebody must have bought them all! Grrrr. Never mind - I'll get some beans at the Blue Bottle that shares the Heath space, and then let's just add....

Charles Chocolates

Potrero Hill

Sweet little shop right next to Charlotte Russe headquarters (hey CR peeps-they do high tea-let's meet for that sometime!).  They actually make the chocolates between 7a and 3p....the retail shop opens at 11a....so if you're there between 11a and 3p you'll see some action.  There are also tours.....which eekgaawd you have to pay for! Aw well, had I planned to come, I'd still have paid to tour. Very sweet girl working the counter....and samples were out and easy to find.  All this time, this place has been less than 3 blocks from the SPCA where the boy volunteers weekly, and he had no idea. Hee hee.

Okay....after running into a friend at Chocolate Covered, we ended up hanging with them awhile at their Noe Valley pad, mere blocks from our ultimate desination.....

Dandelion Chocolate

Dandelion Chocolate Tours and Classes

Bean to Bar Chocolate made in the Mission, SF

Mission District

I had crafted the day to end at Dandelion to take advantage of their 6:00pm public tour. My inability to navigate their website appropriately actually helped us in the long run. I called Tuesday, they told me where to go on the website, I said okay, then couldn't find it and filled in a private event webform, then called Friday morning and they said "just come right before and we can usually fit people in" and so we did and then they were full...... I tell you all this because I want you to know the story I told Chelsea, working at the cash register and listening to the crazy lady tell her tale of woe. So Chelsea, who happens to have taught at both Montera Middle School and Oakland Tech (she doesn't look much older than the students so I don't know how that happened!), as I found out later, went upstairs to talk to someone. She came down 10 minutes later to let us know that if, in fact, we could not hop onto the last tour, then the CEO would give us a private tour at 6:30p, if we didn't mind waiting. Wow......just wow. We didn't mind waiting. As we sat at one of their comfy tables, just talking and taking it all in, and frankly, relaxing, since we'd been on our tour-de-chocolate since 10am, Chelsea brought over 3 cups of drinking chocolate....gratis. And pointed to where the marshmallows are that can be added, if you'd like. (Are you keeping track of the # of drinking chocolates the boy specifically has had at this point? 3.  It's 3. Seriously, 3.) This is when we chatted awhile longer with Chelsea, found out her Oakland connection, and fell in love with her. And while you chat with her, notice that she sounds and has mannerisms JUST LIKE Kelly Clarkson. For real. And I'm not the only one who has told her that.....Chelsea also did tell us that there was another guy who had been hanging around and just really, really, really wanted a tour, and would it be okay if he came on our tour? Cuz you know it was "our tour" now. Well, yes of course - anyone who is as passionate about good chocolate as we are should be able to come on "our tour."

Waiting for "our tour"

Anyway, just before 6:30 Todd came out and took us back for a tour. It lasted about 45-ish minutes and covered every single thing I wanted to know. Todd was patient and broke down every component of the process so we understood. We were patient with the guy who came on "our tour" with all of his questions because he was "in the industry." And by that I mean he used to be a coffee guy. Beans, you know. But he kind of really didn't know. Whatever.

The retail space sets out many sample of their bars....which are all made with cacao and sugar, period. End of story. No added cocoa fats, cocoa butter (that's for smooth, supple skin, anyway, right?), no lecithin, nothing but the chocolate and the sugar. There are a ton of menu items, including a fruit blended drink made from the fruit of the cacao bean.....which is not a chocolate flavor at all.

Bottom line is that Dandelion became and will remain our favorite chocolate location in SF. We will visit it and drink it and eat it and wash in it and talk about it and BART to it and try to intern at it forever because of the service we received. Thank you Dandelion, for topping off our SF Chocolate tour so spectacularly!

Because we were a little dizzy from our day o' chocolate, we topped it off with great Mission mexican food at Tacqueria el Buen Sabor at Valencia and 18th. Not a hipster joint....real and true food and beer and horchata. Whew. I think we can go home now. Ni-night San Francisco!

