Bryan Voltaggio's White Hot Chocolate with Orange & Fennel Marshmallows

SERVES 4

For the Hot Chocolate:

INGREDIENTS
560 grams    2% milk
200 grams    white chocolate
1 ½ tsp         grated orange zest
½ ea             cinnamon stick
½ ea             star anise
½ tsp            fennel pollen
½ ea             scraped vanilla bean

STEPS
Heat the milk to a simmer.
Add the aromatics, basically everything except the chocolate.
Let the flavors meld for about 20 minutes.
Add the chocolate by incorporating with a wooden spoon.
Mix in the chocolate until totally combined.
Strain the hot chocolate using a fine mesh strainer.
Reserve hot until ready to serve.

For the Orange & Fennel Marshmallows:

INGREDIENTS
250 grams        sugar
100 grams        egg whites
125 grams        water
5 each              gelatin sheets
¼ cup               10x sugar
¼ cup              cornstarch
1 tsp                grated orange zest
½ tsp               fennel pollen

STEPS
Bring 125 grams of water and all of the sugar to a simmer.
Cook the sugar until it reaches 129C on a candy thermometer.
Meanwhile in the mixer start to whip the egg whites to soft peak.
Bloom the gelatin in ice water.
Warm the gelatin after bloomed in a microwave until melted and warm.
Add the gelatin to the finished sugar.
Then add the sugar to the egg whites.
Flavor as desired at this point.
Once the marshmallow starts to cool enough to handle and soft peaks form, remove from the mixer.
Using a pastry bagpipe the marshmallows into desired shapes.
Dust with the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture.