The Fork and The Road, LLC

Mallo Cups, Marshmallows and Zero Willpower

Altoona - 3 years ago - Mary

I love marshmallow. I know, I know. It’s overly sweet and often contains “bad” ingredients like corn syrup and  artificial this ‘n that, but there’s something about that white fluffy heaven that makes it irresistible to me. So imagine my excitement to find that one of my childhood favorites, the Mallo Cup, is made only a few hours away in Altoona, Pennsylvania! It got me thinking about my favorite  marshmallow-y foods.

1.  First, the Mallo Cup. A little blob of runny marshmallow enclosed in a chocolate/coconut shell. Okay, so it might not be  made from single estate chocolate or natural cane sugar, but one bite of this brings me right back to Halloween night in the 60s, when I would sort my candy   – give the Clark bars to my dad and save all the Mallo cups for myself. I love them. The factory store in Altoona sells all sorts of Boyer brand candy and other related gifts, as well as large boxes of seconds.

They don’t do factory tours, but in the factory store you can watch a video of the production that aired on the Food Network’s Unwrapped show a few years ago.

2.  The homemade (store-made, actually) chocolate covered marshmallows at Rauhauser’s Candies in Ocean City, New Jersey. Tender and creamy marshmallow coated with a thin coating of chocolate, these squares are better than the usual beach treats of salt water taffy to me.  I like their crunchy version and the chocolate-caramel ones, too. Once I tasted these, chocolate dipped supermarket marshmallows just didn’t cut it.

3.  Marshmallow Fluff. Nothing else needs to be said. Except that in college, we would dip a spoon in the fluff, then in peanut butter then in mini chocolate chips. The Freshman 15 explained in just a few bites!

4.  Next come the toasted coconut marshmallows from Make A Cake on Rochester Road in the North Hills section of Pittsburgh.  Wandering around a cake supply store is my idea of fun and just think of my joy when I came across these.  When the marshmallow is “in season” ( I think success of making it is weather dependent.) I buy a few pieces, tell myself I’ll wait until I get home to eat it, and then proceed to devour the entire bag even before I get out of the parking lot.

5.  Lastly,  when I’m in an epicurean mood,  I need Little Flower Candy Company’s marshmallows. Cut into big squares, they come in chocolate, cinnamon, coffee and vanilla. I  buy them at Mon Aimee Chocolat in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.  These marshmallows  make  elegant dippers for chocolate fondue and are pretty in hot chocolate.Their texture is more solid than Mallo Cup marshmallow or Marshmallow Fluff.

Sometimes I just want to look at pictures of marshmallows. Then I pull out Marshmallows: Homemade Gourmet Treats by Eileen Talanian and dream of happy marshmallow filled days.