I’m participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) which means I’m blogging every day of November, 2013!
Marshmallows are so much fun to make (and eat)…with the holidays coming up, it’s the perfect time to have homemade marshmallows around! You can use them in lots of different ways: bake them into the top of Thanksgiving sweet potatoes, melt them in homemade s’mores, float them in hot chocolate. Or just eat them plain ;)
This recipe comes from The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen
, a beautiful, relatively new book. The super nice people from Clarkson Potter sent me a review copy a few months ago. I have a couple of the Lee Bros. cookbooks and I really love them all!
To make homemade marshmallows, you will need a candy thermometer. I have
this one
and it works great. If you are on the fence about whether you need one of these or not, I say go for it! If you ever want to make any kind of homemade candy (I give away small packages of homemade candy to friends and family during the holiday season), it’s such a useful thing to have.
I made these marshmallows with Knox brand gelatin that you buy from the grocery store. An alternative is to use grass-fed gelatin
. I haven’t tried this yet, but I plan to soon.
This recipe calls for sorghum syrup
, a traditional Southern sweetener. I used cane syrup instead: Lyles Golden Syrup
is really lovely. Or, you can make these with light corn syrup: I’d seek out an organic brand like this one
in order to avoid GMOs. (Note that corn syrup is not the same thing as high fructose corn syrup. Using the former in a recipe now and then is not going to harm you, but I do recommend avoiding things like commercial sodas that contain the latter.)
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More homemade marshmallows:
Springy Fluffy Marshmallows from Smitten Kitchen
Homemade Marshmallows from David Lebovitz
Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows from Merry Gourmet
Rustic Homemade Marshmallows with Honey from The Urban Poser
Butter’s Marshmallow Recipe from CakeSpy
Real Deal Marshmallows from An Organic Wife
Chocolate Swirl Cinnamon Marshmallows from Food52
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Recipe for Homemade Marshmallows
Ingredients
- *3 envelopes .75 ounce total unflavored powdered gelatin
- *1/2 cup cold water
- *1 1/2 cups granulated sugar I used fair-trade, organic sugar
- *1 1/4 cups sorghum molasses or cane syrup or organic light corn syrup
- *1/4 teaspoon kosher salt I used fine sea salt
- *1/2 cup water
- *1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract my addition...not in the original recipe
- *1/4 cup cornstarch I used organic
- *1/4 cup powdered sugar I used fair-trade, organic
Instructions
- 1. Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water in bowl of a heavy-duty electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Let stand for about 8 minutes.
- 2. Stir together sweeteners, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a medium-large saucepan over medium-high heat; cover and cook 3-4 minutes, bringing to a boil. Uncover and boil, stirring often, until syrup thickens and a candy thermometer registers 240° (about 8 to 12 minutes; lower heat as necessary to prevent mixture from boiling over).
- 3. Immediately remove hot sugar mixture from the heat and, with the mixer on low-medium speed, slowly trickle it into the gelatin mixture. Beat mixture for 30 seconds or until blended. Add vanilla extract and increase speed to high; beat 10 to 15 minutes or until mixture cools to lukewarm and is very thick but still pourable (it may take less than 10 minutes so watch pretty closely...the marshmallow batter will turn white and look very fluffy at this point).
- 4. While the gelatin mixture whips, butter a 9x13-inch baking pan. In a bowl, whisk together cornstarch and powdered sugar. Dust baking dish with 1-2 tablespoons of the cornstarch mixture and return any remaining mixture back to the bowl.
- 5. Pour marshmallow batter into prepared dish; smooth with a lightly greased rubber spatula. Dust with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cornstarch mixture. (Cover remaining cornstarch mixture tightly, and reserve). Let marshmallow mixture stand, uncovered, in a cool, dry place 8 to 14 hours or until dry enough to release from baking dish and no longer sticky.
- 6. Dust a cutting board (or piece of parchment paper) and a large chef's knife (or a pizza wheel) with the remaining powdered sugar mixture. Invert marshmallow slab onto cutting board or parchment paper and cut into squares (the recipe recommends cutting each one into a 1-inch square...note that I cut mine much larger for the photos you see here). Toss squares in reserved sugar mixture to coat. Store marshmallows in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.
