Happy Thanksgiving ~ Homemade Marshmallows

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I learned how to make homemade marshmallows during the week of Thanksgiving. So fun! I thought it was pretty amazing to see how they come together and how easy they are to make at home. Now I have all kinds of ideas about how to use this recipe throughout the winter. You can add coloring or flavoring and cut them into any shape you’d like. Maybe I’ll make peppermint flavored marshmallows in the shape of snowflakes for hot cocoa, or red and green marshmallows for Christmas gifts. The possibilities are endless. 🙂 For Thanksgiving, I cut them into the shape of a leaf and toasted them on top of our mashed sweet potatoes. This is the basic marshmallow recipe from a candy workshop at Sur La Table.

Homemade Marshmallows

From Sur La Table cooking classes

Yield: about 60 marshmallows

2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened

3 envelopes unflavored powdered gelatin

1 cup cold water, divided

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar for dusting

Line a 9×14 inch baking pan with aluminum foil, allowing two opposite sides to overhang by 3 inches. Grease the foil with the softened butter. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1/2 cup cold water. Sprinkle gelatin over the water and set aside to soften.

In a large saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 240 degrees, or the soft ball stage.

Remove saucepan from heat and gradually whisk sugar mixture into the softened gelatin, Fit the mixer with a paddle attachment and beat mixture on high speed until thick and the volume is doubled. Beat in the vanilla. Spread mixture into the prepared pan using a greased icing spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and let marshmallow mixture stand at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight.

Using the foil overhang as handles, lift the marshmallows out of pan. With a sharp chef’s knife or pizza cutter coated with cooking spray, cut marshmallows into 1 x 2 inch squares.

You can also cut them with cookie cutters into any shape you fancy. Make sure to keep all of your exposed sides coated in the mixture of cornstarch and powdered sugar. (It is incredibly sticky otherwise.) Give the final product a good dusting, as well.

To brown the top as I did, use a broiler or a kitchen torch. Just watch them closely in the broiler since they only need about a minute.

Happy holidays!