The Day of the Lemon Cake

Sierra has been wanting to make a cake for a week. No particular reason. Well, if sugar counts as a reason, then yeah, one particular reason. So after searching for just the right flavor and recipe, she came upon a Lemon Cake recipe that looked pretty tasty.

We didn't realize that it also happened to be Gluten Free until we were really concentrating on writing down the ingredients for the shopping list. One would think it would be difficult to find brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, guar gum, and maybe even lemon extract. But guess what? Whole Foods has every single one of these items in one aisle!



So with our ingredients in hand, Sierra began the cake making process. First the cake part - pretty straightforward - mix a bunch of stuff together, pour in a pan, and bake. One ingredient we somehow overlooked was canola oil. I always have coconut oil on hand, so I got it out, heated it just enough to bring it to liquid state, then gave it to Sierra to add to a milk/lemon zest mixture she needed to do before incorporating into the cake batter. Guess what happens when you mix coconut oil with cold milk? Uh huh. Back to solid. Oh well, warmed the mixture again back to liquid and had no problems after that.





Next was the lemon curd. This was where she used the guar gum. Very easy and it thickened up really nicely.



So we split the two cake layers in half and basically made lemon curd sandwiches of them before putting them back together for frosting. This is the only part I was allowed to do because she didn't trust herself to split the cakes horizontally.



Finally, there was frosting to be made. I cannot believe it has taken me all these years to realize it - but I only learned about a month ago that you can make your own powdered sugar by putting granulated sugar in a powerful enough blender. What a money saver. So she made some powdered sugar, added it to butter, lemon, lemon extract, and lemon zest and that was the frosting. Oh, 1 1/2 times the recipe of course, for decorating purposes.

It was time for the base level of frosting.



But just a simple layer of frosting isn't too exciting, now is it? So you need some whoop-te-doos and piping and whatnot, and of course some sprinkles, because what is a cake without sprinkles? Wait...I wonder if the sprinkles un-gluten-freed the cake!?! Hmmmm.



And the finished cake with the baker.



And finally, the cake after cutting. It always gets dark outside when I'm trying to photograph food and you just can't see the layers as well as I'd like - but they're there, believe me.



UPDATE: Daytime photo of the yummy layers



I told Sierra this and I don't think she truly believes me...but this is the best cake I have ever eaten. I cannot explain exactly why - of course it was made with love, and it's flavors that I adore, etc. - but the flavors shine through with the exact right amount of sweet, moist, and flavorful: not too much or too little of anything.

I would say that you could potentially double the lemon curd recipe if you really like lemon curd....I thought we really weren't going to be able to taste it at all because it's a pretty thin layer, but surprisingly it held up really well and you could definitely taste it.

If you'd like to try it yourself, you can go to the Lemon Layer Cake recipe at Epicurious. It's from the November, 2005 Gourmet, which, like any good packrat, I have in my "November section" of my food magazine racks.

And yes, I did call this The DAY of the Lemon Cake for a reason. What was supposed to be a 2-hour-total-time cake recipe somehow took around 5 hours. Oh well, that's okay. It was worth it.

HOMEMADE HERBAL COUGH DROPS




It's that time of year again folks. Cough/cold/nasty what-the-heck-is-that-person-hacking-up time. We go through bags and bags and bags of Ricola. The only person who is a bigger baby about having a sore throat than me is Sierra. Way bigger. Where'd she get that from? So I thought...hmmm...how hard can it be to make these things? Turns out not hard at all. You just have to approach it like I try to approach sewing - NO FEAR.


So I researched (you know...I googled it) recipes, formulas, and herbs and settled in on one recipe. All properties described are internet-retrieved, so you choose whether to believe the purported properties of the herbs. However, I will say that my brain believed them as I sucked on the finished product.


Here's the recipe:


1 cup dried herbs (see here for herb guide). Mix and match according to your preference

3 cups boiling water

3 1/2 cups brown sugar or same amount of honey [see note about honey]

2 teaspoons peppermint extract if desired (may not go with honey?!)

