Marshmallow puffs a tasty reminder of baking with mom

An award-winning recipe from 1969 is still a winner for bakers in 2014.

If you’ve followed my column for any length of time, you know I am a huge fan of the Pillsbury Bake-Off. But what you might not know is my affection for the Bake-Off’s goodies started in 1969, with the Grand Prize-winning Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs.

Picture me as an aspiring 4-year-old cook, standing on a kitchen chair and dipping marshmallows in butter and a sugar-cinnamon mixture, then handing them to my mom to carefully place in the dough and seal. My 7-year-old brother then took the delicate, dough-wrapped marshmallows and dipped them in butter before placing them in buttered muffin tins.

The delicious result that came from the oven was truly magical. I was hooked. Where did the marshmallow go? It looked like a muffin, but it was hollow. What was that amazing, almost candylike coating on the inside of the dough? Oh, and yes, please, drizzle away with that heavenly icing.

Years later I learned the puffs were from Edna M. Walker of Eden Prairie, Minn., and that my mom had gotten the recipe from a pamphlet she picked up at the grocery store. I would even end up making the puffs in the kitchen with my children in an assembly-line cooking class, just as she did.

So please enjoy my all-time favorite Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe — Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs. I was thrilled to find the original little pamphlet tucked away in my mom’s recipe box, and it is pictured with the latest batch from my kitchen. The accompanying recipe is taken directly from the pamphlet and includes all brand names as such.

Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs

(1969 Pillsbury Bake-Off Grand Prize Winner)

Yield: Makes 16 rolls

Start to finish: Less than 30 minutes (see Cook’s Note)

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans (8 ounces each) Pillsbury Original Crescents

16 Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows

¼ cup butter or Parkay margarine, melted

¼ cup chopped nuts, if desired

Icing

½ cup sifted powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Separate crescent dough into 16 triangles. Dip a marshmallow in melted margarine, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Wrap a dough triangle around each marshmallow, completely covering marshmallow and squeezing edges of dough tightly to seal. Dip sealed side in margarine and place margarine-side down in greased deep muffin pans. Repeat with remaining marshmallows.

Place pan on a cooking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. For icing, combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Immediately remove puffs from pans and drizzle with icing. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve warm.

Approximate values per roll: 200 calories, 10 g fat (4 g saturated), 11 mg cholesterol, 1 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates, no dietary fiber, 249 mg sodium.

Cook’s Note: Nutritional analysis and start-to-finish time is provided only for my readers’ information and is not an official part of Pillsbury’s recipe. My admiration of the Bake-Off is completely my own; I’m not a paid spokesman of the company.

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