Of course I succeeded in making perfect Mallo Cups, right? Really? Guess again. I've never had any candy this difficult to control, for the marshmallow cream melts at a moments notice and flows over top of or beside any chocolate/coconut topping used.
My sweetheart Peggy loves dark chocolate, while I prefer milk chocolate. That really isn't a problem here because I have both milk and dark chocolate in Belgian couverture grades - (Callebaut® Milk and Dark chocolate for dipping candy).
Per usual I scanned the Internet looking for a decent recipe. Finding none I simply starting listing what I would need. I had an early advantage as my Food Nirvana recipe for marshmallow creme is excellent. Then I proceeded to get it all together and make my first batch.
That first batch had two valuable learnings for me. First, I needed to provide some structural stability to my marshmallow creme ... so I used xanthan gum (which wasn't enough to achieve what I needed). Second, I had to amp up the coconut flavor, and the easiest way was to buy a coconut flavor concentrate and use it in making the marshmallow creme. So I did, online from OliveNation.com. Oh, yes, I also mixed ground sweetened coconut into the chocolate I used to coat the tops of my Mallo Cup clones.
The idea is that trying to get coconut flavoring into the chocolate is more of a problem than simply putting it into the marshmallow creme. Voila! Easy! Done! And the top coating of chocolate has the same fine coconut in it as the commercial version from Boyer®. Too bad it doesn't properly cover the marshmallow cream. Well, that is why this recipe is identified as "in research." I honestly don't know if or when I will solve this problem.
The chocolate used for Mallo® Cups from Boyers® is certainly okay but fine couverture grades of Belgian chocolate (Callebaut® ... buy it via Amazon®), milk and dark, are a definite upgrade. So that is what I use in this recipe, individually or mixed, your choice.
Ingredients: (makes 24 large [each between 1.5 ounces and 2.0 ounces] Mallo® Cups)
1 jumbo egg white
2/3 cup of light corn syrup
1/8 tsp. of sea salt
2/3 cup of confectioner's sugar
2 tsp. of concentrated coconut flavoring
1/4 tsp. of Xanthan gum powder
1/4 cup of ground fresh coconut (I use a Magic Bullet® to grind sweetened coconut flakes/strands)
3 cups of high quality melted chocolate (about 5 to 6 cups of shaved chocolate pieces or buttons)
Directions:
Combine the egg white, corn syrup, sea salt and coconut flavoring in an electric mixer bowl. Mix at high speed for three minutes, then add the Xanthan gum, dusting it in gradually during the high speed mixing.
Mix at high speed for seven more minutes, then switch to low speed to add the confectioner's sugar. Add it gradually.
Now mix at high speed for about three minutes and you will have a delightful mildly coconut flavored marshmallow creme with sufficient body to hold a shape when a spoonful is dispensed onto a flat surface.
Dispense 24 tablespoon sized dollops of marshmallow creme onto parchment paper on a 12"x17" baking sheet.
Put the baking sheet into the deep freeze.
Set out 24 regular size cupcake liners into two, 12 openings cupcake pans.
Put shaved pieces of chocolate (and/or chocolate buttons) into a large microwave safe polypropylene bowl or into a one quart heat resistant sugar cane fiber bowl. The sugar cane fiber bowls can be purchased through Amazon® in units of 50 for 29 cents each, and they are reusable, and they are the right choice for melting small amounts of chocolate, like one cup. Those bowls are the wrong choice if you are trying to melt more than one cup of chocolate pieces at a time, as they can develop hot spots on the bottom, so in that instance use a polypropylene bowl.
If you plan to melt all of the chocolate at one time then you will need a bowl with a two quart capacity. I recommend doing the melting in two or three additions to the polypropylene bowl. That way you can mix it more easily and better control the temperature of the chocolate while heating it.
Prepare your chocolate by microwaving it in the bowl in one 30 second cycle on full power, and then in multiple 15 second (or less) increments (stirring well between each heating cycle) until the chocolate is completely melted. Do not allow the chocolate temperature to exceed 92 degrees F. You can use an instant read thermometer or a candy thermometer to check the temperature after each stirring cycle.
Spoon about one tablespoon of melted chocolate into a cupcake liner and use the tip of a teaspoon to spread the chocolate so the entire bottom of the liner is covered evenly.
Repeat that step for the other 23 cupcake liners.
Chill the chocolate coated cupcake liners in the deep freeze for ten minutes to set the chocolate.
Now segregate the melted chocolate into two portions. One will be plain melted chocolate. Mix in the ground fresh coconut into the other portion. Check the temperatures of both portions and heat very briefly only if necessary to allow the chocolate to flow.
Place a piece of chilled marshmallow creme filling in one of the cupcake pan openings on top of the bottom layer of chocolate, centered. Press on it with your finger to make it flat on top but DO NOT LET the filling touch the paper cupcake liners.
Repeat that operation until all 24 cupcake liners and all 24 pieces of Marshmallow Creme filling have been used.
In the next step you will cover around the perimeter of the filling pieces with plain melted chocolate and later cover the top of the candy with the melted chocolate containing ground fresh coconut. Remember the goal is to barely cover the filling pieces, not to fill up the cupcake liner. Doing it right will result in a Mallo Cup size that is generous and with the right ratio of chocolate to Mallo Cup filling. Use too much chocolate early on and you will simply see the marshmallow cream reappear.
Dispense the plain melted chocolate around the perimeter of the Mallo Cup filling for all 24 mallo cups. But do not dispense more chocolate than necessary. Just barely fill the gaps around the Mallo Cup filling and assure that melted chocolate has flowed around the filling down to the chocolate base. You can do the fine work indicated with a kitchen baster.
Now put the mallo cups into the deep freeze to make the chocolate and the marshmallow cream as stiff as possible. Then repeat the above step putting a thin perimeter of melted chocolate with ground coconut on/above a small circle of marshmallow cream, connecting the melted chocolate to the chocolate already dispensed.
Repeat the freezing and chocolate dispensing until no exposed marshmallow areas exist.
Allow the Mallo Cups to sit undisturbed in the deep freeze until the chocolate has hardened/set.
Enjoy!