Marshmallow making basics

I want to go over a few marshmallow making basics for those of you who want to go ahead and make them yourself.

Many of the recipes that I've read say to grease your pan... DO NOT grease your pan.  This makes the bottoms of your mallows, well, greasy.  Eww.   I line my pan with parchment and dust with a mix of 50/50 Sifted cornstarch and powdered sugar.

You MUST have a candy thermometer to make real marshmallows (sugar free doesn't require this step) you Must boil the sugar mixture to 240°f.  Too cool and it won't fluff up, too hot and as soon as it starts to cool you'll have a broken mixer.

Be very careful when pouring the hot sugar into the mixer!  Start on low and once all the molten sugar is into the bowl, then turn the speed up.  Otherwise it will splatter and you will get burned.

Time your mixing!  12 minutes is what you need to get a good fluffy marshmallow.  Once it's done don't walk away or you're gonna have a bowl of marshmallow that you can't spread into a pan.  This rings especially true for the sugar free ones, they begin to set up almost automatically.

Don't use a hand mixer for making marshmallows.  The first time I made marshmallows all I had was a hand mixer, and there was marshmallow all over me, in my hair, on the walls, on the ceiling and not only that... I broke the mixer before they were even finished.

Let the mallows rest in the fridge, if you leave them out chances are they're not going to set properly.

When they're finished you can freeze them in storage bags, just make sure they're dusted well with powdered sugar and cornstarch so they don't stick.

The Great Marshmallow Experiment

Ok, so y'all know that I made the sugar free marshmallows on Saturday (and I'll be making another batch tonight...more on that in a few).  I also made a batch of regular marshmallows on Sunday and then yesterday I got an idea in my head... Flavored marshmallows.  Over the past 3 days I must have made around 200 marshmallows!!

I have a recipe for Cherry almond cupcakes that looks amazing.  My only problem?  I'm allergic to Maraschino cherries (not the cherries, but the sulfates that are used to preserve them) so even though technically I can make them, I wouldn't be able to eat even one so that kind of kills it for me.  I started to browse around for recipes for flavored marshmallows and learned that you can use fresh fruit like berries, bananas, and peaches.  You can Not use pineapple, kiwi, mango, or guava because of a particular enzyme that breaks down the gelatin so the mallows won't fluff up at all.

I also don't like to use food coloring.  I try to avoid it as much as possible because I think it adds a weird flavor to the marshmallows and I try to keep things as pure as I can. I make my own Vanilla extract and I'm going to make my own almond extract soon too since that stuff is seriously expensive.

I had a thought in my head yesterday and wasn't going to let it go until I got home and did it and I was So happy that I went through with it because even my kid said they were the best marshmallows that he'd ever had!

I bought a packet of dried cherries and put about 1/2 cup into my food processor and chopped them really fine.  I put the chopped up cherries back into the measuring cup and added 1 tsp of almond extract and just let it sit and steep while I made a batch of regular mallows.  I added the cherries in the last minute or so of whipping up the mallows and they came out a very very pale pink with little bits of cherries in them.

Absolute Perfection!!  I'm going to make a batch of cherry almond sugar free ones tonight and I'll also let y'all know how those turn out.

I'm thinking the next batch will be orange vanilla.. or strawberry vanilla... or maybe.... banana coconut?  I'm not sure... there are so many options :)

and my holiday confection making has begun...

Yesterday in my marshmallow making frenzy I went and whipped the marshmallows a bit longer than I did the last time.. And it made a LOT of marshmallows.

boiling the sugar syrup to 240°f

adding the sugar syrup to the gelatin

about 3 minutes into the process

Marshmallow "batter"

I wound up making a 13X9 inch pan as well as an 8x8 with the remainder.  After I poured most of the marshmallow “batter” into the 13x9 I went and stirred in about half a cup of frozen Nestle Toll House mini morsels into the marshmallow, gave it a good stir and spread it into the 8x8 pan.  Most of the chips stayed intact.. A few melted resulting in a nice swirl effect.  As you see here in the first picture.























They weren’t particularly big, which I’m glad for because they’re seriously sweet (but then again, I’m not a marshmallow fan, I make them purely for the enjoyment of others.

Most of the vanilla marshmallows will be put on lollipop sticks and dipped in chocolate, some will be stuck on top of the chocolate caramel bars and I’ll probably leave some as they are.

I have a plan in my head, but I fear I’m getting ahead of myself and taking tomorrow off work is starting to look like a better and better idea.  I’m sure if I go and make some dough tonight and keep it in the fridge I’ll be able to work tomorrow and then just bake most of Wednesday.  I just really need to find the motivation.  Sleep eluded me last night, and I feel it rapidly catching up with me.