These homemade marshmallows are a blast! Fluffy and springy they are tons of fun to make, especially with children. The best part is getting to cut them out. But I also love the versatility of what can be created. The possibilities are endless. I recent watched a cooking show that featured mango flavored marshmallows! Wow!
For now, to suit my holiday purposes I'll stick to vanilla or peppermint flavored marshmallows to melt into my hot chocolate. Yum!
You can flavor these DIY marshmallows with anything you like. You can color them any color you like. You can cut them out into any shape you want. You can use cookie cutters to cut out initials and then coat them in chocolate as a gift! My mind could go on and on and on. Mmmmm, I do love chocolate covered marshmallow...
Coming back to reality, this recipe is a real treat. You've got to try it. Plus it makes tons of marshmallows to last you a very long time. My children had a hay day with my cookie cutters, cutting out all sorts of shapes. I would have pictured them here but the 'mallows didn't last long enough :0)
Some important things to know before creating these marshmallows at home. You will need either a candy thermometer or an instant-read thermometer. You don't need a stand mixer, but using a hand held mixer will definitely take longer to whip up the ingredients. AND this can get super messy if you try to get all the marshmallow cream out of the bowl when you are transferring to the cookie sheet. Don't worry if there is some left in the bowl. The stickiness is intense and it will leave threads of marshmallow on everything.
I hope you enjoy these marshmallows and that you get creative with them. It's really a treat!
DIY Peppermint Marshmallows
by
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: chill 3 hours
Ingredients (80-100 marshmallows)
- Crisco shortening (for oiling the pan)
- 12 1/2 X 17 inch rimmed baking sheet (can use 13 X 9 for thicker marshmallows)
- about 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons of powdered unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup cold water, divided into 1/2 cups
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large egg whites
- peppermint flavoring extract
- Optional: food coloring
Instructions
Start by thoroughly greasing a 12 1/2 by 17 inch rimmed baking sheet with crisco. Dust with powdered sugar and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix 1/2 cup of cold water and gelatin and set aside.
In a 3 quart heavy sauce pan, combine the other 1/2 cup of water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt and heat on medium low. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring up the heat to medium and boil until the mixture reaches a temperature of 240 degrees. Remove from heat and pour over the gelatin. Stir to combine.
With the whisk attachment, beat the mixture until it is white, thick and nearly tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add them to the whipped sugar. Add three drops of concentrated peppermint oil. (I used LorAnn brand in a .125 oz bottle). If you are using a flavoring syrup, like Torani, which is in a large bottle, a tablespoon would be adequate to flavor the batch of marshmallows.
Whip until combined and pour out onto your greased/dusted baking sheet. Use a frosting spatula to smooth the top. With red food coloring, drop about five drops onto the mixture and swirl around with a skewer or knife to create red streaks. Sift powdered sugar over the top (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup) and chill, uncovered in the fridge for 3 hours.
Run a hot knife around the edges and invert onto a large cutting board. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, or squares with a pizza cutter. I used the inside of a doughnut cutter to create the small rounds pictured.
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