Candy thermometer


First you will want to steep the dried herbs in the tea. Steep for about 30 minutes or so. Strain well using a tea press or cheesecloth.

Next add brown sugar or honey over medium heat and bring to a boil slowly. Be sure to keep stirring constantly. When the brown sugar or honey herbs mixture reaches 290 to 300 degrees and pulls apart in threads it is done.

At this point remove from heat and add the peppermint extract if desired. You can then proceed to pull the mixture like taffy and make little balls. Or the easiest and fastest thing to do is spread over a cookie sheet. I tried putting them in a loaf pan (I made a 1/2 recipe) and scoring them. When the herbal mixture it hardens you can then break into pieces. Use wax paper to store them.

[Note about honey - These tasted great but after a couple of weeks in a container began to draw in moisture and try to become liquid again. Still edible....just had to twist a piece off. Someone suggested putting one of those little silicon(e)? packets inside the container to prevent this which I think I'll try next time]


The herbs were easy to find. Whole Foods was my first stop and they had everything but horehound. However, next time I'll just go to Lhasa K to get everything, which is where I found the horehound.

This is what the dried herbs look like pre-tea:

Horehound has been used for decades for coughs and bronchial upsets. It is a great herb for breaking up congestion. It contains murubiin which stimulates bronchial secretions.

Mullien is an herb that will help soothe the bronchial and lungs. It is extremely gentle and effective. It will help ease coughs.

This herb is used to help relieve inflammation of the bronchial.

So you make up this big pan of tea and then do the straining:

The tea comes out looking like this:


Then, put it back in a pan with the brown sugar or honey.


Pour it in a pan (for a 1/2 recipe I used a loaf pan)....next time I'll probably line the pan with wax paper and butter it, for easier removal.
If you decide to pour it on a cookie sheet you're done. You'll simply break it up like brittle when it's ready. But if you use a pan like I did (thinking I could make the shape of the original herbal flavor Ricolas) you need to score the cough drops...unless you're a hard candy expert and know how to quickly and efficiently pull and shape the taffy-like candy into little balls. That's not me so I'm scoring. The challenge is that you have to score when it's not too hot and not too cool. I would run my small, sharp knife through a little butter, then dip the tip in and draw a line. Sometimes I'd start at the edges and do the edges all the way around, then wait as the middle cooled a bit more a go back in a little at a time. When it's too hot the candy sticks to the knife - too cool, you won't be able to score it at all.

Sounds hard but it's not. Although I do want to look into getting hard candy molds so I can make nice little round balls without the taffy-pulling part. Good luck!

Today's project - homemade peppermint patties. Yum-yum. I looked up this recipe almost two years ago and never got a chance to make them until now. Why now? Because I'm avoiding finishing my other project....sewing box cushion covers. Whenever I get to a particularly tricky part of a sewing project, I completely retreat to something I know I can accomplish. Ah well - at least I'm getting through some of the recipes on my To Do list.

These are the easiest thing to make ever. I found the recipe here, but I substituted 1 bar of Scharffenberger 70% Dark Chocolate (9.7 oz) for the 16 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. It was plenty of chocolate and I love dark chocolate.

This is what it looks like in the process:

After mixing and kneading sort of like a dough, it gets rolled out and cut into it's circles. I used the top of a salad dressing bottle. I would have taken a photo of the kneading process, but it was so sticky I had to get a rubber spatula and go over my hands with it to get it all off....not a good combo for trying to use a camera.

Little circles all lined up, waiting for their chocolate bath:

Ahhh.....dunking in the good stuff (and by the way - the recipe says you can put the chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler - I highly recommend the double boiler):

Now fork me out of here:

And let me rest in the refrigerator to firm up:


And finally, the inside of the finished product:



Perfection. But I guess tomorrow I really do have to get back to those covers. Aargh.

It's Valentine's Day so how could I not take the opportunity to make a crazy-rich dessert? This is called "Love and Death by Chocolate" and the original recipe can be found at the blog raspberry eggplant. I did/would change a couple of things....I used a different meringue recipe that included cream of tartar and I'd probably make a smidge more chocolate mousse. Fair warning: there are six different recipes to be made before even contemplating assembly....so I started on Sunday. Frankly, that made it easier because with such great pre-planning (for once), it felt like a really easy dessert to make. However, if I added up all the time spent on it.....well, I don't think I'll do that...... Here's a photo of the assembled parts before pouring on the final ganache and plating:

If you're interested in the recipe, I've put it into an easy-to-follow order in Word and I can e-mail it to you. It really is a crazy amount of chocolate, and one of these things is easily enough to feed 2 or 3 people. So is anyone interested in the leftover four that are in the fridge?

New Hidden Post 5.26.08: Here is the vegetarian marshmallow recipe info.....combining the Chocolate and Zucchini recipe with the xanthan gum version in Elizabeth Falkner's "Demolition Desserts". I have not yet tried this....but the recipes seem to be equivalent in volume, so the xanthan gum quantity should be correct....but may need to be played around with a little. Good luck!

Updated Hidden Post 7.21.08: Success! I finally got a chance to make these today and they turned out GREAT! Just like they should! I decided to omit the chocolate version altogether. I didn't like the consistency on the original, so I know I still won't like it vegetarian. So I've updated the recipe to reflect this. The consistency is slightly softer than the gelatin version - so you'll see I've suggested maybe adding a smidge more xanthan gum and maybe a couple less teaspoons of rose syrup - but either way they will turn out fine. They are not the most shapely of squares or rectangles, but you might be able to work it out better than me with a little practice. They taste great - but I'm not sure if you can roast them. Somebody try and let me know!

Guimauve à la Rose Vegetarian Version

- 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum (maybe a smidge more....like 1 ¾ tsp)

- 3 egg whites

- 40 grams (2 rounded tablespoons) agave syrup (substitute honey)

- 230 grams (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar (vegan if possible)

- 6-8 teaspoons rose syrup (substitute rose water) (if you don't want rose-flavored, try substituting vanilla - maybe around 4 teaspoons or 1/2 to a whole vanilla bean boiled with the sugar mixture, then removed)

For finish:

- 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar- 2 tablespoons potato or corn starch, sieved (I think I use a lot more....just sift a bunch into a bowl - better safe than sorry)

On day one:

Line a square 20 by 20-cm (8 by 8-inch) baking dish with parchment paper (alternatively, you can use two loaf pans or small silicon molds).

Have the egg whites ready in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl if you're going to use an electric whisk.

Combine the agave syrup, sugar, and 90 ml (6 tablespoons) water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stir to dissolve, and keep at a simmer for 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks just begin to form. Don’t overbeat the egg whites: they should be foamy but still soft-peaking - definitely not stiff - when you pour in the syrup.

With the beater still on, add the hot syrup in a slow, steady stream. As soon as you’ve added all the hot syrup to the egg whites, add 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum while continuing to whisk. Keep whisking until the mixture cools down to just above room temperature.

Whisk in the rose syrup (or alternatively vanilla) quickly.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and even out the surface with a spatula. (At this point I sift confectioner’s sugar on top). Refrigerate for 24 hours.

On day two:

Combine sifted confectioner's sugar and/or potato starch in a wide, shallow bowl.

Have ready a mug of very hot water. Lift the parchment paper to remove the guimauve from the pan, and transfer the whole thing carefully to a cutting board, and cut the guimauve into squares, using a sharp knife that you'll dip in the mug to keep the blade warm.

Transfer the cubes of guimauve three at a time, using your fingers to separate them delicately, into the prepared bowl of confectioner's sugar and coat them well. The cubes will have a maddening tendency to stick to one another, to your fingers, and to the bowl (the top surface is especially sticky), so keep them separate and handle them lightly.

Once coated, set the cubes aside on a plate, and leave them out to dry for 2 or 3 hours, flipping them halfway through. Transfer them in a fine-mesh sieve a handful at a time, and shake over the sink to remove the excess confectioner's sugar.

Guimauve keeps for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container. I also like to keep them in the refrigerator.